Twins Offseason Trade Watch: 3 Players Already Making National Lists

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

The Dodgers are World Series champions once again, and for the Twins, the offseason has officially begun. As teams around the league prepare for free agency and the Winter Meetings, Minnesota finds itself in an uncomfortable but familiar position. Payroll is expected to dip, the roster is in transition, and the front office will have to balance short-term competitiveness with long-term sustainability.

That means trades are coming. The Twins already sold off several controllable pieces at the 2025 trade deadline, and more could follow this winter. National lists see the Twins as rebuilding (or “retooling”, if you ask the front office), which means they are open for business. MLB Trade Rumors released their top 40 trade candidates over the weekend, and three Twins made their top 10. 

Here are the three most likely Twins players to be traded as the club shifts their focus toward the future.

Ryan Jeffers, C
MLB Trade Rumors Rank: 9
Jeffers has quietly become one of the more productive catchers in the American League (105 OPS+ since 2024), but the clock is ticking on his time in Minnesota. He’s entering his final year of team control, and with the Twins unlikely to extend him or contend in 2026, his trade value may never be higher than it is right now. However, the Twins have few options behind the plate if Jeffers is off the roster. 

There are few free-agent catching options this winter. Catcher trades at the deadline are always tricky. Learning a new pitching staff on the fly is no easy task, so if Minnesota intends to move Jeffers, this offseason is the logical time to do it. Teams looking for a veteran backstop with power and leadership could make compelling offers. The Twins would have to find other veteran options to take the reins with Jeffers out of the picture. 

Joe Ryan, RHP
MLB Trade Rumors Rank: 2 (Behind Washington’s MacKenzie Gore)
Few players have had their names pop up in trade rumors more than Ryan. Reports swirled last July that he might be part of the Twins’ trade deadline sell-off, but he remained in Minneapolis. The situation feels unsustainable. Ryan is under team control through 2027 and will earn far less than his on-field value through arbitration, making him a cost-efficient asset for pitching-hungry contenders.

The Twins may be hesitant to move their All-Star starter, but that same logic could make him the centerpiece of a trade that replenishes their farm system. If he isn’t dealt this winter, expect his name to resurface again by the 2026 trade deadline. The Red Sox were interested in Ryan in July, but the offseason should find a longer list of teams interested in cost-controlled starting pitching.  

Pablo López, RHP
MLB Trade Rumors Rank: 6
This is the big one (as far as salary goes). López is owed $21.75 million in each of the next two seasons, which would be a bargain for most teams but may be too steep for the cost-conscious Twins. López has been the ace they hoped for when they traded Luis Arraez to get him, but the reality of Minnesota’s financial outlook could make him their most valuable trade chip.

If the Twins believe contention is unlikely for the next two years, trading López now would allow them to maximize his value and begin a deeper reset. Contenders across the league would line up for a playoff-caliber starter with swing-and-miss stuff. Some teams might try to lowball the Twins since he is coming off a season wherein he missed time with injury. It would be a painful move, but one that might define this front office’s offseason strategy.

The Twins enter the winter with difficult choices and limited flexibility. Moving on from players like López, Ryan, or Jeffers would not be easy, but staying the course might not be an option, either. As the offseason unfolds, Minnesota will attempt to strike a balance between retooling and rebuilding. The extent of their success at that could reshape the organization for years to come.

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Do you agree with the rankings above? Who should the Twins trade this winter? Who will the Twins trade this winter? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[soyouresayingtheresachance]

My opinion is if you keep any of these players, then you need to add to the roster to compete this year. If youre not trying to add to the roster to compete this year, then trade them all and bring back a haul of youth to fill out the roster with. Im anxious to see what happens either way. Its a very exciting time in Twins Territory!

[DocBauer]

Ugh!

Don't we ALWAYS hear about lists like this early offseason? And we've ALREADY heard speculation about all 3 for months now, and the season only concluded a day ago.

What does moving Jeffers do for a team that already has questions about his backup? I guess we're just punting away the entire 2026 season with various cartoons to fill a spot.

Ryan, super talented and cheap, only makes sense if the return is so good you just can't say no. And you'd better have a ton of faith in the rest of your SP options or again, you are just punting on 2026.

Lopez is really, really good. He remains the Twins #1 SP, and he's also a team leader, in addition to being the leader of the staff. So if you move him, you might as well blow the whole thing up and just admit you are going to be the A's, Marlins, Pirates, Rockies, for the next few seasons.

For me, until I hear something different, I'm going to ASSUME SOMEONE has enough brain cells running the Twins organization to determine that RUINING any chance the Twins have of being a competitive team, even with a $120M-ish payroll, is a POOR CHOICE in keeping your investment of high value vs destroying the value of your investment. 

[Hrbeks Divot]

In my mind there is no question the Twins are rebuilding if even two of these three are traded. If they cut payroll again or even stay flat with the end of the season then their window of contention might begin to open again in 2027. They might as well rip the band aid off and move Ober as well if they can get anything close to a fair return. Start to bring up the kids and hope you’ve got someone to develop them into the next core. It would be difficult to watch but I’d rather they go that route instead of claiming they are retooling with low end veteran hitters and scrap heap relievers.

[CRNA]

I think they move all 3.  That might force Buxton to think about what he wants for his last years in baseball.  The 2026 Twins with no Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers or Buxton?  I think it's possible.

[Boswell]

6 minutes ago, CRNA said:

I think they move all 3.  That might force Buxton to think about what he wants for his last years in baseball.  The 2026 Twins with no Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers or Buxton?  I think it's possible.

I think it’s likely.  Challenge the White Sox for the cellar. 

[DJL44]

There is a little depth in the rotation and trading one starting pitcher makes sense. There isn't any at catcher. The only way trading Jeffers makes sense is if they can acquire someone to replace him.

[Dave Borton]

Welcome to Oakland (sic)/Sacramento (sic) Athletics land, 2.0.

[LyleCole]

I think the worse thing to do is try to straddle between being a contending team and a rebuilding team.  The half way approach does not work.  Either invest the salary budget needed to be a contender, or commit to rebuilding with prospects.  Take your lumps, including lots and lots of losses, and hope your blue print for rebuilding works. 

Proper rebuilding takes years if you do it right.  Not every prospect works out, there are injuries along the way that there isn't enough depth to cover, and even the management of the team can be wrong.  This was all part of the process from 1981 through the World Series teams.

The real question on these trades is what is the value of these players and the timeline for competitiveness.  I would argue that for Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan are at their maximum trade value right now.  Buxton just completed a probable top-10 MVP season and is relatively underpaid for that level of output and is still a relatively good CF.  This is peak value for him, and although he has indicated he does not want to be traded, moving to a more competitive team would change all of that.  

Ryan is a little less of a sure thing to trade because he still has two years of team control.  But that is a chip that increases his trade value to any team looking to acquire him.

Then depending on what returns you get from those deals, you can decide on Jeffers and Lopez.   For example, a Ryan trade to Chicago Cubs that brought back Ballesteros might make Jeffers expendable.  

Then commit to losing 100+ games and getting your young guys up to MLB level.  

[farmerguychris]

I read an article on the Athletic regarding the projected power rankings for 2026.  They had our Twins 4 spots below the Pirates.  Ugh - this could be a long few years.

[jmlease1]

I see fans from the Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Blue Jays, Padres, Giants, and maybe Cards & Cubs to be offering several lottery ticket type prospects from the bottom of their top prospect lists in exchange for Ryan and/or Lopez and expect Twins fans to be grateful that they have deigned to toss us a few scraps for our best players.

The media will mostly scheme ways to get our best players out of here on to big money contenders and care very little about what the Twins get in return.

This will not be an enjoyable part of the offseason.

[tony&rodney]

The Twins at this time are (for better or worse/more or less) basically in the same territory as Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago White Sox, Colorado, Los Angeles Angels, and maybe a few others. The team is definitely seen as among the bottom ten clubs in baseball, to be generous. The Twins are not a team that suffered unfortunate injuries that collapsed their fortunes in the summer. They were a bad team. Change is necessary to avoid being even worse.

The determination of who to trade or who to hold belongs to the Twins teetering POBO. The simple reason that Ryan, Lopez, and Jeffers are noted among national lists is because Jeffers has one year and the two pitchers have two years remaining as Twins. They could have great years on a 65-75 win team or the Twins could seek players to continue following whatever they had in mind when they traded Duran, Jax, and Varland. 

The course of action where the Twins make a heroic effort to compete for the division is also possible. That would require a budget the equal or greater to what was on the rolls for the beginning of 2025. It can be done, possibly. Who thinks the folks who make the financial decisions will give a green light  to those expenditures? 

Fans are left guessing and hoping that whatever is decided the direction of the team involves rostering a product that is watchable, win or lose.

[Sjoski]

"As the offseason unfolds, Minnesota will attempt to strike a balance between retooling and rebuilding."

Where has that "balance " taken the Twins in the past. Isn't it time for a different strategy?  Not that Falvey could even execute one or the other. 

 

[tony&rodney]

1 minute ago, jmlease1 said:

I see fans from the Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Blue Jays, Padres, Giants, and maybe Cards & Cubs to be offering several lottery ticket type prospects from the bottom of their top prospect lists in exchange for Ryan and/or Lopez and expect Twins fans to be grateful that they have deigned to toss us a few scraps for our best players.

This has already begun. There are other teams though and several of them could be partners in mutually beneficial trades. Our hopes ride on the Twins guys (Falvey & his followers) making sound baseball decisions and not giving away a Twin player for lower range prospects/ career utility type guys. There should be a couple of teams who actually paid close attention to the recent post season and see themselves as a Ryan short of flying a flag.

[Doctor Gast]

I don't want to trade any of these players. Not because I think we can compete, but because #1- Falvey won't get anyone that can really impact the Twins any time soon or fit our real needs. If Falvey is set to sell, other teams will outwait him for a good deal on their part. #2- Our farm is bloated with AAAA, unproven, undeveloped & redundant players. #3- Our young players need mentors to get a proper footing under themselves; otherwise, we become the CWS. 

Even if Ryan wants to be traded, I wouldn't trade him under these circumstances. I especially wouldn't sell low on Pablo. I really don't want to trade Jeffers because our catching is a mess. But he makes the most sense to trade because what people like to ignore is that Boras is his agent, Boras doesn't do extensions so more than likely he's gone after this year. So instead of losing him for nothing, they should get something for him. If Jeffers wants an extension, again, Boras is his agent; it'd be ridiculously high.

[Patzky]

3 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Ugh!

Don't we ALWAYS hear about lists like this early offseason? And we've ALREADY heard speculation about all 3 for months now, and the season only concluded a day ago.

What does moving Jeffers do for a team that already has questions about his backup? I guess we're just punting away the entire 2026 season with various cartoons to fill a spot.

Ryan, super talented and cheap, only makes sense if the return is so good you just can't say no. And you'd better have a ton of faith in the rest of your SP options or again, you are just punting on 2026.

Lopez is really, really good. He remains the Twins #1 SP, and he's also a team leader, in addition to being the leader of the staff. So if you move him, you might as well blow the whole thing up and just admit you are going to be the A's, Marlins, Pirates, Rockies, for the next few seasons.

For me, until I hear something different, I'm going to ASSUME SOMEONE has enough brain cells running the Twins organization to determine that RUINING any chance the Twins have of being a competitive team, even with a $120M-ish payroll, is a POOR CHOICE in keeping your investment of high value vs destroying the value of your investment. 

Trading Ryan would bring a kings ransom. Trading Jeffers would require a FA catcher and likely another year of Christian Vazquez.

 

Trading Pablo is gutting the team for the foreseeable future. 

[thelanges5]

I hate the premise of this but with no shared plans we are left to fill in the blanks. I’d like to think they will answer some payroll questions tomorrow at the Shelton presser but they probably won’t. 

[Nashvilletwin]

A question to those who want to keep Ryan and Lopez: is there any realistic chance they will re-sign with the Twins for their next contract?  Also, is it worth keeping them if it’s likely they will really only play one additional year with the Twins (given the high likelihood of an extended lockout in ‘27)?

The answers should be no and no, especially if there are no plans to reinvest in meaningful free agent talent for ‘26.

Yeah, it’s sad. But the right move is to trade them at peak value. And if we are talking about peak value, then Buxton should be included (i.e. asked if he wants to go to a contender).  Jeffers should probably stay until the trade deadline.

[DocBauer]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

Trading Ryan would bring a kings ransom. Trading Jeffers would require a FA catcher and likely another year of Christian Vazquez.

 

Trading Pablo is gutting the team for the foreseeable future. 

Trading Ryan SHOULD bring back a ransom. 

I keep reading rumors from the BoSox about an OF and others, including their 1st round pick of Whitmore I think it is. And there other options presented.

But I'm one who hates to speculate on trades. While an IMMEDIATE upgrade in the OF sounds enticing, do the Twins really need that? And yet another OF who may be great, but lack control?

MAYBE I'm actually smarter than Falvey. But I'd be focused on a few adds, pushing the Pohlads for some $, and concentrate on my new manager and his coaching staff. 

I have a TON of talent on the arm side of things. My offense needs a leader and an adoptive approach because I have a TON of talent on hand and about to debut. My pitching staff needs to take what I have and raise it to another level.

But did I hire a babysitter? Or did I hire someone who will work with me in the new distraction I see us taking place?

Sorry, but screw trade BS. The Twins SHOULD be looking at what they can accomplish with improvement. NOT what they could save. 

Falvey, you SHOW ME a trade for Ryan that makes a difference and I will admit how damn smart you pretend to be.

 

[Brock O. Lee]

I think these trades are slightly different flavors and each trade's likelihood depends on whose needs are being met: the team's or the owner's. A Lopez trade saves $20 mil for the Pohlads (and two owners to be named later [OTBNL]); this trade happens if the owners have dictated further restrictions. A Jeffers trade saves very little money--any primary catcher you pick up in free agency will not be making a ton less than $6 mil; this trade tells me the front office is in the driver's seat and that they are fighting for a better 2027 without one arm behind their backs. Ryan sort of falls into to Jeffers boat IMO: modest cost savings but potentially an infusion of near-term talent. 

Cynically, I think they move Lopez for the cost savings immediately and flip the other two later as the team fails to surprise. 

[EGFTShaw]

I am selling LOW on the Pohlads rebuilding.

I think they are trying to make the books look good to any potential buyers.

Am I a cynical MN fan? 🙃

[rv78]

If they don't trade 'em, in 2026 they might win 70 games, again. Yeah, that's the same number they won in 2025 with a good bullpen the first half of the season. If they do trade 'em they'll win less. The difference in the grand scheme of competing? None. Who knows if there will even be a 2027 season.

[mikelink45]

I have no idea - if we think that trading three players with real value to get prospects that are going to lead us to the promised land we must not be watching the same talent evaluators who have led us to this dismal place.  Teams like the Pirates, A's, Angels have been playing the trade game for years and their treadmills are going no where.  Without a real plan and the people in place to implement it we just watch former players in the playoffs for other teams. 

[Otaknam]

It won’t be a surprise if Ryan, Lopez and Buxton are traded this offseason or before the 26 trade deadline, signaling a tear down to the studs rebuild to save money going into a likely lockdown in 2027. Buxton certainly deserves the option to move on from this dumpster fire operation. Our only hope is that some young players they are developing, like Culpepper and Jenkins, as well as those acquired through the carpet bombing trades, are ready to contribute in 2026. 

[saviking]

Trade Lopez and use his money to secure Ryann to a long-term contract .. 

[Patzky]

45 minutes ago, saviking said:

Trade Lopez and use his money to secure Ryann to a long-term contract .. 

It won't be enough and Ryan will ask to go.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

I was initially surprised that Jeffers is listed that high on the list, but after going down the list, it made more sense to me. That Jeffers is a free agent after next season kind of snuck up on me, because he was rarely included in trade talks during this year's trade deadline. I think that is important for the Twins to extend him a few years, if only to hold down the fort, until names like Tait, Jimenez, and Diaw are ready. Once he is gone, there is basically no one left at the catcher position for the Twins.

[jorgenswest]

I just went through last year’s list. One player moved that had two years of service time remaining and in arbitration. 

The Marlins traded Jesus Luzardo to the Phillies. They received Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. Caba is currently their 5th ranked prospect and an FV45. Boyd was an FV40 at the time of the trade but he has dropped entirely off the Marlin prospect list. Luzardo started 32 games and went 15-7 for the Phillies.

I just don’t see how the Marlins benefitted by trading him with that extra year of service time. The only benefit was the 6.625 million dollar in savings. Teams don’t get value by trading players with two full years of service time. That is why it doesn’t happen very often. It isn’t the Guardians path. It isn’t the Brewers path. It shouldn’t be the Twins path with Ryan.

[stringer bell]

Total rebuild or retooling? Two years ago, it looked like the Twins would be relevant at least until team control of López, Ryan and Ober was exhausted, along with Correa and Buxton. That has blown up, mostly because no other players have stepped up. Trading three players with extended team control at the deadline plainly indicated that the Twins gave up on 2025 and almost certainly 2026. Correa is gone, Ober is diminished, but the other key players are here. Not nearly enough to contend, but some decent pieces. 

IMHO, a trade of one starter (López or Ryan) and not much else indicates the Twins are trying to retool without a long term rebuild. If both Ryan and Pablo leave, we're looking at contending sometime after a new collective bargaining agreement is in place. Trading Jeffers also indicates that the club won't be serious about contending for years.

 

[Heiny]

A total rebuild is the only thing that makes sense to me.  We are not going to the playoffs in '26'.  We are not going to the playoffs in '27',  if there is a '27'.  Why would we not want to trade these players, that could bring back some very good young talent that could start a new playoff run in '28' or '29'?  We already have some good young talent to build around.  Let's bolster it with more young talent that will be ML ready in a couple of years.  Arms, 1B and C being the focus.  We have Jenkins, Rodriquez, Gonzalez and others for the outfield.  We have Culpepper, Keaschall, Winokur, Lee, Lewis and others for the infield.  If not rebuilding now, then when.  It's now that we have the trade chips to improve for the future.  Do it.