Minnesota Twins right-handed pitcher Joe Ryan has been involved in trade rumors since July.
They haven't totally gone away, and some contract news on Thursday won't quiet them down.
Thursday was the last day for MLB teams to agree to terms with arbitration-eligible players to avoid actually having to go to arbitration hearings.
The Twins and Ryan didn't agree on a deal, though, according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand:
The Twins reached deals with all of their arbitration-eligible players except for Joe Ryan, who appears headed for an arbitration hearing.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 8, 2026
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That's not ideal.
Arbitration hearings can get contentious and lead to hard feelings as the team attempts to negotiate down the end-game salary for their player.
It's not clear how Ryan himself feels about trade rumors, so it's not obvious whether they factored into this picture at all.
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But this means that Ryan's name will remain in the news in the weeks ahead as arbitration approaches.
And if a trade is coming, maybe this ends up nudging it over the edge toward a deal getting done.
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