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By Jim Callis
September 15, 2007

Can't say that I saw Terry Ryan's resignation coming, and I'm not sure that many people within the Twins organization did either. He may never have steered the Twins to the World Series, but Billy Beane is the only other general manager who has built a consistent contender with the same limited resources. That will be Ryan's legacy, as will his refusal to abandon a sinking ship and take another general manager job when Minnesota appeared headed for contraction.

I met Ryan before I started working for Baseball America. I was the beat writer for the Georgia baseball team in 1987, when the Bulldogs would make their first-ever College World Series appearance and had a pair of first-round picks in Derek Lilliquist and Cris Carpenter. I was covering a game from the stands and talking to a friend of mine when the guy sitting next to me introduced himself. It was Ryan, the Twins' scouting director at the time. We spent the rest of the doubleheader talking, as I answered questions about the Bulldogs and he answered questions about scouting.

Ryan wanted to catch a glimpse of a couple of mid-level prospects on Georgia's next opponent, Old Dominion, but he didn’t want to have to double back to Athens to see them a few days later. So he showed me how to run a stopwatch and later called me for home-to-first times and my quick impressions of Todd Azar and Wiley Lee, in my first and only foray into scouting for a pro club. Minnesota didn't draft either player.

That anecdote is always good for a chuckle whenever we run into each other. Ryan usually makes sure I don't forget that the first time I ever wrote Draft Report Cards for Baseball America, I gave his 1989 effort a C. I deserved an F for that assessment, because the Twins landed two Rookies of the Year (Chuck Knoblauch, Marty Cordova), two pitchers who would win 100-plus games in the majors (Denny Neagle, Scott Erickson) and four other future big leaguers (including Mike Trombley and 52nd-rounder Denny Hocking). It was one of the best drafts of all time.

When B.J. Upton hit a homer as a 19-year-old in 2004, I remember you wrote a column about teenagers who had gone deep in the major leagues. It was a very, very impressive list. Now B.J.'s brother Justin has joined the club. Can you tell us how well that bodes for his future success?

Justin Kirk
Woodbury, Minn.

When Justin Upton homered off Tom Gorzelanny on Aug. 7, he became the 16th teenager to hit a big league homer since the draft era began in 1965. As I wrote in my column three years ago: "The first player to pull off the feat was Johnny Bench, a Hall of Famer. The youngest was Robin Yount (at age 18 and nearly eight months), another Hall of Famer. The teenager with the most homers in the draft era is Ken Griffey Jr. (16), and he'll likely be a Hall of Famer."

The list is impressive from top to bottom, with one exception. Ricky Seilheimer victimized Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins in 1980, but had only two more big league hits afterward. After Seilheimer, the next-worst player to turn the trick is Oscar Gamble, and all he did was play for 17 years in the majors and hit 200 homers.

Alex Rodriguez and Ivan Rodriguez will one day join Bench, Yount and Griffey in Cooperstown. Gary Sheffield may as well, and Andruw Jones could if he can snap out of his 2007 doldrums.

Juan Gonzalez won two MVP awards (as did Bench, Alex Rodriguez and Yount; Griffey and Ivan Rodriguez captured one each). Cesar Cedeno and Darrell Porter each made four all-star teams, and Cedeno seemed destined for the Hall of Fame until a broken ankle in the 1980 playoffs ruined his career. Adrian Beltre and Aramis Ramirez both have exceeded 200 homers before turning 30.

There already was plenty of reason to believe that Upton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft, was going to be a star. Add his blast off Gorzelanny to the list.

What do the Padres plan on doing with Chase Headley? Is he going to get the chance to challenge Kevin Kouzmanoff at third base? If not, where does Headley fit in?

Ryan Lillis
San Ramon, Calif.

The knock on Headley coming into 2007 was that he had questionable power for a third baseman, but he has erased that with a big season at Double-A San Antonio. He hit .330/.437/.580 with 20 homers and 78 RBIs in 121 games.

Kouzmanoff put up even better numbers in the minors last year, and in that context, his .263/.316/.443 performance with 16 homers and 63 RBIs in 127 games is somewhat of a disappointment. However, he has batted .307/.352/.520 since the all-star break, providing the production the Padres expected.

Milton Bradley and Mike Cameron become free agents at the end of the season, so San Diego could move Headley or Kouzmanoff to left field. They both are below-average runners and athletes, and Kouzmanoff has been a liability at the hot corner this season, so he'd probably be the one making the position switch.

If the Padres don't shift one of them to the outfield, Kouzmanoff will be under pressure to produce. I'd think he'd open the season as the starter and Headley would get some time in Triple-A, but Kouzmanoff would have to improve offensively against righthanders (he has a .697 OPS against them, compared to .909 against lefties) and defensively to hold him off.

Last year, there was a Hawaiian winter league. Will it return in 2007, or was it a one-time shot? If it's still around, what kind of prospects will it draw, compared to the Arizona Fall League?

Craig Rich
Santa Cruz, Calif.

The first Hawaiian winter league debuted in 1993 with players such as Jason Giambi and Ichiro, and it lasted until 1997. Hawaii Winter Baseball returned last year, and that's where Joba Chamberlain made his pro debut (with a gaudy 46-3 K-BB ratio) and Rick Vanden Hurk gained momentum in his comeback from Tommy John surgery (he led the league with 63 strikeouts in 40 innings). Chamberlain and Vanden Hurk are two of at least seven HWB alumni from 2006 who have played in the majors this year.

The league is alive and well, and its 40-game season will run from Sept. 29 through Nov. 18, with a one-game playoff on Nov. 19. The rosters won't be as talent-rich as those in the AFL, but the HWB will have some intriguing prospects. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters, the fifth overall pick in the 2007 draft, will make his pro debut in Hawaii. Three other first-round picks also are ticketed for the islands: Red Sox righthander Daniel Bard (2006), Cubs outfielder Ryan Harvey (2003) and Orioles first baseman/catcher Brandon Snyder.

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