Changing from within

The Twins filled a couple of significant, if behind the scenes, jobs on Thursday —filled them, in typical Twins fashion, by promoting from within.

The elevation of Brad Steil to farm director is easy enough to interpret. Jim Rantz, who held the job since 1985, is retiring, and the decision appears to have been his. Steil had been his No. 2 and was named interim farm director when Rantz announced his retirement about a month ago.

The Twins have been rather conservative in placing and promoting prospects, and I don't expect that to change. Such decisions are probably collegial anyway, but the appointment of Steil suggests that general manager Terry Ryan continues to favor promoting a player a year too late to a month too early.

There is a good deal more opacity to the training staff promotions. Ryan fired Rick McWane at the end of the season; on Thursday the Twins elevated his underlings one rung each: Dave Pruemer was named the head athletic trainer, Tony Leo the assistant athletic trainer and Lanning Tucker the assistant athletic trainer and rehabilitation coordinator.

Firing McWane indicates discontent with the training staff; promoting the other three suggests satisfaction with their work. I don't know how to square this circle.

The last of the originals

Jim Rantz, with Tony Oliva by his side, turns in the Twins
first-round draft pick in 2008.

Jim Rantz, who has run the Twins farm system since 1986, announced his retirement Monday as the Twins began their organizational meetings in Fort Myers, Fla.

Rantz has been part of the Twins organization from the moment Calvin Griffith moved the franchise to the Twin Cities from Washington -- minor league pitcher, minor league manager, public relations, scouting, farm system. Fifty-two years in professional baseball, all with one team -- and his hometown team at that (he's from St. Paul).

His biggest claim to fame: He's the guy who found Kirby Puckett while watching his son play college ball in Illinois.

Rantz is 75, so this may very well be purely his choice, and he told the Star Tribune that he had told general manager Terry Ryan a year ago that 2012 would be his last year.

Still, in the wake of the coaching staff shakeup, some may have figured that Ryan wanted to make some changes in that part of the organization as well. That thought certainly crossed my mind. But judging from Ryan's comments, that's not the case. Brad Steil, Rantz's assistant, was named interim farm director Monday, and I've seen immediate speculation that the interim tag will be fairly quickly removed.

Either way, there's an opening, and it will be interesting to see if Ryan promotes from within or looks outside the organization for a farm director. My guess is that he'll stay in-house.