The Mets already know the shape of the problem. David Stearns has said plainly that next year has to be better than this one, and with New York sitting among the worst teams in Major League Baseball, the offseason is shaping up as a chance for real change.
At the deadline, the Mets cleared out most of the roster, but Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto stayed put. That leaves the organization with a core still in place and plenty of room for movement around it.
And if there’s one area that keeps staring back at them, it’s pitching. New York has spent enough time trying to solve that puzzle to know it still needs another impact arm.
That’s where Joe Ryan comes in.
Ryan is already being viewed as a likely trade candidate, and he’d fit the Mets’ search for help on the mound. One MLB writer recently pointed to him as a name to watch, arguing that Minnesota may eventually have to move him because of his contract situation.
“2027 is Ryan's final year under club control, meaning the Twins will either need to trade him for something at some point or come to terms with the likelihood of him walking in free agency for nothing more than a draft pick. An extension is possible, but is a Minnesota team that's held back from spending much of late really going to hand a ton of money to a 30-year-old who has already had an elbow scare this season? Unlikely.
“They could hold onto him into the season and see how they perform, but that raises the risk of him suffering another injury and tanking his value for good. There's reason to believe they'll get an offer good enough to finally move him this winter,” Zachary Rotman wrote.
The Twins’ choice not to deal Ryan at this deadline wasn’t necessarily the wrong one. Minnesota still has a path to a playoff push, and if everything clicks, even a World Series run isn’t out of the question.
If the second half goes sideways and the Twins miss the postseason, that judgment will look different in hindsight. But for now, keeping Ryan wasn’t some mistake. For a small-market club that still wants to win, holding onto a player like that makes sense.
In Other News...
Twins Catcher Crunch Just Forced A Roster Move Fans Saw Coming
The catcher logjam the Twins created around the Field of Dreams Game finally had to be sorted out, and Alex Jackson was the one squeezed off the roster. Minnesota designated Jackson for assignment and trimmed its 40-man roster to 39, a move that came after the club used a temporary extra spot for the event and activated Byron Buxton from the injured list. Jackson, who is out of options, had not been playing regularly this season, which made him the most obvious piece to move once the roster crunch settled down.
Now he goes through waivers, and the most likely outcome is an outright assignment to Triple-A St. Paul if he clears. For the Twins, it is less a surprise than a housekeeping move, but it also underscores how quickly the margins can tighten behind the plate when the roster is fully healthy and every spot matters. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Add A Veteran Arm As Rotation Pressure Keeps Rising
The Twins kept working on their pitching depth after the deadline rush, adding another familiar veteran arm in Germn Mrquez on a minor-league deal. Mrquez is set to report to Triple-A St. Paul, giving Minnesota another starter to stash and evaluate as it tries to steady a rotation that has already been hit by Joe Ryans move to the injured list.
Mrquez arrives after a difficult run with the Padres, who released him following a 5.26 ERA over 53 innings, and he cleared waivers before landing with the Twins. With Dean Kremer already in the fold from the Orioles, Minnesota has been piecing together more rotation options, and Mrquez gives the club another name to consider if the injuries and workload continue to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Legends Helped Turn Field Of Dreams Into A Franchise Moment
The MLB at Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa, already carried the kind of built-in nostalgia that tends to flatten even the biggest sporting events into something closer to a memory. Before the first pitch, though, the scene became a little more surreal when 26 Baseball Hall of Famers emerged from the cornfield and walked onto the field for a special pregame ceremony, a gathering that gave the night the feel of a living museum as much as a regular-season game.
The ceremony brought together Hall of Famers tied to the Phillies and Twins, along with other notable inductees and managers, and included introductions, remarks from Byron Buxton and Kyle Schwarber, plus ceremonial first pitches from Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent. For Minnesota, the presence of so many franchise-linked legends added a layer of significance to an event already built for baseball romantics, and it was the kind of cross-generational moment that made the game feel bigger than the standings. [Read more 🡒]