Terry Ryan to Have "Interim" Tag Removed from General Manager Title?

Terry Ryan has been very coy about his job title since taking over for Bill Smith roughly eleven months ago. He's been asked on numerous occasions whether he will remove the "Interim" portion of his "Interim General Manager" title, and ownership has been very up front in saying that Ryan is free to remove that tag at his leisure. But at every turn he's, quietly and inconspicuously as possible, turned focus away from him and back to the team on the field.

And then yesterday Jim Bowden tweeted this:

Ron Gardenhire suggested to us that the Twins will have a press conference on Friday to probably remove the interim tag off of GM Terry Ryan

— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) October 3, 2012

Bowden's hit and miss on these calls, but if Ryan chooses to take the reigns fully then nobody will be surprised. Most fans didn't want him to leave after the 2007 season, even more fans clammored for him to replace Smith from Smith's first day in office, and in spite of a 95-loss season a vast majority of his acquisitions last winter have worked out pretty well.

It's easy to place all of the blame for the Twins current state on Smith, but the counterpoint to the last paragraph is that some of the organization's problems stem to the few years of Ryan's previous tenure. Ben Revere is still the only player to contribute to the team from the 2007 draft; draft picks from 2006 have combined for -1.2 wins above replacement. No draft pick has accumulated more than 5 WAR since 2003 selection Scott Baker. When you lack development to that level a team will struggle.

Personally, I hope Ryan does become the franchise's full time GM going forward. Is Ryan your man for the job?