Last year at the trade deadline, there was a decent amount of buzz that the Twins would move starting pitcher Joe Ryan. For starters, they did move quite a number of their notable players, including Carlos Correa and Jhoan Duran. On deadline day, there were even reports that a deal to send Ryan to the Red Sox was done.
Considering that following his final start before the deadline, he had a 2.82 ERA and a 3.22 FIP, it’s understandable why the Red Sox were interested. In the end, neither they nor any
other suitors could get a deal across the line. Now one year later, Ryan is again a name people are bringing up. Should the Yankees be one of the teams that look in on Ryan to bolster their rotation?
Going into this year’s deadline, any potential price for Ryan may be a little lower. That’s not to say that Ryan has been bad at all. He fell off a bit towards the end of last season, but he’s been very good so far in 2026, posting a 2.85 ERA and a 2.77 FIP, making his second career AL All-Star team. He got off to a bit of a slow start to the season, but since the start of May, he had a 2.38 ERA and has struck out 89 batters in 72 innings.
That being said, Ryan has a year less on his contract compared to last year. He’ll still have a year left of team control after this season and will still cost a pretty penny, but the Twins’ asking price was probably even higher at this time last year.
However, there’s one big reason that Minnesota might not sell Ryan or any other major players this season: they’re actually in the playoff race. Now, that’s mostly because the AL and the Central Division as a whole aren’t particularly great, but the Twins are very much in the thick of it. Going into the All-Star break, their 48-49 record had them three games back of the upstart White Sox in the AL Central and occupying the last AL Wild Card spot. There will still be a couple weeks of action once teams get back, and it’s possible a disastrous stretch could cause them to reconsider. That being said, the AL probably isn’t good enough to cause a flip in the standings quickly enough to get them to go for another fire sale.
Then, there’s another matter: should the Yankees want him? On the surface level, yes, if you told me no information other than that the Yankees are acquiring Joe Ryan, I’d be fine with that. He is a very good pitcher. However, starting pitching is a position the team should, hopefully, be okay at. Yes, Carlos Rodón is currently on the IL, and some of the others not named Cam Schlittler have had some ups and downs. That being said, if you’re going to use prospect depth on a starter trade, you might want to try and get a legit home run of an upgrade. If you’re not doing that, they could make just get a depth piece. Ryan is closer to the high end of starters, but he’s not, say, Tarik Skubal.
Adding to that, Ryan strikes out a lot of batters and has a below average walk rate, but he’s a bit above average in terms of allowing fly balls, line drives, and hard contact. That combination is always a question mark in Yankee Stadium. Ryan is almost certainly good enough that he wouldn’t become suddenly bad, but you’d probably expect his numbers to rise a bit.
Putting all that together, I find it a bit difficult to imagine the Yankees dealing specifically for Ryan. For one, I don’t see the Twins doing it, but if the Yankees are going to take a big swing, there are probably better positions or options out there to do so.
