Don't trade Ryan. Unless a total tear down and rebuild is coming. This would be a total waste of Buxton and Correa's contract though. These two a long with Lopez are signed the next few years and are towards the end of their prime. If we're ever going to go for it, it needs to be soon. I say sell off expiring contracts, make some major league debuts as a try out for next year and start gearing up for 2026.

Lets not forget that Berrios was not going to resign with the Twins.

Lopez also cost the Twins batting champion Luis Arraez in the trade. A hitter sorely missing this year.

Trading Ryan with 2 and 1/2 years of control would be waving the white flag for this and next year.

The old saying was "do you trade an everyday player for a starting pitcher?"  In todays game I think you need to get 2 everyday players for a starter of Ryans capability. 

Trading any player is not surrender or giving up. The idea is to improve the team. The point in the post was that Ryan should require more than Berrios if traded. I agree. Ryan only is traded for a very significant return.

The strength of the team is pitching. The position side is weak. No major return, no deal for Ryan. There are teams that actually need a starting pitcher like Joe Ryan desperately. Hold them to the fire.

13 hours ago, LambchoP said:

Don't trade Ryan. Unless a total tear down and rebuild is coming. This would be a total waste of Buxton and Correa's contract though. These two a long with Lopez are signed the next few years and are towards the end of their prime. If we're ever going to go for it, it needs to be soon. I say sell off expiring contracts, make some major league debuts as a try out for next year and start gearing up for 2026.

While I doubt they will get enough in return to trade Ryan, I also don't necessarily think Buxton is 'towards the end of [his] prime.' The bat speed is still there, the speed is still there, the power is arriving - I happen to think he is just coming into his prime. 

Ownership committed to anything is a mystery

Ryan is really a # 3 at best on contenders... Twins really wouldnt get much of a return for him. i say keep him.. Lopez Ober and Keaschall get back..Twins may make an August run for wild card. One note ..Twins need to send Wallner down..great liability in RF and is broken

5 minutes ago, MinnInPa said:

Ryan is really a # 3 at best on contenders... Twins really wouldnt get much of a return for him. i say keep him.. Lopez Ober and Keaschall get back..Twins may make an August run for wild card. One note ..Twins need to send Wallner down..great liability in RF and is broken

A #3 at best?!  Thankfully you're not making talent evaluations for the Twins....

To be a really good team you have to have stars. Right now the only Twins that can be called stars are Buxton, Ryan, and Lopez. They need more stars. You can only get them three ways: Develop them, sign them, or trade for them. The Twins won't sign any. The only players they could trade for stars are the stars they have. So they have to develop them. That means making no deals now, and playing Lewis, Zebby, and Keaschall, and hoping for the best. They have 66 games left. They probably need to win at least 40 of them to get into the playoffs, and if they do they will be dispatched pretty quickly. Can they go 40-26 from here on out? Unlikely. Wait till next year.

It only makes sense to trade Ryan if you are tearing everything down.  There's no way you want to trade Joe Ryan if you are trying to get better for the next 1-2 seasons.   But if there was a way to sell on Correa and really strip EVERYthing down to the studs (and start with a blank slate for new owners), he could go like everything else into a Houston 2013-style total rebuild.

1 hour ago, Julian Bernick said:

It only makes sense to trade Ryan if you are tearing everything down.  There's no way you want to trade Joe Ryan if you are trying to get better for the next 1-2 seasons. 

You are assuming the return would be horrible or only includes prospects years away from contributing. I don't believe we actually know whether there are teams willing to overpay for Joe Ryan. Boston has a pile of really good young position players and needs a good starting pitcher. Baltimore and Oakland have a solid number of really good position players but are desperate for pitching. While I'm not looking to trade Joe Ryan, there are possible deals where I say yes. The Twins need to talk with people. Trading Joe Ryan, or one of Duran/Jax, is exactly how a team can instantly increase their odds for winning games for both now and into the future. Acquiring Joe Ryan is also, potentially, a huge boost for the team that acquires him. Both things can be true. 

15 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

You are assuming the return would be horrible or only includes prospects years away from contributing. I don't believe we actually know whether there are teams willing to overpay for Joe Ryan.

Well as the GMs always say, "I'll listen to any deal, there's always something that could make sense."  So anything's possible-- in theory.  But let's assume no one is trading us a Ryan-caliber pitcher for Ryan (right?) 

 if you were looking to get better in the short term, would you want to trade away one of the #1-#2 pitchers on the team ?  Why are you getting better in the short term? To go to the playoffs.  How are you going to win playoff series without 2 good pitchers?  (Counting Lopez as the other playoff-caliber pitcher.)  I mean, I'd love to get Gunnar Henderson or someone, but are we 1-2 young position guys away from winning some playoff series?  I would say, not without some legit #1 and #2 pitchers we're not.

17 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Trading any player is not surrender or giving up. The idea is to improve the team. The point in the post was that Ryan should require more than Berrios if traded. I agree. Ryan only is traded for a very significant return.

The strength of the team is pitching. The position side is weak. No major return, no deal for Ryan. There are teams that actually need a starting pitcher like Joe Ryan desperately. Hold them to the fire.

I agree but would require a kings ransom for Ryan.

Reading comments and I agree that it would really unwise to trade Ryan. Pitching is critical in the playoffs.

In order to get three postseasons of Ryan or Duran I would want a 60 and a low risk 50/higher risk 55. I want two players with a projection to be an above average major leaguer if I am trading three years of key playoff pieces. The likelihood is at least one will not meet their projection.

There aren’t very many 60s according to Fangraphs but the Dodgers have one in Rushing. I need another significant prospect with him. I think Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee also might have the elite prospect talent to make the deal. 

Would love to keep Ryan if the Twins projected as competing for the division next year, but it does not look like it so Selling high to a team like Boston desperate for playoff baseball who is really short on starting pitching with their #4 tearing his ACL and Buehler's struggles.  Here a deal that could make sense for both sides, Ryan and Vazquez for rookie SS/3B Mayer, former starting C struggling this year after solid 2024 Connor Wong,  Rookie RHP Fitts up and down AAA similar to SWR last year and a AA prospect arm like LHP Tolle or  Early.   And then move Duran for on the cusp top 40 OF/1B prospect and a 2nd T100 prospect. 

47 minutes ago, Lefty61 said:

Would love to keep Ryan if the Twins projected as competing for the division next year, but it does not look like it so Selling high to a team like Boston desperate for playoff baseball who is really short on starting pitching with their #4 tearing his ACL and Buehler's struggles.  Here a deal that could make sense for both sides, Ryan and Vazquez for rookie SS/3B Mayer, former starting C struggling this year after solid 2024 Connor Wong,  Rookie RHP Fitts up and down AAA similar to SWR last year and a AA prospect arm like LHP Tolle or  Early.   And then move Duran for on the cusp top 40 OF/1B prospect and a 2nd T100 prospect. 

Boston is a great match and great point about their desperation.

I would hold out for Anthony over Mayer though. If the Dodgers are in the talks Boston is going to have to outbid them and Rushing. The Twins would have to make them at least believe the Dodgers are pursuing Ryan.

22 hours ago, Omardog said:

A #3 at best?!  Thankfully you're not making talent evaluations for the Twins....

on contenders..he would not be a 2 on very good teams like Dodgers, Phils, Yankees, etc ..he could be a 2 on mid level talented teams

Teams need 3 starters in the playoffs and a 4th at times depending on how quickly they win a series. It doesn’t matter  what arbitrary number between 1 and 3 someone one the outside gives them.

Just for context Joe Ryan is 18th by fWAR at the break. Looking at the four teams that might have that elite prospect match. The Dodgers have no one above him and one in the top 30. The Red Sox have Crochet above him and no one else in the top 30. The Tigers have Skubal above him and no one else in the top 30. The Phillies have Wheeler, Sanchez and Luzardo above him. Ryan would be a significant playoff rotation upgrade for at least three of these teams.

Ryan is evolving as a pitcher in a very positive fashion. Health, as always, is critical. If I'm looking around MLB for players in a potential deal for Joe Ryan, I'm shooting really high. I totally doubt the rational aspect of one of my thoughts. Ryan, Larnach, Gonzalez, and Charlee Soto to West Sacramento for Nick Kurtz and Mason Miller. They need pitching, the Twins need a bat.

Ryan is about 99.9% remaining a Twin in my opinion.

The trade of Joe Ryan doesn't mean the end of 2025 for the Twins. It just makes us more uncomfortable and less optimistic because it's a name we know and trust. If it's possible to be less optimistic in consideration of the current state of optimism expressed on Twinsdaily.   

The Red Sox were 36-36 when they traded Rafael Devers. Alex Bregman was also on the injured list.

They have gone 16-8 since. The trade of Joe Ryan doesn't mean the end sometimes it means the beginning. 

With that said... if the Twins trade Joe Ryan... If they trade Joe Ryan. 

They better do a better job with the young prospects acquired then they have done with their own farm raised prospects.

It's important to note... very important to note that the primary reason that a Joe Ryan trade can be justified in July of 2025 is because they haven't done a good job raising their young for many years now. 

If they struggle with the raising of their own young... bringing them more young to raise seems to be a bad idea... it would be like trying to collect water in your sink with the drain wide open.     

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

It's important to note... very important to note that the primary reason that a Joe Ryan trade can be justified in July of 2025 is because they haven't done a good job raising their young for many years now. 

I have been thinking about this for a while. Is there a way we can measure how well they have done? My bias is I am really familiar with the Twins failures and not so familiar with the failures of other teams. It seems like the Twins fail much more than they should.

What data would shed light on how well they raise their young? Fangraphs FV data goes back a while. I wonder if that is the place to start.

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

I have been thinking about this for a while. Is there a way we can measure how well they have done? My bias is I am really familiar with the Twins failures and not so familiar with the failures of other teams. It seems like the Twins fail much more than they should.

What data would shed light on how well they raise their young? Fangraphs FV data goes back a while. I wonder if that is the place to start.

It's hard for us mere mortals. 

Myself I've reached the point where I believe we have a development problem based on an imperfect system. Simply counting the younger players on every team on the 26 man roster to start the season and the numbers on every team once the injuries and call up start happening. 

It's unfair for me to judge with this basic approach because I'm not counting stats on the younger players and adding them up for a measurement of production. I'm counting the numbers for financial reasons and the obvious budget that our team must adhere to. 

In order to really measure... you'd have to take their numbers add them together and average them out and compare them to the vets. Lots of data entry involved so make sure you have drinks and snacks nearby.  

If anybody did this type of research... I'd be absolutely interested in the results. But it would have to be comprehensive... All 30 teams. 

That will only get you so far because you still have the unanswerable question of who gets credit for the development. In the case of trades... Did Ryan develop with the Rays or did the Twins find something. Did Ryan find it on his own or did the Twins development team find something. 

In the meantime... Yet while unfair... It's also fair because I'm sitting here wondering how the Twins are so low on pre-arb players and how the Brewers are beating us and others with double the amount. The Brewers have two major league rotations right now. The one in Milwaukee and the one in Nashville that would probably be better than 5 teams in the majors right now. The Twins have the vet presence of teams like the Phillies but we don't spend that kind of money. 

Milwaukee could trade Joe Ryan and not miss a beat. As a matter of fact... they have traded Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader, Devin Williams and seem to come out of it stronger every time and for 30 million dollars less than the Twins spend.

30 Million... that's one BIG FREE AGENT that the Twins could add to the roster.  

Why do we need to trade Joe Ryan... Not to copy the Brewers... but to plug the holes that the farm isn't filling because we are not copying the Brewers... we are more like the Phillies.  

For the love of god don't trade Ryan...he's a very talented (#2?) pitcher who is making a paltry $3 million a year and will not become a free agent until 2028--do I have that right? He's a gold mine. Extend him now and keep him happy!

Not to nitpick but Berrios had just turned 27 and Ryan just turned 29, so the team trading for Berrios would also have been thinking if we extend him we could overpay a bit more. Ryan Maybe Ryan will prove to be worth extending in his 30's but I think it is less likely to get a long term extension. 

For me to trade Ryan it would have to be so overwhelming that I couldn't say no, but I am trading him next year or the year after for sure, so why not start figuring out what he is worth now?

On 7/15/2025 at 11:12 AM, Julian Bernick said:

It only makes sense to trade Ryan if you are tearing everything down.  There's no way you want to trade Joe Ryan if you are trying to get better for the next 1-2 seasons.   But if there was a way to sell on Correa and really strip EVERYthing down to the studs (and start with a blank slate for new owners), he could go like everything else into a Houston 2013-style total rebuild.

Slight disagreement with this. It only makes sense to trade Ryan if you are not committed to re-signing him when his contract expires (or extending him prior) and you get significant compensation back. 

Selling high on an asset when you know you aren't going to keep it long term does not equal "tearing it down".  If the Twins FO feels like payroll will not permit re-signing Joe then trading him at a peak is the most prudent move. It's a good process and is up to your organization to stick the landing by taking those pieces and making them collectively better.

The Twins need another hitter to make a run.  Paddack and Ober are up and down.  Lopez is coming back soon I think.  I haven’t followed the team as much as I would like this season but they may as well go for it.  They aren’t going to get much talent at the trade deadline so may as well win.