Terry Ryan is as decent as any man I have ever encountered in baseball and more decent than most. It is impossible to forget his selfless act in 2001 when, as captain of the Minnesota Twins ship, he remained on the deck of their sinking ship when he had a chance to abandon the ship and go elsewhere while his shipmates drowned.

Now the Twins, struggling with the American League’s worst record, have shoved Ryan overboard and are looking for a new captain, or general manager. While I regret Ryan’s departure, I welcome it as an opportunity for Commissioner Rob Manfred to get it right.

Manfred will not be hiring Ryan’s replacement, but he can exercise his influence. It’s called the bully pulpit. I know Manfred knows how to use it because he did it last year with the Milwaukee Brewers. They were seeking a general manager, and, in the word of a baseball official, Manfred pushed them to hire David Stearns, the Houston Astros assistant general manager, who had worked for him in the labor department of the commissioner’s office.

Has Manfred ever pushed a team to hire a black or a Latino general manager? Not that I know of, but if he has, the person has not been hired or identified. Only one minority general manager – Al Avila of Detroit – has gained his job in Manfred’s 18 months as commissioner.

Dave Stewart (Arizona) is Major League Baseball’s lone black general manager. Michael Hill, who is black, is Miami’s president of baseball operations, having preceded Manfred in that position by 16 months.

Allow me to take this opportunity to introduce Manfred to De Jon Watson. If Watson’s name is familiar, it is most likely that you have seen it here. Watson is senior vice president of baseball operations for the Diamondbacks. For the past year or so I have touted him as a general manager-in-waiting, the most capable baseball executive who is not a general manager, black, white or Latino.

Unfortunately, teams in search of a general manager are blind or dumb or racist. Yes, sadly, I can’t dismiss the possibility that some owners won’t hire a candidate who is black. They’ll sign players who are black and can hit or pitch but not a manager or general manager.

It is up to Manfred to cleanse owners of this mentality. If he is unable to perform that form of lobotomy, let him institute a new rule to replace the so-called Selig Rule, which requires teams hiring personnel for decision-making positions to interview minorities. But only one minority.

Teams have skirted that requirement in various ways, and Manfred and his predecessor, Bud Selig, have allowed them to get away with it. Imagine that, Selig letting clubs ignore the Selig Rule. Manfred could correct the problem. Instead of stipulating that teams have to interview one minority, tell them they have to interview as many minorities as white guys. That change might not insure the appointment of a minority, but teams would become more aware of potential minority candidates.

Whatever the excuses or the reasons, it’s time that minorities are considered equally with their white colleagues. The Twins, always an honorable organization, could take the bold step of interviewing Watson. They can find out for themselves what others know.

When Tony La Russa, the Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer, hired Watson in 2014, he was so impressed with him he wanted to call other clubs looking for a general manager and tell them how impressive Watson was. But La Russa realized that step would be inappropriate and was happy to keep the former outfielder/first baseman.

Frank Marcos, the former director of the Major League Scouting Bureau, is another Watson booster. Marcos incidentally had an excellent record in diversity hiring when he worked in Major League Baseball.

Referring to Jim Pohlad, the Twins’ chief executive officer and part owner, Marcos told me in an e-mail,

“De Jon Watson deserves every opportunity to prove to Mr. Pohlad that he is a capable and deserving candidate because of his credentials – not because of the color of his skin. If De Jon doesn’t get the backing of MLB’s new ‘pipeline’ program, then I’d be concerned about his legitimate chances.”

Manfred created the pipeline program supposedly to give minorities a greater chance of moving into front-office positions. However, at the rate clubs hire minorities, the pipeline will be so clogged no one will emerge from it.

I don’t know if Watson qualifies for Manfred’s pipeline. I don’t know if Manfred knows Watson or knows about him. I would ask the commissioner what he thinks or knows about Watson, but he stopped talking to me when I started criticizing him for his treatment of minorities.

Last year Watson made it clear to me that he didn’t want to be considered a minority candidate. He feels he is capable of being a general manager and wants to be hired on that basis, not because he is black. But if he can’t even get an interview as a minority candidate, how does he expect to be considered?

It’s a sad state of affairs, an unfair state of affairs. In addition, time is running out on Watson. He is 50 years old, and the hiring trend has turned to younger candidates, those in their 30s, those who have college degrees in academic areas that are related to analytics.

I would hate to think that a baseball man as capable and as qualified as Watson would be passed over because of his race or his age. If he’s honest about his interest in minority hiring, Manfred should feel the same way. To paraphrase the Golden Rule, Manfred should do unto Watson as he did unto Stearns.