Red Sox have ‘drawn back’ pursuit of Twins ace Joe Ryan

Boston Red Sox

Joe Ryan would have been an elite starter to pair with Garrett Crochet moving forward.

The Red Sox reportedly made a late push at July’s MLB trade deadline to try and land Twins ace Joe Ryan at the buzzer.

Boston ultimately wasn’t able to push a deal across before the deadline passed. But Ryan’s standing as a cost-controlled, quality arm made him the type of target that Boston could circle back on this offseason — especially as a legitimate No. 2 option to place behind Garrett Crochet in the Red Sox’ rotation.

But citing a major league source, WEEI’s Rob Bradford reported on Monday that the Red Sox “have drawn back on their pursuit of the Twins ace after making Ryan a primary target in late July.”

According to Bradford, Boston’s pivot might be for several reasons. The Red Sox have reeled off a pair of trades in the last two weeks to bolster their rotation — acquiring Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo in deals with the Cardinals and Pirates, respectively. 

The case can be made that the Red Sox could still use a proven No. 2 pitcher this offseason, with Gray standing as a more of a high-end replacement for a middle-of-the-rotation arm like Lucas Giolito. 

But even if the Red Sox might still want to pry a player like Ryan out of Minnesota, it takes two to tango in any deal.

And even though the Twins did sell off several players at the trade deadline, Minnesota may not want to move more controllable assets going into the 2026 season. 

“Our view now, especially as we work through this ownership process and getting completion and understanding exactly what our goals are for 2026, I’m going to find a way to add around our group,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told Bradford. “Our goal and our focus is to figure out ways to fill some holes we have on our team.

“But we feel good about our core, those guys (Ryan and Lopez) we expect to get a lot of calls on and we always have. But ultimately, we are going to try and put pieces around those players and focus on that.”

Given the glut of MLB assets (Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu) and prospects (Franklin Arias, Payton Tolle, Kristian Campbell) available at Craig Breslow’s disposal, Boston could pivot to other trade targets if the team is still adamant about pairing another elite pitcher with Crochet — such as Kansas City’s Cole Ragans. 

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.