Schueler Steps Down as GM of White Sox

Ron Schueler resigned as the Chicago White Sox’s general manager Tuesday after a 10-year run that saw the team make the playoffs twice, including this season when it won the American League Central.

He was replaced as general manager by Ken Williams, who has been the team’s vice president of player development the past five years.

Schueler, who became general manager on Nov. 5, 1990, will stay with the team as a senior vice president and special consultant to owner Jerry Reinsdorf. He also will scout.

“After 35 years in baseball, this is the right time for me personally and professionally to step back a little,” Schueler said in a statement. “Initially I had hoped to make the move before last season, but Jerry asked me to stay on one more year and it turned into a tremendous season--one of the best in my baseball career.”

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Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan is expected to be released from a Houston hospital later this week after experiencing tightness in his chest during a recent business trip to Florida.

The 53-year-old strikeout king underwent double coronary bypass surgery earlier in April. He was doing fine and sitting up in bed while doctors at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital ran tests, Ryan’s son, Reid, said.

An EKG and an angiogram both came up negative as far as heart problems. Doctors said the elder Ryan has a muscular spasm in an artery that leads to his heart.

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Former Blue Jay catcher Buck Martinez interviewed for the team’s vacant manager’s job Tuesday, yet General Manager Gord Ash downplayed the significance of making the broadcaster his first interview.

Martinez met with Ash, team president Paul Godfrey and assistant GM Tim McCleary at a hotel in New York on Tuesday morning.

“There’s no significance whatsoever in that, other than we knew he was here,” said Ash, who was in New York for the World Series. “It was convenience more than anything.”

Martinez appears to be the front-runner to land the job after Paul Molitor pulled out.

The Blue Jays also interviewed Milwaukee Brewer bench coach Jerry Royster later Tuesday and have interviews planned with Ernie Whitt, Willie Upshaw, Ken Macha and former Kansas City manager Hal McRae.

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Cal Ripken and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos have begun talks about what the third baseman says may be his last contract.

“After meeting with Mr. Angelos, things are at ease,” Ripken, 40, told The (Baltimore) Sun. “It’s not a worry for me. Mr. Angelos said they want me back. I said I wanted to be back. Everything seems to be on track.”