Terry Ryan has had a long, successful career as a baseball executive. In addition to serving as a scout, scouting director, consultant, Ryan was a vice president of the Minnesota Twins when they won two World Series, and later had two stints as the team's GM, during which the Twins won four division titles.
But regrets? Ryan had a few, including one in particular.
He was the Twins' GM when the team decided to non-tender David Ortiz, elected to the Hall of Fame Tuesday night in his first time on the ballot.
"I made a mistake,'' Ryan told BostonSportsJournal.com, "He ended up having a tremendous career with the Red Sox. Whether you want to talk about projection or evaluation or whatever, it was ill-advised and he ended up being an icon and now he's a Hall of Famer.''
It's easy to castigate Ryan now that Ortiz has been recognized as one of the all-time greats, with 541 career homers, a .931 OPS and three World Series rings. But he also had identified Ortiz -- then known as David Arias -- when Ortiz was with the Seattle Mariners. He traded infielder Dave Hollins to the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named later: Ortiz.
The following year, despite playing at A ball in 1996, Ortiz made his major league debut.
"Back then, he was a presence in the box and a had a pretty good idea about the (strike) zone,'' said Ryan. "He certainly had power and he went through our system in one year. So, obviously, he produced and earned his promotion.''
Ortiz spent parts of six seasons with the Twins, though only twice did he play more than 100 games. In his best season, his final one with the Twins, he hit 20 homers and had a .500 slugging percentage. But with Ortiz eligible for salary arbitration following the 2002 season, the Twins, the epitome of a small-market franchise, made the decision to move on from Ortiz, non-tendering him and making him a free agent. Ortiz signed with the Sox some six weeks later.
"This is difficult for me to tell you this,'' said Ryan, "but most of it was baseball-related. I'm not going to pass the buck (and say it was economics). You find money to keep players like he turned out to be. I could have done other things. But let's not kid one another -- if it had been totally economics, I would say so. It was a little bit of a factor, because as you know, going back to the Metrodome days, our payroll was limited. It's always in the back of your mind, as a GM. You always look ahead two or three years ahead and see where you're going (with costs).
"But that would be a lame excuse in this instance. He had ability; I just didn't recognize it enough.''
After Ortiz signed with the Sox and enjoyed some success, there were suggestions that Ortiz and then-manager Tom Kelly didn't get along, with Kelly insisting that Ortiz be more of a contact hitter and Ortiz insisting that his game was built on power.
But Ryan insisted that wasn't the case.
"Tom was a guy who held people accountable and did things he thought were the right approach to the game,'' said Ryan. "But I don't believe this had anything to do with Tom and David. I think everybody likes to see hitters use the whole field, and at the time, yes, that's accurate, that's what we wanted. And David had enough strength to do that, no matter what your philosophy is. I'm sure that left-field wall (at Fenway) took plenty of punishment from David Ortiz over the years.''
It didn't take long for Ryan to recognize that he had erred in giving up on Ortiz. While it took most of the first half of Ortiz's first season (2003) in Boston before he established himself as an everyday player, Ortiz soon established himself as a premier power force and postseason monster.
"Toward the end of that season,'' recalled Ryan with a self-effacing laugh, "I might have said, 'Uh-oh.' Every time I saw him do something, I said, 'Oh, man...that's a bad mistake I made.' But I was rooting for David, because I liked him. Always have. I have a good rapport with him.''
Ryan never got the sense that Ortiz was particularly motivated to show the Twins they had were wrong to let him go.
"I don't think he was out to prove much of anything to anybody,'' Ryan said. "He just went about his business. He had a flair for the dramatic. He had that 'it'' factor. He had charisma and Boston benefited from it and we didn't.''
Asked to explain how Ortiz grew from a decent part-time player with some power to one of the game's top sluggers, Ryan chalked it up to the evolution through which many players go.
"I think he just matured as a hitter,'' said Ryan. "I think he realized how good he could be. It's just the maturation process. Not many guys come on the scene like (Mike) Trout. And David, ultimately learned what he could handle. He took the inside pitch to right field, drove the ball on the outer half. His strike zone management was very impressive for a guy with his size and strength. Eventually, when you have that type of ability, and strength and bat speed and you have good bat barrel awareness. He's a gifted hitter and he grew into the type of hitter he knew he could become and he did something with it.''
Few hitters, however, have risen to meet the big moment the way Ortiz did.
"Those guys aren't scared, No. 1,'' said Ryan. "They relish the moment instead of getting timid. As the Red Sox evolved, there's no question that David was The Guy. He had leadership skills and a willingness to take on the responsibility to the fan base, deal with the media, He handled all of that without any problem, and look at him now -- he's a media star and he does a good job with that.
"You always hear about the 'It' factor, but he's got a lot of things that people gravitate toward. He was probably the most popular player in our clubhouse (even as a young player). He couldn't do much (as a leader) back then because he didn't have that much of a track record. But he was popular because he had a great sense of humor and people liked to pull practical jokes on him. He took them well, but he responded better.''
After Ortiz left Minnesota, the Twins won three more division titles in a row, but could never get far in the postseason. Would Ortiz have been a franchise-altering force for the Twins had he stayed?
"Was David going to win a World Series for us? Well, he did it for Boston, or helped,'' said Ryan ruefully. "So you'd have to think that, because you know what kind of damage he could do, and the fact that he made other people better in the lineup. We had pretty good success for most of that decade, and he's not the only one (who got away). Shoot, there's always players that you have that wish you still had.
"But I would say, for someone who's now in the Hall of Fame, yes, you think of in those terms.''