CLEVELAND — Trying to maintain a sense of normalcy, right-handed pitcher Joe Ryan of the Twins entered the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field on August 1, 2025, doing his best to act as if it were just an ordinary day.
Though he was set to start on the mound that night, his status with Minnesota had been thrown into doubt just a day prior. During the week leading up to the MLB trade deadline, ten of his teammates had been traded away in a stunning midseason roster liquidation that stands as one of the most drastic in recent baseball history.
The unraveling began the prior Sunday following a home series loss to the Washington Nationals, one of the worst teams in the league. By Monday, starting pitcher Chris Paddack had been traded to the Detroit Tigers. A devastating 13-1 Wednesday afternoon defeat to the Boston Red Sox dropped Minnesota’s record to 51-57, leaving them five and a half games back from a wild-card spot with five teams blocking their path. Their postseason probability, per FanGraphs, plummeted to under five percent. Shortly after that blowout loss, elite closer Jhoan Duran was dealt to Philadelphia, signaling that a major fire sale was underway.
The squad subsequently headed to Cleveland, where players gathered in small clusters inside their hotel rooms on Thursday, anxiously waiting out the trade deadline. In the early afternoon, news broke that outfielder Harrison Bader was also headed to Philadelphia. Soon after, reliever Brock Stewart was traded to the Dodgers. The most shocking news arrived around 4:00 p.m., when shortstop Carlos Correa agreed to waive his no-trade clause to head back to the Houston Astros.
By then, absolutely no player on the roster felt safe from being moved.
“While the trade deadline always brings anxiety across baseball,” noted Twins righty Pablo Lopez, “this felt ten times more intense. Especially as you watched the dominoes start to fall…”
During this chaotic period, Lopez was back in Minnesota working his way back from a shoulder issue rather than traveling with the club to Cleveland.
“Even though I was sidelined on the injured list,” Lopez remembered, “I couldn’t help but wonder if I was about to be traded as well.”
While Lopez remained, the front office was not done stripping down the roster. Following Correa’s exit, the sell-off continued apace: left-hander Danny Coulombe went to the Rangers, beloved utility player Willi Castro was sent to the Cubs, and both reliever Louis Varland and first baseman Ty France were shipped to Toronto. In the frantic final minutes leading up to the 6:00 p.m. Eastern deadline, it appeared Ryan might be on the move next.
As the final minutes ticked away, Ryan sat in the team hotel watching the trade deadline broadcast alongside fellow pitcher Griffin Jax. Confusion peaked at 5:32 p.m. when MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported that the Red Sox were attempting a last-second trade for Ryan.
“My phone started ringing with people asking if Boston had contacted me yet,” Ryan remembered. “I was just completely bewildered by it.”
At the final second, a trade call was made—but it was for his teammate. The Rays finalized a last-minute deal for Jax, meaning Ryan would remain with Minnesota.
“He was the one who ended up traded while I stayed,” Ryan remarked. “The whole experience was surreal.”
Consequently, when Ryan arrived at Progressive Field the following day, he focused on preparing for his start while reporters circled the clubhouse, asking the remaining veterans how they felt about the massive roster shake-up. Amid clichéd responses about staying positive and honest remarks regarding the tense post-deadline atmosphere, the remaining players and coaching staff tried to get acquainted with the wave of new call-ups from Triple-A. Though Ryan delivered a solid performance on the mound that night, Minnesota suffered a walk-off loss in the 10th inning, providing a gloomy end to a challenging week.
From that point on, Minnesota’s season completely fell apart, ending in a 92-loss campaign—their worst showing since 2016. Rumors about a potential trade involving Ryan continued through the winter, but the front office made few significant roster moves. Nevertheless, the organization grabbed headlines when manager Rocco Baldelli was let go and replaced by Derek Shelton, who previously served as Minnesota’s bench coach before managing the Pittsburgh Pirates for six seasons.
That December, ownership announced a leadership shift, with Tom Pohlad taking over day-to-day operations from his brother, Joe, shortly after the family abandoned plans to sell the franchise. The following month, the club announced a mutual separation from Derek Falvey, the president of baseball operations since 2017, elevating assistant general manager Jeremy Zoll to lead the front office.
This extensive executive restructuring, combined with a quiet off-season in terms of roster additions, left fans with little optimism heading into the 2026 season. It seemed inevitable that as the team struggled, speculation about Ryan being traded would flare up once again.
Instead, helped by a mediocre American League, the Twins have managed to stay competitive enough to avoid becoming clear sellers. Heading into Monday’s games, Minnesota sits at 53-54, trailing the White Sox by three and a half games in the division and sitting a mere single game out of the final wild-card spot. FanGraphs currently projects their playoff chances at 33% and their divisional title odds at 19%.
With another trade deadline approaching, Minnesota found themselves back in Cleveland last week. Once again, Ryan was slated to start the series opener against the Guardians, though this time his team was in the hunt for a playoff spot. Unfortunately, his performance was disastrous. In his first start since pitching a scoreless frame at the All-Star Game, he was battered by a Cleveland offense not known for its power. Under the watchful eyes of scouts representing at least four franchises, Ryan allowed eight runs over four innings, giving up a record-tying six home runs.
The outing was an absolute catastrophe, yet it stands as a rare blemish on an otherwise excellent season for Minnesota’s top starting pitcher. Ryan is now in his fifth full season with the team’s rotation since being acquired from Tampa Bay in the 2021 Nelson Cruz deal. (Notably, Ryan learned of that trade right after arriving in Tokyo to play for Team USA in the Olympics, proving he is well-acquainted with chaotic deadline moments.) Leveraging a high-extension fastball with exceptional control from a uniquely low release angle, he has transformed from a reliable starter into a two-time All-Star. Over the last three seasons, among the 43 pitchers who have thrown at least 400 innings, Ryan sits 15th in ERA (3.47), seventh in WHIP (1.04), and sixth in K-BB% (22.7%).
Prior to his rough outing in Cleveland, Ryan was fifth in fWAR among all major league starters for 2026, trailing only Jacob Misiorowski, Cristopher Sánchez, Dylan Cease, and Cam Schlittler. Though his dominant fastball and control are still his primary strengths, his growth this year stems from key adjustments to his pitch mix. He has dropped his four-seamer usage to a career-low 46%, incorporating an 11% knuckle-curve to go along with a 12% splitter and a 15% sweeper, both of which have become highly effective thanks to his more diverse arsenal.
“He has become the caliber of pitcher we always expected, yet he still has so much room to grow,” Lopez observed. “That constant development is exactly what you look for. You want to continuously improve, add new pitches, and find another level of performance. You can never satisfy your appetite for growth, and that is a defining trait of Joe as a competitor. He is determined to keep evolving and outworking his opponents.”
While the difficult performance in Cleveland hurt his season metrics, Ryan looked back on it the following day as a perfect storm of negative circumstances coming together at once.
“It was essentially a worst-case scenario where multiple factors collided,” he explained, pointing out that he had skipped his usual bullpen session the previous week to address some mechanical adjustments following the All-Star break. “My focus now is simply to learn from those errors and make the necessary corrections.”
The setback was especially frustrating given how comfortable Ryan had felt with his pitching mechanics just prior to the midseason pause.
“I struggled to find my rhythm early in the season, but ironically, my best outing came against Cleveland,” Ryan said, pointing to his May 9 start where he allowed just one run over six innings. “That game was a catalyst for my year, giving me back my confidence, and I maintained that momentum all the way up until this recent game.”
This performance might have been a fluke, or it could point to a more concerning trend of post-All-Star break struggles throughout his career. Historically, Ryan has a 3.17 ERA and a .632 opponent OPS over 516 ⅔ first-half innings. However, in 239 innings following the break, his numbers decline to a 4.93 ERA and .776 opponent OPS—a historical drop-off that potential trade partners will likely examine closely.
Further complications arose over the weekend when the team pushed back his scheduled Sunday start against Oakland, citing general arm fatigue. After throwing on Saturday, Ryan dismissed any concerns about a potential injured list stint and is now lined up to pitch on Wednesday against Kansas City. Nonetheless, his physical condition and performance going forward will be closely watched, both for Minnesota’s postseason push and by other front offices assessing his trade value.
Just twelve months after trading away a large portion of their roster, the Twins find themselves at another crucial crossroads. Earlier this year, they appeared poised for another teardown, with Ryan and contract-year catcher Ryan Jeffers as the most prominent trade assets. Even with Minnesota currently in playoff contention, the high demand for starting pitching among contenders means that moving an All-Star pitcher like Ryan could secure an impressive return. Conversely, ownership may decide to make a postseason run to avoid missing the playoffs for three consecutive years—a drought the franchise hasn’t experienced in ten years.
In any event, the upcoming week leading to the trade deadline—which includes a three-game home stand against the Royals followed by a three-game series on the road against the Mariners—will resolve these critical questions for both Ryan and the franchise.
