The Twins are among nearly a dozen bubble teams around MLB with just over two weeks until the trade deadline. Minnesota sits two games under .500 and four games out of the American League’s final Wild Card spot. They’re tied with the Angels and have two teams (the Rays and Rangers) between them and the Mariners, who currently hold the AL’s last playoff position.
Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the Twins have yet to have serious conversations about the possibility of selling. Specifically, Murray adds that Minnesota hasn’t had discussions with other clubs about All-Star starter Joe Ryan. That doesn’t mean they’d necessarily consider Ryan untouchable if things go poorly over the next couple weeks, but they’re evidently not currently focused on moving him. Jon Morosi of MLB Network noted last week that the Twins would need to be completely out of the playoff race and be blown away by an offer to deal Ryan.
President of baseball operations Derek Falvey told SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson last week that he anticipated that most bubble teams would take right up to the July 31 deadline to determine their directions. Falvey broadly acknowledged that other teams have interest in Minnesota’s controllable pitching talent. At the same time, he expressed optimism that the team would play better coming out of the All-Star Break than they did in the first half and didn’t sound eager to sell. The Twins will resume play this weekend with a very winnable series at Coors Field. They’ll then head to L.A. to take on the Dodgers before home sets against the Nationals and Red Sox that’ll take them to the deadline.
If they struggle and pivot to selling, the Twins would obviously have no trouble drumming up interest in Ryan. The 29-year-old has steadily improved over his four-plus year MLB career. He owns a personal-best 2.72 earned run average while striking out more than 28% of opposing hitters in 19 appearances. Every team could accommodate his $3MM salary, and he remains controllable via arbitration for another two seasons. If the Twins seriously entertained dealing him, he’d probably be the prize of the rotation market.
Ryan has been the lone consistent force in a rotation that has struggled since losing Pablo López and Zebby Matthews to injuries. Minnesota starters have performed fairly well in July but had an MLB-worst 5.59 ERA in June. A Ryan trade would more or less wave the white flag on 2025, and it’d deal a huge hit to next year’s pitching staff. It’s tough to see them doing that as long as they’re within a few games of a playoff spot.
That won’t stop other teams from trying. While Ryan may be Minnesota’s most valuable trade chip, they have a number of players who’d be coveted if they sell. Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax will get a lot of attention from clubs looking for high-leverage bullpen help. Impending free agents Willi Castro and Harrison Bader are quality role players on the position player side. Chris Paddack would pique the interest of some teams that are looking for a back-end starter. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote this evening that the Twins could field offers on Duran and Jax if they drop further in the standings. There’d be little reason not to shop Castro, Bader and Paddack in that situation as well.
In any case, it’s highly unlikely that Byron Buxton is going anywhere. The star center fielder is signed through 2028 and having the kind of monster season that has long been possible if he can stay healthy. Even in the improbable event that the front office considered trading him, Buxton’s deal has a full no-trade clause. The two-time All-Star tells Heyman he wouldn’t have any interest in waiving his no-trade rights and leaving the only organization he has ever known.
The twins aren’t good enough to take a wild card spot so they should at the very least trade away all impending free agents
I personally wouldn’t trade Ryan or Duran but both of them have either health issues or streaky issues so a good offer might be worth taking
You can trade away Jax or even Duran but to trade away your only reliable guy in the rotation is crazy
mp9, it depends on the offer. I would never publicly state player x is available. Why lose leverage? Teams wanting him will call regardless. You call them if they have someone you want but otherwise wait for the phone to ring. In Ryan’s case, it likely has already started.
Reminds me of Jack Flaherty. Sold pitcher but he’s not going to be the difference between making the playoffs or not making the playoffs or winning a championship or not winning a championship.
How
Ryan, Lopez, Ober, Duran and Jax are all free agents after the 2027 season. Correa has team options starting in 2029 and Buxton is a free agent after 2028. They kinda have a window to compete here. They could ride it out until the end of 2027 and start the rebuild or they could start it now. If they are going to trade some of those guys they might as well trade all of them plus of course the soon to be free agents.
Even with the WCs, the Tigers barring injuries own this division. KC, the Twins and Guardians will be decent but not special teams. Might be smart to rebuild if you can get the parts now if the offers are there.
Ha, sure they do! I’m old enough to remember all the way back to 2024 when the Guardians were going to “own this division for years” or a couple of years before that when the White Sox were going to “win this division for a decade.” The Tigers will probably win this year but next year they could easily be trash. That’s just baseball for you unless you’re the Dodgers or Yankees.
There’s been a lot of Red Sox rumors involving Ryan over the past week or so. It seems quite unlikely that he’ll be traded, but the Sox are one of the few teams that could be willing and able to “blow them away” with an offer. Say what you will about Breslow, but their farm system is quite good and with their surplus of good young outfielders, they could be open to including one of them (Duran, Abreu) in a deal.