The current winter is an important one for Terry Ryan.  As general manager of the Minnesota Twins, he watched his team take a step backward in 2005, finishing third in their division to the Cleveland Indians and the eventual league champions White Sox of Chicago.  Prior to that, it had been a slow but steady climb toward the pinnacle of baseball after years of torment.  Three straight AL Central titles, one playoff series victory, and a couple of competitive falters to the Yankees had been the achievement of the most prolonged period of success in the franchise's history. 

As a small market team, they had risen to this level by shipping off their best players, before they became too expensive, for prospects and excercising patience with the players developed in their system.  While they lacked a big bopper (the team has not had a player hit thirty homeruns in a season since 1987), they won games with guile, pitching, and defense.  The Twins had the perfect core of players who were too talented to be the spitoon to large market teams, and too naive yet cocky to realize they were not talented enough to compete with those large market teams either.

Slowly, the core became too expensive.  Tough decisions were made by Ryan.  He locked up Cy Young award winner Johan Santana, gold glove winner Torii Hunter, and team-first vet Brad Radke to multi year deals.  Players like Shannon Stewart and closer Joe Nathan were brought in to fill holes.  At the same time, other key cogs like catcher A.J. Pierzynski, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, third baseman Corey Koskie, shortstop Cristian Guzman, left handed starter Eric Milton, relievers LaTroy Hawkins and Eddie Guardado and now right fielder Jacque Jones had to be set free to seek out big dollars elsewhere.  Kyle Lohse is likely not far behind.  With such turnout and inflated expectations brought on by such success over the past few years, the youngsters brought in to fill the lost veterans were not given the same kind of patience.  When Joe Mauer failed to be the next Ted Williams, and when Justin Morneau was not Mark McGwire in their first seasons, the team saw their division rivals, who had mimicked the Twins' success plan overcome them.

So, now Ryan is in a quandry similar to that Andy McPhail, his predecessor, oversaw in the early nineties.  Fresh off an improbable World Series championship, the Twins had to decide whether to keep the team they had or sell off the parts while their stock was high in order to maintain the franchise.  McPhail chose the former, which was probably the only choice coming off a championship.  Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek had become icons as the stars of two World Series teams (1987 and 1991) and youngsters like Scott Erickson and Chuck Knoblauch gave them hope of maintianing the run.  Of course, the best they could muster was a second place finish in the AL West during 1992 and a third place finish in 1993 before the wheels fell off.  Glaucoma claimed one of Pucketts eyes, and Hrbek's back gave out.  Erickson never matched his rookie season, and Knoblauch figured out that money could buy things and that the Yankees would give him more of that.  The years between then and 2001 were ugly seasons where players like Ron Coomer could be considered their best player.

If the Twins actions of the winter thus far are any indication, it appears Ryan will go the other direction.  He has already lost most of the core to budget limitations and the Sox and Indians are only getting better.  Early on, it looked as if he would try to fill the most glaring holes and make a run at those teams.  Those pressing needs were a second baseman, third baseman, and a designated hitter, one of whom had to be able to crush a ball.  They participated in the Florida fire sale and came away with the leadoff hitter they have not had since Knoblauch in Luis Castillo.  Big names like Nomar Garciaparra, Mike Piazza, and Frank Thomas were bandied about to fill those slots.  There was even a brief time when it looked as if Minnesota may be able to acquire Texas' Hank Blalock, a budding star at third base with more power than any Twin since Tom Brunansky.  The Rangers refused to move him, though, and Nomar apparently strung the team along to get more money from the Dodgers.  Piazza likely wants a gig on the West Coast, also, and Thomas' foot is too risky to pin (pun unintended) the hopes of a franchise on.  Instead, they settled on hoping for journeymen like Rondell White and Tony Batista (who played in Japan last season) to somehow reclaim the AL Central.

Personally, I believe White and Batista are white flag signings.  Ryan sees that the Twins window has passed and that it is time to go back to the drawing board.  There is a good foundation if Morneau and Mauer are allowed to develop with realistic expectations.  Jason Kubel and Michael Ryan may also be important pieces down the road, and as long as they keep Johan they are almost guaranteed a win every fifth game.  Sadly, players like Torii Hunter are likely going to be expendable.  Boston will likely come calling in or before August in search of a good replacement for Johnny Damon.  In return, the Twins will get a couple more potential pieces to develop during the upcoming lean years.

Hopefully, the next core will be able to go the distance before being dismantled.