For a few seconds during the closing hour of the MLB trade deadline last Thursday, there was a belief that All-Star starting pitcher Joe Ryan was a part of the Minnesota Twins’ fire sale.

An erroneous tweet from Yahoo Sports indicated that Ryan was traded to the Boston Red Sox, but no such deal crossed the finish line. There have been conflicting reports over how close the Twins came to dealing Ryan to the Red Sox, and the latest intel comes from Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

“The Red Sox came late too for the ultra-busy Twins, who somehow found time to trade nearly 40 percent of their roster (10 of 26). Top Red Sox prospects Franklin Arias (SS), Jhostynxon Garcia (OF) and Payton Tolle (LHP) all were mentioned (as was INF Marcelo Mayer), but the Twins didn’t want to rush into trading their ace, especially when controllable starters bring comparable value in winter.”

The overall impression seems to be that there was not enough time left before the deadline for the Twins and Red Sox to reach an agreement on a deal involving Ryan.

Considering the Twins were among the most active team at the deadline, chances are they likely were not fully engaged with the Red Sox on a potential trade of their All-Star pitcher.

This leaked Joe Ryan package makes Twins look scared to commit

During the weeks leading up to the deadline, the idea of the Twins moving Ryan didn’t make complete sense. The impression was that the Twins were going to move their rental players at the deadline while having an eye on returning to contention in 2026.

The stage is now set for the Twins to trade Ryan this offseason.

The good news is that the market of teams interested in Ryan will likely extend beyond just the buyers that had interest ahead of the deadline. Ryan is the Twins’ biggest trade chip heading into the offseason and could dramatically alter the outlook of this latest reset for the organization.