The Twins owner wants his new general manager to be “lovable”

Jim Pohlad, owner of the Minnesota Twins, has a lot to think about when he thinks about what kind of general manager he’s looking for to replace the fired Terry Ryan. Does he want an analytical guy with an Ivy League education or someone who came up through the scouting ranks? Is he looking for an old-style GM who runs all baseball operations or a new-style Baseball CEO-type who is more about setting up various systems and departments, of which actual baseball decisions is merely one aspect of it all?

Yep, a lot of big decisions to be made with this sort of hire in the world of 21st century baseball. So what say you, Jim?

“When we had the all-staff meeting, you can see how loved Terry is by our organization,” Pohlad said. “If I had to pick one requirement for somebody going forward, it’s someone that’s lovable. The only way you can be loved is if you’re lovable. We want someone that can ultimately be loved.”

Um. OK. Is that all?

“Technically they have to have the skills and strength and so forth, and have to have the willingness to look an organization and make hard decisions, or come up with ways for improvement.”

Well, as long as we’re being technical I suppose that stuff matters too. In the meantime, NBC Sports has learned the identity of the current favorite for the Twins’ GM job. This is an exclusive report. MUST CREDIT NBC SPORTS: