FORT MYERS, Fla. -- One year ago, Terry Ryan's office at Hammond Stadium sat empty. The general manager of the Minnesota Twins was back in Minnesota after being diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer before spring training. How healthy again after cancer treatment last year, Ryan is back in Florida as he's tasked with putting together a roster that can help the Twins erase another 90-loss season. Ryan sat down for a one-on-one interview with FOX Sports North to discuss a wide array of topics early in camp.
FOX SPORTS NORTH: Let's start with you. You weren't here last year. What's it like to be back and see the day-to-day operations going on?
TERRY RYAN: "It's a relief, first off. Everything seems to be new, from the facilities. We've got some different players, of course, like you do every spring with a roster. But for the most part, from where I was a year ago to today to the point where we're at now, there's nothing better than coming to spring training. This is probably the most enjoyable time of the year for any baseball person is the first 10 days of camp and getting acclimated to the weather and the facility and the personnel and watching the drills. It's a lot of fun. We'll get down to business here when these games start, but spring training is not bad, especially coming from Minnesota."
FSN: You alluded to the new staff and the new faces. In the limited time you've seen Paul Molitor, what's been the biggest difference that he's brought to this team and the clubhouse so far?
TR: "I don't know if you're going to be able to pinpoint visually if you watch how they go about their business. Some of the drills are very similar, and the way we go about our business, Gardy [former manager Ron Gardenhire] and Tom Kelly through the years ran efficient camps, as Paul is doing now. There's different people out here, there's no question. We've got a different pitching coach and we've got a different third base coach. I don't know if I could visually tell you if I didn't know the history of what's gone on the last year or so that you're going to see a whole lot of difference. They're going to tweak some of the things, but it's not going to be anything that I think the general public would recognize. It's just a little different philosophy possibly. Obviously there are different personalities here, but doing fundamentals and the repetition in spring training, you can go from camp to camp to camp and it's going to be somewhat similar."
FSN: Paul has talked about some of the changes in the clubhouse, even the things like the cellphone rule (where players need to put their phones away 30 minutes before the game).
TR: "That hasn't changed. I don't see any of that. That hasn't changed. All that stuff is the same basically. We've got a few things that I think he's tweaked on any policy. The cell phone rule has always been in effect. It's a half hour prior to the game, we want them off."
FSN: As far as the roster goes, a lot of people are looking at the starting rotation. How many spots do you feel are still open for competition?
TR: "I would say there's an opening. I don't know if I want to get too carried away with two. We have choices here to make, and we have pitchers here that are in competition, which is good. We probably have more depth than we've had in quite a while. Whoever doesn't make the rotation can slip back into the pen, so we'll have more competition there. There are openings. I don't know if I want to put a specific number. We'll have disappointments here, and we're going to have surprises and we're going to have injuries. It always happens. There's plenty of opportunity for whoever's in camp here to possibly make this rotation, and then I think the bullpen will follow right behind that. We have choices."
FSN: That's not a bad thing to have that competition though, right?
TR: "I would say that's a healthy thing. Of course, that also bodes well for our future because we'll have players and pitchers at Triple-A that'll be about ready, if not already ready. Unfortunately, somebody's not going to make this team. There will be disappointments, so they probably would be wise to go about their business here in a manner that's conducive to that competition that presents itself."
FSN: Besides the rotation, is there a position group you'll be keeping a close eye on this spring?
TR: "Yeah. I would say the backup catching situation would be important. We have three or four guys back there that'll be in competition for that. Center field, we've got three or four guys that'll be in competition for that. And the shortstop situation I think will play itself out, but no matter how we go there I think we're in good shape."
FSN: What does Josmil Pinto have to do to take that next step at catcher?
TR: "The reason he didn't stay in the big leagues last year wasn't so much his catching and throwing and pitch calling and so forth. He didn't hit. That's what he was there to do. That's why he made the club. So he's going to have to do a little bit of everything to make this team. When we did send him back, I don't think there's any question his receiving improved. His framing improved. His shifting, blocking, hands, all that stuff, play calling, leadership, that improved down at Rochester. I think he's going to hit eventually. He'll have to carry some of that offense, certainly. We're not looking to carry a backup catcher and not be able to swing the bat some. That's kind of what he is going to have to do."
FSN: You guys brought back Torii Hunter this offseason. Some of the players said he's not just here to mentor, that he can still play a little bit. What's it like to have him back?
TR: "He's not here to mentor as much as he is here to produce, play a solid right field and give us some offensive production. With all that, it's like Torii never left. He's kind of the same guy that was here seven or eight years ago. You guys (in the media) probably know more about it than I do, because you've been in the clubhouse a lot more than I have through the years. Whether or not we were missing that presence that he brings, I'm hoping Ervin Santana has some of that, certainly (Glen) Perkins can provide some of the character and leadership. (Brian) Dozier can do some of that. (Mike) Pelfrey, if we can get him going, we're looking for that out of all those veterans. Torii first and foremost, he's got a track record that's impressive. He has history with us. He knows the history and tradition of the franchise. And he's got that type of personality and persona that can take a hold of a club. That comes with the playing part of it. I like to see that first and foremost, and we'll let the other things fall into place as they should."
FSN: You mentioned Pelfrey. You said at TwinsFest that you want to see him compete for a spot in the rotation, but is the bullpen an option for him?
TR: "The first thing he's going to be presented with is the ability to make our starting rotation. And if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, then we'll look at him in the pen. I don't know if he's got the arm resiliency to be able to pitch three days in a row or not. I don't know if his mentality suits the bullpen. But I do know that in his life he's had success in the rotation. We're going to give him every opportunity to make that rotation."
FSN: Joe Mauer talked about the importance of having a full, healthy offseason this year compared to last year when he was coming back from the concussion. Do you think a different offseason last year affected him at all?
TR: "If it affected him -- and I would hope that through the course of April and May, then it was behind him because he was relatively healthy at that point -- I suppose preparation and the concussion, that set him back some. I don't know if he's talked about that much, so I don't want to speak for him. But he had an off year. It's as simple as that. Everybody's going to have one of those, I suspect. I thought he was starting to turn the corner when he had the oblique problem. Obviously that set him back again. But we're looking for him to rebound. It's important. He's at position over there at first base, he's handled the transition defensively. That's an offensive-oriented position, and we're looking for run production and quality of at-bat. He had a tough go last year. I don't think there's any question that he was disappointed in it. It would be very nice, because I would suspect he's going to hit somewhere in that lineup where it's going to be important for him to give us the type of run production. His on-base percentage and his strikeouts, everybody can do the stat work. It just wasn't him that we saw last year, for whatever reason."
FSN: Speaking of injuries, Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano both missed most or all of 2014 with injuries. How tough was that to see those guys lose a whole year of development?
TR: "It was frustrating for them and us because we couldn't develop Sano, of course. He was out for the whole year. And every time we got Buxton on the right path, he got hurt. They'll learn, and if they don't learn something from what it's like to be injured, then that's our fault. But sometimes that's a thing that you can grow from and how to keep yourself healthy and when to do certain things and when not to. There is a knack of keeping yourself healthy. Sano couldn't do much about Tommy John. I don't want to pretend that that just was a fluke. Buxton's were flukes. When he dove for that ball in Double-A New Britain, he was going to make a play. You can't fault him for that. The broken finger, just unfortunate. But they're both rusty and they both didn't play much last year. Now they're 100 percent and we're looking for big years out of them. I hope they continue to grow and ultimately surface in Minnesota at some point. They're both very skillful and have a good work ethic. They're both good teammates. They both go about their business. I'm kind of hoping that someday this year that they do end up getting to Minnesota. I don't know if that's realistic or not; we're going to have to see how they respond."
FSN: With the new coaching staff, does the philosophy of when to bring minor leaguers up change at all, or is it still up to the front office more than the coaches and manager?
TR: "It'll be more front office. Those guys, they don't see them, and certainly not on an everyday basis. It would be more with the minor league staff and the manager and the coaches on that team, or (director of minor league operations) Brad Steil, Joel Lepel and the staff members that know those guys. They'll be informed, the major league staff, because it's up to us to make sure we communicate between the major league and minor league staffs. We have all kinds of people running through these affiliates, so we know when they'll be ready to be promoted. All you've got to do is look at the statistics most of the time. If a guy starts dominating a league, we'll probably move him."
FSN: After four tough years, how confident are you that you guys are on the right track to turning things around in 2015?
TR: "We can talk all we want about a lot of things. Talk is just about what it is. We need to get out there and get it done on the field. Until we see some of that execution, until we see how we do with the division -- which is tough -- there's no sense in making too many predictions. Injuries have a little bit to do with it, but I have mentioned many times, our depth is better than many years. We don't have any excuses. We better start getting this thing done, because four years is long enough. We've had some changes and we're trying to get it right and all that good stuff. People are going to have to pitch. Particularly, we're going to have to pitch out of that rotation because we started in a hole quite often last year and the year before and the year before that. So I'm not going to make any predictions, but I certainly feel good about what we have here. The character seems in order and our health is good right now. With that usually comes better seasons, and we certainly need to increase our win total before we're looking at postseason, which is where everybody wants to get.
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