Latest Minnesota Twins trade rumors: Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan and more
[Music] It’s the Score North Twin Show. Baseball. [Music] All right, Score North Twin Show. Mackie Jud Dex, I forgot to tell you guys about the dream I had two nights ago. It’s baseball related. It’s twins related. Oh, cuz I dreamt about JJ McCarthy two nights ago. Did you dream about Royce Lewis? No, not about Royce. You you know how like you have those dreams and when you wake up it was so vivid and it felt so real. It takes you like literally 5 to 10 seconds to come to like back to reality. Yeah. Oh yeah. So I had a dream Fal called me and said we’re actually hiring Tom Kelly to manage the Twins. And dudes, when I say it was so surreal and felt like again, I woke up like at 2:00 in the morning and like did one of those things where even I kind of stood up in bed and like slapped my face a little bit to see like that was a dream. That was not But it felt so they they were hiring Tom Kelly. They weren’t going to go for with Derek Shelton. And for whatever reason, Falby was calling me first with all the info saying like go ahead break the I really respect really respect all your fair criticism on the score. Exactly. And I don’t even have Fal’s number. He He got my number in the dream. Um but Tom Kelly was going to manage the Twins and not Derek Shelton. You know, if I I’ll say this. If if we’re if we’re headed for like a one-year absolute collapse and crash and burn and they’re trading Buckton and and Papa Lopez for the entertainment factor only, I would love Tom Kelly to just manage like a $40 million stripped down payroll with absentee ownership because he had many years of doing that in the 90s after they won a World Series. Be epic. It would be pretty epic to see Tom Kelly TK. Uh so the the rumor mills recently have been running wild, absolutely wild. Um through multiple reporters um I’ve done some shorts on that you can find on the score twin show just kind of recap in 60 seconds of a little bite-size thing. We haven’t had a full episode in a couple weeks due to the holiday last weekend. So let’s go over what the latest insiders and what the latest reports are saying. Winter meetings knocking on the door here in baseball. Uh so I want to start here with the Byron Buckton stuff. So, we talked about the Bucks trade rumors like three weeks ago from the GM meetings in Vegas because Dan Hayes had reported that, hey, he might be willing to to wave his no trade clause. Um, kind of same things that I uh a similar thing that I heard where, hey, uh, things weren’t as great and Rosie with Buck near the end of the season last year. So Jeff Passen and Kylie McDaniel of ESPN kind of doubled down on this um this week at ESPN.com saying quote BBX is willing to wave his no trade clause and not just for Atlanta even though he’s a Georgia native which puts the Twins in an interesting position. If uh the front line of free agent outfielders prompts a team to make an offer for Buckston, how seriously would Minnesota take it? And if Buckton goes, does that mean the Twins would be open to dealing some of their pitching, too? The Twins are one of the most fascinating teams this winter because of the possibilities at their disposal. He also lists team fits. Braves, Mets, Tigers, Reds, Phillies, Royals. Um, I can almost guarantee I’d be shocked in an interdivision trade. So, I’ll just cross off Tigers and Royals from that list. But here’s where I kind of get a sense on this, and here’s maybe my I don’t know if it’s a hot take, but here’s my kind of thinking on this. Buckton is willing to wave his no trade clause. we have that out. He’s also willing to say, “Get me the hell out of here if you start stripping things more down by trading Pablo and or Joe, if not both of them.” Well, if that’s the case, should you actually be considered trading Byron Buckton first? Because if he’s the one dictating his no trade clause, and he’s saying he’s going to wave it, okay? Like he’ll wave it likely to anyone, but he’ll wave it. If everyone knows he wants out, everyone knows you’re stripping things down more, you’ve already traded two frontline pitchers, you have a pissed-off star center fielder, instead of it being a domino effect of, hey, Buckton’s only going to stay if Pablo and Joe stay. Well, how about should you actually be maybe be entertaining trading Byron Buckton first and then maybe you still consider trading Pablo or Joe? I don’t think it should be a domino effect. I don’t think this should be the reverse effect. If indeed Byron Buckston is unhappy and he doesn’t want to be here, I don’t think you need to wait to trade Pablo or Joe, I think you might have to consider trading Byron Buckton first. I 100% agree. And I think if you play this logic out, let’s let’s let’s do the opposite for a second and let’s say they let’s say against all odds the pole ads swimming in a half billion dollars in debt. They may or may not have mysterious minority owners that are coming to help save the day. we don’t really know. It’s all just kind of a cloud of secrecy. But let’s say through all of that, they decide, you know what, we’re going to we’re not going to add much more to the team because we can’t afford it, but we’re not going to trade Pablo. We’re not going to trade Buckston. We’re going to go and see we’re not going to trade Joe Ryan. Let’s let’s see what we can do in 2026 and beyond. Does anyone think that the current twins as constructed right now? And if by the way, if you guys think there’s a possibility that they would not only keep things intact as is, but add significantly to it, stand up and raise your hand. But I think we all agree there’s a zero 0% chance of them keeping what they have and then adding a big piece or two, like a big closer or whatever it is, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, so the best case scenario is that they keep what they haven’t already traded intact going into 2026 and you hope that young players with Derek Shelton and a new some new coaches on the staff can push forward. What’s the best case scenario? They’re not winning a World Series with that bullpen, that back end of the rotation. Even if a couple position players step up and take steps forward, it just feels like a like could they maybe compete for a wild card spot? Possibly. but their ceiling is pretty aggressively capped on what’s possible in 2026 with this team. So if that’s the case, if you’re not like legitimately competing for a World Series in 2026, wouldn’t you then to Declan’s point take your number one asset who’s coming off the best season of his career who’s never healthy, but he was mostly last year? Fans would hate it. It would be another waving of a white flag. But I feel like not even from a financial standpoint, from a pure baseball standpoint, strategically, it probably makes sense to trade Byron Muckston. I agree. With the way things are trending, I think you trade and I think that they very well might all three of them. Um something I Let’s Let’s take a leap of faith here, okay? If these minority owners existed, something’s happened. like we’re now past the point of like like let’s just assume it was in August 4 months ago or so that this was on board to happen and but something has now happened. I don’t know if they’ve dropped out. They might not have been approved. Private equity firms, in fact, we saw this with the Wolves. The first private equity firm that the Wolves tried to use didn’t get approved by by basketball, by the NBA. So, I think you’re probably if you’re going to trade two of the three, trade all three of them. And yeah, fans are going to hate it, but there’s a financial the Wolves are or the Wolves the the Twins are in financial straits here. Like clearly something has gone really wrong again, which is not surprising, but it’s the case. So yeah, I I mean, if you want to start by trading Buckton, fine. The other thing with Buckton though is, and this is the difference with uh Pablo and especially Joe Ryan, we need to be prepared for it. The return is not going to be for Buckston what we think it should be because teams are not going to say, “Well, you’re you know what, you’re right. After all these years of being hurt, that 2020 four is or 25 is really him. We will give you a hall. You’ll get a good return, but it won’t be what we expect.” Joe Ryan, I think, would get you the return that you expect. Uh Pablo is very he’s he’s very expensive for the Twins, but on a contender he’s not as expensive. And so I so I actually think if you were to rank the rank the returns, I think it’s Ryan one, Pablo 2, Buckton three. But I mean, we need to now assume that that whoever these limited partners were, something has gone wrong. And and that means and that means they very well might not have helped to pay off the debt. And if that’s the case, everybody’s gone. So Buxton has owed $45 million over the next three years. Uh pot load about $44 million over the next two years. So basically, their money that a team is taking on that they’re committing to is the same. Uh 2027 season is obviously completely up in the air, likely heading towards a lockout, which also kind of does complicate things in terms of the guys with big-time term left um with with with guys that are under contracts like Pablo and like Buck. Joe Ryan. Yes, I I think you would get the biggest haul possible. I think it was even, you know, maybe rumored that maybe it was Roman Anthony that the that the twins were asking for in return, which obviously Boston was going to b at that. But, I mean, I do think you should probably set a pretty high bar if you’re going to trade Joe Ryan. You shouldn’t be trading him for pennies on the dollar. You want the biggest return possible. Um, also on that ESPN article or sorry, another ESPN article that also dropped yesterday, the day after the uh the Passin and McDaniel one uh piece dropped about Bucks and waving his no trade clause. I think it’s is it Tim Kuwin? Tim Cowan uh Tim Kuwin. Yeah, Q of BSN.com. Dak’s nailing the pronunciation. I I shocked I named I like I had it I had it I had it Kuwan and then like Kein. I had I had two different pronunciations in my notes of I’m going to butcher this. Timmy K. If you would have said, “Okay, Declan is going to come across this name and he gets 10 cracks to pronounce it correctly,” I would have probably taken the the over on the 10 there. So, nice job. Um, so he said this was an article that like a bunch of different writers contributed to trades they’d like to see happen at the at the winner at the winter meetings and he had Byron Buckton going to the Dodgers. And this falls into the why because they can and that’s why category even enough enough is never enough for the Dodgers. So this offseason’s installment of making sure that they have too much in the acquisition of the best available player at the position they may actually believe they need to upgrade. You move Podas to left, slot Bucks in the top half of the lineup and go for three championships in a row. Also in that um you had Ryan Jeffers and Joe Ryan going to the Yankees from Jorge Castillo of ESPN. So so the reckless speculation running wild and also like Twins fans heads are already going to are are falling off. They have fallen off. They’re on the ground. They’re they’ve been beheaded. But if they trade two or three of obviously their most known players and maybe their their biggest players to both the biggest markets in the Dodgers and the Yankees, I think they’re all going to collectively also lose their minds just of frustration over ownership and over a bunch of different things. So, I mean, we’ll see if we’ll have any clarity. We’ll see if we’ll have any moves. The Twins haven’t made any substantial moves. Rule five draft, I think, is that today? It’s coming up. Rule five, draft. It’s usually It’s usually the Thursday, like the first or second Thursday. They’re gonna use that, baby. Oh, yeah. And they’re gonna keep a guy on the roster all season long who’s making $12. I have a bit I have a before Jud jumps in with probably some actual analysis. I have u I have something that’s a little off the beaten path, but that Joe Ryan and Ryan Jeffers to the Yankees proposed trade. Joe Ryan does not strike me as a Yankee. He’s such a West Coast vibes guy. He strikes me much more as like a San Francisco Giant than a New York Yankee. I can see that. Just I could see actually that in fact I’d call the Giant. I’d say listen, we’ve got like the literal perfect we’ve got the next Tim Lint to come. We got the next just super chill lights out starter for you guys, late night games. Um, trade them all. Trade them all at this point. That’s my analysis. Okay, let’s um let’s go through the trade possibilities based on what you would want in return, which is obviously prospects who are cheap and really good. Don’t the Dodgers still have a farm system that’s very fruitful? And don’t the Yankees and and the Yankees farm system is not as good as as it once was? So, here’s so here’s my reckless speculation to add to this. M wouldn’t it make more sense to um to try to package Ryan and Buckton to the Dodgers and be and and then cash in on the back end of Buckton’s worth, but you would get a ton for Joe himself. Like if you’re going to do a if because I think the Dodgers I think the Dodgers could give you a ton back still. So wouldn’t it make more sense to do like as opposed to like Jeffers and Ryan to the Yankees? So with the Dodgers, um I would probably be asking for a starting point if whether it’s uh with both these guys, whether it’s maybe one of those guys. I don’t think you maybe you’ll get it with just Buckton to Jud’s point of the trademark being a little more complicated for his his demand. Dalton Rushing is their like top catching prospect and he became the backup to Will Smith last year when he got called up in the second half of the year. And there’s more thought of him moving off positions. Not because I don’t think like he might project and I don’t I’m not m Mr. Baseball America here. He might project maybe he’s not a long-term catcher, but they’re moving him off catcher because it just gives him more at bats and he that way, you know, Will Smith is still a very capable catcher. I mean, he’s still awesome. So, why would they, you know, take away the bat of Will Smith and maybe he he gets in at first base a little bit. But yeah, there are some interesting prospects there in the Dodgers. They’re still good. What worries me is when you do business with the Dodgers, I even though you’re trading prospects, you got to be careful because they’re they’re always they’re always two steps ahead. Yes. Like their their prospect pool is good and they they replenish, right? They’re good, but they also spend a lot of money. I just I I I have some fears. I have some fears doing business with the Dodgers. Um and the Twins have done business with the Dodgers recently. They did the Kenta Mietta trade like five years ago, which was a great trade. Bruar Grateral is still there. Uh they had the Brock Stewart for James Outman swap, which basically net was a net zero for both teams um after the trade deadline. So they’ve done business before, but Daltton Rushing would probably be the top guy I’m I’m asking back for. So really, no matter what here, we’re staring down the barrel of a White Socks level like Cubs circa Theo Epstein back in 20134 level tear down and rebuild here, right? Partially because of financial reasons. Yeah, it’s worse. It It’s worse because like the Cubs, the Astros and the Cubs, the White Socks have tried Baltimore tried this too. They they all purposely tore down to like try to get prospects and draft picks. This is worse. This feels to me like again this feels like the limited partners something’s gone wrong here and the Twins the pull outs are desperate. This doesn’t feel like like it could be exactly that Phil at the end of the day. It could be. My god, look at I mean, I hate to say it, this reminds me of of the late 70s in into the early 80s through the first year in the Metro with Calvin. And the first year in the Metro with Calvin in the spring, like in April or so, they traded Smallley, they traded Wineer to the Yankees. They got back like Greg Agney, they got back some of the key players to their World Series championship teams. This but that was done not because Calvin was like, I want to win a World Series. He was gone by then. It’s because he was going broke. That’s what this feels like. Yeah. No, I I agree. Like it it does feel like the I guess what maybe what I’m saying is even though you’re making decisions largely or disproportionately through the lens of like financial problems, could you still backdoor your way into some good long-term baseball trades here through this? Joe Ryan’s the only one that I So like I I put Joe Ryan because how old is he now? 20. Is he 28? Hold on a second. 29. Okay. You know what then? 30 in June. Turning 30 in June. Because it’s like, yeah, it’s the fifth year on the twins. I still think of him as this like mid20s, but the guy is so I guess I do kind of put him in the cuz he’s going to you’re going to have to pay him 25 30 plus million dollars a year. Somebody’s going to have to. And uh and he’s eligible to become a free agent after two more seasons. So I I was going to say if he was a year or two younger, I’d put him in a different bin. I’d put him in the bin of if you were if you were just building the best baseball team possible, let that dude be your number one starter, making $30 million a year, basically the only guy in your team that’s getting paid, and then trade Pablo Lopez, who’s a little further down the age curve, and Byron Buckton, who’s way far down the injury and age curve, and just get young and talented and athletic and go from there. Um, but the problem in baseball there is it is not a guarantee that you get it all right and all those guys pop at the same time. But I I I don’t think there’s a choice baseball-wise. I don’t think there’s a choice because if you don’t have an ownership group that’s willing to add to what you currently have with your base, the only other recourse is to strip down further. And I guess the good news for the Polads and the Twins organization is it’s not like their stock with the fans can drop a whole lot further. It’s already the lowest attended season since 2000 at the Metrodome and they’re already in the tank with like TV revenue being lost and whatnot. So this would be like this would be the time between now and a year and a half from now when baseball figures out a new financial system to just go in the tank and tell Derek Shelton here’s a couple million dollars to oversee this disaster in 2026. What’s what’s so uh not perplexing, that’s probably the wrong word, is as currently constructed, they are light years ahead or not light years ahead, light years better than like what Baltimore was at its worst five years ago than what the White Socks have been two years ago. Actually, the White Socks, fighting chance, the White Socks win 705 games this year. That maybe I don’t know if that’s a hot take, but they showed some promise. Some young guys came up there. There’s some chances there. as currently constructed, the twins aren’t that bad. They aren’t nearly that bad. But you you start stripping down Pablo, Joe, Buckton, and you play all the kids, uh yes, you could be staring down the barrel of one of like the worst teams in baseball. And if there’s there’s one big strength right now on the Twins, again, as currently constructed, and it’s starting pitching, it’s Pablo, it’s Joe, and then like I know Bayley Ober took a half step backwards last year, full step backwards last year. Um, but they don’t have they have some intriguing guys that move to the bullpen. They don’t have frontline pitchers that are studs chomping at the bit to be on the top half of the rotation. So then wouldn’t you then probably if you’re not competing for a World Series either, you should probably take your biggest asset, which is starting pitching, flip it, and try to get as much return as possible. And then if there’s no season in 2027, you gear up and maybe in 28 with baseball being gone for a year, the uh the appetite for Twins baseball returns in a little better light in 2028. Well, if it returns with some type of salary structure, too, that that’s going to change things for the Twins, the Pirates, the Royals, just go down that entire list. Unfortunately though, I feel like we’re, you know, and our our mission on this show is to talk about the baseball team, but I feel like that’s not the conversation. Like I hate to say it, but but like we’re talking about where are your strengths, where are your weaknesses, where can you improve? And it feels like Derek Valve has been charged by the poll ads to get rid of as much payroll as possible. So like I feel like it’s uh we want to talk about baseball. I do. It’s a great time to talk about baseball. It’s -7° outside. But the reality is it feels like Derek Derek has been told and he’s done nothing to ease this fear that he has been told, “Hey, we really don’t care about our strengths. What we care about is Pablo Lopez makes two too much. Joe Ryan is going to, you know, and I’m not joking. I I think what Joe Ryan, if he does go to arbitration, might get I think that scares him and it’s a pittance. It’s an absolute pittance. And I think Buckton finally wised up, God bless him, and said, “Okay, you know what? I I’m not going to do this. This is ridiculous. So, I feel like it’s the twins. It’s the twin show slash financial edition. How do you trim the payroll as opposed to like who’s good? Who who’s bad? I honestly don’t think that they care. If you’re good and you’re cheap, they want you. I feel like we need to bring back the get to know them slogan if this tear down continues. Like, literally, we’re gonna have to do the get to know him because uh it’s going to be ugly. I mean, my last thought on this is on the position player side, they they’ve got an interesting group of early 20s, mid20s guys all sort of percolating here. Royce Lewis obviously if he can stay healthy, Brooks Lee, Luke Keshaw, there’s some, you know, Walker, uh, Jenkins, like there’s there’s some dudes on the position player side that if it all kind of comes together in a similar time frame this year, if there is baseball next year, there there could be a early 2000s Ksky, Pierinski, Hunter, Joones, Manavic, all these guys. But then you got to figure out who’s pitching, which is because that team in the early 2000s had some badass pitchers. A bullpen, they make the trade for Joe Nathan Liriano coming in as part of that trade. So yeah, it’s uh it puts them in a very tough position, I guess. Uh hey, rule five draft is next Wednesday, by the way, the the rule five. So we’ll we’ll see what Twins guys maybe uh get snatched up because there are some interesting kind of uh players there on the on the fringes of their prospect pool that might get flipped up. And then we’ll see if uh maybe the Twins maybe they maybe they get a a nice little rule five addition to add to their uh to their roster. We’ll get to watch that develop through spring training. And he’s the he’s the key guy. He’s the mean main man to watch the next Shane Mack in Fort Myers. Yeah. Or um or Yolan Santana. Yeah. Yeah. Ryan Presley. All this organization does is get studs. We own rule five. I don’t know. I don’t know why JR J.R. Graham. J.R. Graham. Great stirrups, but lost a lot of weight, too. Didn’t work out for him. Didn’t work out for him. Uh, hey, we’re up. We’re up against the clock today. Busy day at Score North, but be on the lookout. Any breaking news from those winner meetings, any big trades, uh, we’ll be ready to react to it here on the Score Twin Show. Appreciate you guys. Hit the like button, hit the subscribe button for Minnesota Twins content. We’ll be, uh, talking at you guys soon.
Latest Minnesota Twins trade rumors! Do the Twins have to trade Buxton first before anyone else; Plus, Twins pitching trade ideas are going crazy; What will the Twins offseason look like and more on the SKOR North Twins Show.
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30 comments
If the Twins trade Buxton, they will lose a generation of fans and the stadium will be empty until the 2030s.
I'm gonna start doing satanic rituals outside target field everyday if they trade Buxton.
If the Twins payroll falls under $90M they'll get a grievance from MLBPA like the A's did.
if bux goes to the dodgers i will have no problem becoming not just a ohtani fan but a dodger fan.
Trade them all, but please get appropriate hauls in return.
Mn needs to get top rated prospect pitchers in these trades eg Payton Tolle, Jaxon Wiggins or Emmet Sheehan. DO NOT TRADE with the Braves or Astros, their farm systems are depleted.
Pablo is (surprisingly) only like 3 months older than Joe Ryan
It's BEYOND time for some actual transparency from the front office! I want transparency in the actions the organization will take to compete for WS by 2030.
If you want to trade everyone else I can understand it but then you can't have Kody Clemmens and Larnach and other 28 AAAA guys…. You can't be bad and boring
Two things I’ll never forgive Fail-vey for, firing Molitor and trading Varland.
Trade all 3 and move the home games to St. Paul. Can save on peanut vendors.
I’m all for trading,just not with this management, they suck at getting talent back.
Hot take but they gotta move buck to a contender he should be a october legend for someone instead of wasting away here putting up good numbers but being eliminated by late august if they arent gonna add trade him for a haul and let him go contend and if your doing that mind as well also move pablo & ryan
Braves podcast took a poll and they were 85% willing to trade 2 of their top prospects for Buxton alone. Just saying. You can't just assume(to assume makes an Ass-U-me) his market is going to be low and not shop him when his home town team may be willing to pay more than you think. Buxton *could get traded and win an MVP. Odds are against it but if his health problems are in the past… $15 mill isn't a ton of money these days for the potential.
I think a bigger Bailey Ober conversation needs to happen. Could the Twins trade Ober? Would he even have a market at this point? Can they keep starting him or should they prioritize getting the young guys innings? Could he be a bullpen option?
Might as well strike while the iron is hot. Buxtons trade value will never be higher. Twins better hurry before he gets hurt again.
They're boned!
really amazing how quickly this previous 5 year run fell apart
Trade EVERYONE. If the payroll isn’t below $45 million, it’s a failure
Trade buxton please this is the highest his trade value will ever be
So ownership told us for the last 20 years that they couldn't possibly spend on any big free agents because we weren't ready to win. Now with a handful of cost-controlled stars, they're just going to trade them away? Might as well be a Pirates fan at this point.
I also choose my favorite movies based on which ones are the most profitable for the studio
The Twins showed some great arms late in the season this year that can compete, if you go with that so be it. You do not have o be a World Series lock to be enjoyed, if you play GOOD SOLID baseball.
The entire justification for using state dollars to build the private corporation that is the MN Twins a stadium was that it would allow the business to build and keep a team of quality players that WOULD cost more. If the Twins instead completely abandon any pretense of intending to compete and run the team in the manner which the owners of the Athletics and the Pirates do I for one would like to see the state work to claw back the hundreds of millions that we the taxpayers gave them.
I’d be in favor of trading Buxton and Pablo except you have to fire Falvey first or he’ll trade them for 4 prospects hitting .225 in AAA and 2 pitchers who had TJ surgery last year.
So the Twins actually have no mystery investors, the Pohlads sell the Twins and the new owners relocate to Nashville, Montreal or Portland and the Minneapolis Millers return as the Red Sox AAA club at Target Field and the Millers and Saints renew their rivalry.
Weirder things have happened.
Currently, Buxton is the biggest star on the team. That star (who has been ride or die to this point) is now saying I'll waive my no trade clause; not just to go back to my hometown of Atlanta, not just to LA or the Astros or New York so I can be ballin in a major metro area, not just to San Diego or Texas to have a chance to seriously contend, I'll waive my no-trade clause to any other team in baseball to get out of Minnesota.
So why didn't we trade him during the season? We've lost leverage and value in the off-season!!?? This is why the Twins suck
Twins don’t have to trade those three players, the owners should expect to put product on the field and improve their P.R. Make this team have some value and they will sell it.
I guarantee you the competent general managers out there are frothing at the mouth knowing full well they can take advantage of Fail-vey. Add in the fact that ownership is absent. As discussed earlier and basically stripping the copper piping out of this franchise, they know they're going to get a slam dunk for little to nothing in return.