Following their tough loss at the hands of the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card round this past October, the Red Sox are expected to make a lot of noise this offseason. This week’s Winter Meetings will be a huge opportunity for them to potentially add one of, if not multiple big names currently available on both the trade and free agent market.
However for Boston, they are presumably out on a specific pitcher they have been linked to dating back to the 2025 trade deadline. That pitcher happens to be Joe Ryan, one of the top names among starting pitchers on the trade market.
Joe Ryan's link to the Red Sox dates back further than just this offseason
After trading away Carlos Correa, Jhoan Duran, and Griffin Jax among others, it seemed as if the Twins were entering a full rebuild given their under performance in each of the last two seasons. With that being said, Joe Ryan looked like a hot commodity at the deadline for teams looking to add starting pitching ahead of their playoff push.
In fact, the Red Sox were supposedly close enough to acquiring Joe Ryan from the Twins for MLB Network's X account to make a false post that the trade was indeed made. It was later reported that the Red Sox were never actually close to making the deal happen due to their inability to meet the Twins asking price for the ace.
Fast-forward to the offseason, and the Twins were still looking for potential suitors for Ryan and possibly Pablo Lopez with the Red Sox being one of the teams in the mix to land either pitcher.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox who are looking to add more pitching depth following the addition of Sonny Gray, the Twins asking price for Ryan is just too high for Craig Breslow and his front office in Boston. According to Red Sox insider Rob Bradford, “the Red Sox have drawn back on their pursuit of Joe Ryan,” though he did also state that it could change.
The Twins plan to hold on to Joe Ryan
Earlier reports, specifically from Ken Rosenthal and the Athletic, stated that the Twins have no intention of dealing Joe Ryan. It’s hard to imagine the Twins would not listen in on any offers for their ace, so it could just be chalked up to their asking price being too high for any team interested.
Ryan is coming off of arguably the best season of his career, posting a 3.42 ERA, 3,74 FIP, and a 1.04 WHIP across a career high 171 innings. He also has two more years of control before he enters free agency prior to the 2028 season. With that being said, it’s no wonder that the Twins are looking for a big haul for the 29-year-old. His final two years of arbitration are projected to cost only about $20-$22 million combined, so he’s cheap and in the middle of his prime — as good a reason as any to hold on to the star if they plan to extend him or quickly turn the ship around in order to compete in 2026 and 2027.
There are plenty of different avenues in which the Red Sox can pivot. Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Michael King, and Zac Gallen remain on the open market while other big names such as Freddy Peralta and MacKenzie Gore are both viable options on the trade market. Boston has the resources to make a deal happen in either market, so the fact that they are out on Joe Ryan does not bring their offseason plans any closer to its conclusion.