Dear Falvey, You Can't Trade Away Joe Ryan

[old nurse]

5 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

 

Plus another year of Berrios. Yes, I would.

The reason they gave us for trading him is that he wouldn't sign an extension. What did he do after he got to Toronto....he signed an extension. 

So that he signed an extension there when he wouldn’t here means that he would have signed an extension here? Okey dokey, can’t argue with that kind of logic. 

[LewFordLives]

3 hours ago, old nurse said:

So that he signed an extension there when he wouldn’t here means that he would have signed an extension here? Okey dokey, can’t argue with that kind of logic. 

Let's say they hold onto him until the following year and then trade him at the deadline. You don't think some desperate team would have ponied up for him then? Maybe not two top 100 prospects, but at least 1 top 100?

[Otaknam]

Totally agree! Teams are built behind pitching. Starters who consistently give you six innings plus with and ERA under 3 are too valuable to trade, unless the team has bottomed out and is in rebuild mode. 

[Major League Ready]

I would bet one of Pablo, Ryan or Ober is traded at the 2026 trade deadline or the following winter.  All three of their contracts expire at the end of the 2027 season.  Replacing 3 of 5 starters for the 2028 season would be very difficult to manage.  If healthy, we start next year with Lopez/Ryan/Ober/Matthews and Festa or SWR assuming Ober gets back to normal.   One of the three more established SPs will be traded when they have a couple viable replacements.  It would help if two of Zebby/Festa/SWR prove to be more than 4/5 type starters.  

[dxpavelka]

Trade Ryan and / or Duran and you'll find yourself looking for a Ryan and / or Duran.  What's the point.

[dxpavelka]

20 hours ago, old nurse said:

So that he signed an extension there when he wouldn’t here means that he would have signed an extension here? Okey dokey, can’t argue with that kind of logic. 

You don't know that he wouldn't have signed here.

 

[old nurse]

6 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

You don't know that he wouldn't have signed here.

 

Just as you  don’t know that he would have. The number of extensions made by this club should indicate they have a little bit of ability to negotiate deals with current players. 

[dxpavelka]

45 minutes ago, old nurse said:

Just as you  don’t know that he would have. The number of extensions made by this club should indicate they have a little bit of ability to negotiate deals with current players. 

Here's what else we know:  The guys we got in the deal have spent FAR more time on the east side of the river than the west side.  SWR has had a nice run for the last month.  Which is encouraging.  But that's one month.  Out of four years.  Where did trading away the first SP we had developed in a generation leave us?  Looking for a pitcher of Berrios' caliber.  It precipitated, either directly or indirectly the need to make trade for Tyler Mahle, which precipitated the the need to trade away a now three time batting champion.  The number of the extension he signed in Toronto should have been palatable to us.  Did we offer it?  And, oh, just so we don't forget, Berrios is fighting for a pennant.  We're fighting to not be sellers.

[Doctor Gast]

On 7/13/2025 at 3:11 PM, tony&rodney said:

Matthews is back after the break. Ryan, Festa, Woods Richardson, Matthews, and Paddack with Ober and Lopez back soon is a pretty solid group. Raya and Morris will be ready to contribute next year as needed. Whatever means or ways that can be found, the Twins need to upgrade their position player spots. Listen to those who call and call those teams who you think may be interested in discussing players with across baseball. I don't think keeping everything the same will work.

IMO, we started the season with a fragile rotation. Ober, sick & sore hip, Festa, young & fatigued arm (early in the season is concerning), Matthew & SWR, young & trying to find themselves, Paddack, arm history, Ryan, injured last season. The only one that I thought we didn't have to worry about was Lopez & he became our 1st casualty. Soon to follow Matthews & Ober, who should have been shut down to begin the season to have him totally recover from his hip. After Lopez went down in early June, the rotation unraveled, which led to our disastrous June. FO should have been proactive, & picked up Kyle Gibson right away. But again they let things slide. Gibson was performing well, ramping up with TB. He was ready, a veteran presence, great in the clubhouse, has an excellent history with the Twins & can eat innings. I'm not sure but I think BAL was on the hook for his salary.  

A month & a half later, I agree it's not as ideal. Kyle Gibson has been idle for a couple of weeks, Festa & SWR have found their footing, Ryan has been our anchor, Yes, Ober & Matthews are on their way back but It'll take a while for them to be 100% & get their mechanics back on track. Lopez won't be back until Sept. & what condition will he be? We are still fragile. How long can Paddack keep it it up? When will Festa's arm wear down? Ryan isn't immune to the injury bug. We have no one in AAA who can contribute. IMO, if we had Gibson from the time Lopez went down we could have stayed off the June plunge & be leading the wild card race not trying to keep our head above water. We still could use him, Paddack could be moved to long relief or even move Gibson there later on. For us to make it to the postseason, we need a strong rotation & BP. We are not there. The way things are right now, our pitching will peter out again.

[Bodie]

On 7/13/2025 at 10:20 PM, Rod Carews Birthday said:

Yes.  For a different team and more money than the Twins were likely willing to offer.  That ship sailed long ago.

 

Yeah, the "problem" wasn't that he wasn't going to keep playing (i.e. sign another contract, new or extended), it was that it wasn't going to be with the Twins. 

Infinitely more likely that he ended up with the Blue Jay's even if he wasn't traded there than doing a complete 180 and signiing with the Twins after his contract expired.  The only real choices were to trade him, or simply flog him until his contract expired and take the comp pick.

The Twins might not have gotten "equal value" in return, but Toronto really overpaid for a couple of months of disappointing pitching. 

[tony&rodney]

44 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

IMO, we started the season with a fragile rotation. Ober, sick & sore hip, Festa, young & fatigued arm (early in the season is concerning), Matthew & SWR, young & trying to find themselves, Paddack, arm history, Ryan, injured last season. The only one that I thought we didn't have to worry about was Lopez & he became our 1st casualty. Soon to follow Matthews & Ober, who should have been shut down to begin the season to have him totally recover from his hip. After Lopez went down in early June, the rotation unraveled, which led to our disastrous June. FO should have been proactive, & picked up Kyle Gibson right away. But again they let things slide. Gibson was performing well, ramping up with TB. He was ready, a veteran presence, great in the clubhouse, has an excellent history with the Twins & can eat innings. I'm not sure but I think BAL was on the hook for his salary.  

A month & a half later, I agree it's not as ideal. Kyle Gibson has been idle for a couple of weeks, Festa & SWR have found their footing, Ryan has been our anchor, Yes, Ober & Matthews are on their way back but It'll take a while for them to be 100% & get their mechanics back on track. Lopez won't be back until Sept. & what condition will he be? We are still fragile. How long can Paddack keep it it up? When will Festa's arm wear down? Ryan isn't immune to the injury bug. We have no one in AAA who can contribute. IMO, if we had Gibson from the time Lopez went down we could have stayed off the June plunge & be leading the wild card race not trying to keep our head above water. We still could use him, Paddack could be moved to long relief or even move Gibson there later on. For us to make it to the postseason, we need a strong rotation & BP. We are not there. The way things are right now, our pitching will peter out again.

We can check back on how things went in October. Right now, and really thus far in the season, pitching has been solid overall. The main concerns have been poor defense, sparse offense, slow position players, and shoddy base-running. 

No team in baseball has too much pitching. The Twins are better off than most. If the Twins continue to maintain the same collection of position players and roll it back, again, next year we can not expect anything better than dull baseball. 

 

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

We can check back on how things went in October. Right now, and really thus far in the season, pitching has been solid overall. The main concerns have been poor defense, sparse offense, slow position players, and shoddy base-running. 

No team in baseball has too much pitching. The Twins are better off than most. If the Twins continue to maintain the same collection of position players and roll it back, again, next year we can not expect anything better than dull baseball. 

 

I'm also very concerned with our poor defense, poor baserunning, some players like Correa, not producing, plus a lack of chemistry most of the time. We need to do some changes to compete. Twins have been solid in pitching since '19. But have limped to the finish line every year except '23. '23, where we had a strong veteran rotation- Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Ober, Maeda & Paddack, BP- Duran, Jax, Thielbar, Stewart, Winder, Sands, Pagan with Paddack & Varland came on strong. That was able to support Baldelli's 1-inning RP philosophy & not get burned out. '24 & '25 we have holes in our pitching & they are not being filled properly. That's what kept us from the '24 postseason & will keep us out of the '25 postseason.