MINNEAPOLIS — As baseball’s annual Winter Meetings approach, the Twins find themselves in a somewhat unfamiliar position. They’re one of baseball’s most talked-about teams, with trade rumors swirling around virtually all of their most prominent players.
Teams attempted to pry right-hander Joe Ryan from Minnesota at last summer’s Trade Deadline. Following the club’s Deadline sell-off, fellow front-line starter Pablo López also found himself in conversations, thanks in large part to being the club’s highest-paid player.
Then, this winter, reports surfaced of the possibility of the previously unthinkable: that star center fielder Byron Buxton might waive his no-trade protection for the right deal. Buxton has always maintained that he never wants to play anywhere but for the Twins, and he continued saying that even after the Deadline deals.
But The Athletic reported in November that if the club continued trading veterans, Buxton would consider changing that stance. A source indicated to MLB.com this week that Buxton’s preference is still to remain in Minnesota, but that if the Twins were to trade more current pieces for prospects, he would entertain the idea of a move that made sense for all parties.
Of the three players in question, though, Buxton remains by far the longest shot to be dealt. It’s virtually impossible to conceive of a scenario where he is traded but Ryan and López remain. Here’s a look at the various tacks the Twins could take.
Trade nobody
Yes, this is a possibility. President of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey has said repeatedly that his hope and his intention are to add to the roster without having to subtract from it. So, yes, one very real possibility is that Minnesota trades neither López nor Ryan, and therefore also not Buxton.
In this scenario, the club would likely also make some additions — to the bullpen, perhaps a starting first baseman, maybe a defensive upgrade in the middle infield. The Twins are currently a long way away from even their 2025 Opening Day payroll, so there is a path where they don’t blow the doors off with spending but still hold on to their key pieces and also make some additions.
Trade Ryan
This may be the most interesting path. Ryan is almost certainly the most valuable trade chip on Minnesota’s Major League roster. He’s the caliber of starter who could pitch early in a playoff series. He’s under team control for two more seasons and should make far less than free-agent salaries for both those years.
Which all means that it’s actually possible for the Twins to trade Ryan without harming their 2026 chances that much. They could acquire Major League or Major League-ready talent as part of a package for Ryan.
The point is there’s a baseball case to be made for trading Ryan. Minnesota could receive the kind of package that significantly alters its future outlook, without doing too much damage to 2026. That doesn’t mean the Twins should. It doesn’t mean they will. But they could.
Trade López
Though in some ways they’re very similar, trading López but not Ryan would be a very different move. López would likely command less in return, because he’s making more than $21 million in each of the next two years.
That’s not to say it wouldn’t be a significant package, but that salary difference makes him a less compelling trade chip. So if the Twins were to move López but not Ryan, it would indicate that the thought was more about cutting payroll than building up the farm system and future.
Trade both
This is the scenario fans likely dread, because it would signal a full rebuild. If the Twins move both López and Ryan, they’re almost certainly pushing back the window to contend by at least a year or two. And it probably wouldn’t just be those two.
In this case, it would become very easy to see Buxton not wanting to be the last man standing, and giving serious thought to waiving his no-trade clause. It might also put catcher Ryan Jeffers in play.
One other factor in Buxton’s decision, though, is this — he has blanket no-trade protection through 2026, after which he reaches 10-and-5 status if he’s still with the Twins. However, if he’s not with Minnesota, his full no-trade clause becomes a much more limited no-trade clause as of the 2027 season. So if Buxton were to permit a trade, he would put himself in a position where he had much less protection against a second trade in the final two years of his deal.
Some of the rules surrounding the Draft have changed to make it harder to stockpile top picks, so it’s more difficult to make the case for a full and complete rebuild than it was 10 or 15 years ago. But that’s likely where the Twins would be if they were to trade both starters. There is no current indication that this is the desired or intended course.
