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For two years the Minnesota Twins have continued to make missteps that have them now looking at a 62-80 record and the second best draft lottery odds. There are positive ways to spin that, but only when looking through the vein of ownership saving money.
Minnesota came into this season with expectations of a postseason return. Short of a 13-game winning streak, they have never looked close to achieving that goal.
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After their most significant postseason success in decades, the Twins dialed things back in 2024. They have done so since. Joe Ryan hasn’t minced words when something is on his mind, and he has now commented on that trajectory as well.
Joe Ryan calls out Minnesota Twins for move that ended it all
Sonny Gray was an All-Star for the MN Twins in 2023. That was the final year of a contract that Minnesota acquired him on from Cincinnati. Rather than find a way to pay him moving forward, there was never real hope to get a deal done. It was then, as Joe Ryan tells the Star Tribune’s Phil Miller, that sparked the beginning of the end.
“I wish Sonny [Gray] was still here. I feel like things would be different if he was.,” Ryan said.
Ryan believes the problems are rooted in a money-saving decision two winters ago.
“In my opinion, that goes down as the biggest mistake we have made since I’ve been here. He wanted to come back. He loved it here. There were a lot of avenues we could have gone down, but if we had re-signed Sonny, I can guarantee we would have been in the playoffs last year, and we’d probably be in a better spot this year. He was a top-notch guy, a great pitcher, incredible competitor, great guy in the clubhouse. I learned so much from him. We missed him last year.”
That move would have had ripple effects, too, Ryan believes, from improving fan morale to persuading the front office not to trade off so many assets at July’s deadline to perhaps even raising the value of the franchise. And given the coin-flip nature of baseball’s postseason, he can dream of might-have-beens.
“Who knows how far we’d have gone?” Ryan said of the Twins’ failure to reach the 2024 playoffs. “But now we’d have two straight years in the playoffs, we’d be riding that a little bit, maybe it makes it a little easier [for the Pohlad family] to sell the team. Maybe we make other moves if they think we’re really close to a championship.”
It’s probably more correct than the Minnesota Twins front office, and the Pohlad family, would like a player to come. Ryan isn’t wrong though, and he’s certainly not alone.
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In discussions with multiple team sources over the past two years, I have heard the exact same refrain. The inability to find a way to do a new contract with Sonny Gray sank the MN Twins. They made it worse by failing to find anyone of his caliber as a replacement as well.
Related: Twins Lose Veteran Starter in Latest Roster Moves
As one team official put it to me, the clubhouse felt well set up with Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray leading the rotation. That left Ryan in a spot to dominate as depth. With Gray gone, there is a bunch of hope that ultimately has looked incapable of pitching in a capacity that should be anywhere near a postseason rotation.
Money rules everything for cash-strapped Minnesota Twins
Paying Gray would have always carried a level of risk. He was going to be 34 years old and the contract needed to reflect a league-leading 2.83 FIP and runner-up Cy Young finish. It’s also probably not lost on Ryan that the people signing his checks just failed to sell their team due to debt, and instead pieced out a portion to keep the collectors at bay.
Ryan said he realizes the reason for letting Gray walk away was financial, that the Pohlads, facing a debt that reportedly reached $400 million or more, were intent upon cutting the team’s payroll.
“It’s not my money. I know they had to make adjustments, and I have no problem with owners running their teams however they see fit,” Ryan said. “But if we had signed Sonny, they would have been very happy about that decision. The return on investment would have been huge. I just think Sonny would have been so worth it.”
Joe Ryan isn’t going to see his significant pay day until 2028 when he reaches free agency. Two more years of arbitration raises will bump up his $3 million salary from 2025 though. In part, that’s why Minnesota already explored the possibility of moving him at this year’s trade deadline.
Financially it makes more sense for the Twins to trade Pablo Lopez and his $21.75 million contract each of the next two years. It also would just make sense for the Pohlads to invest in their team and try to retain talent rather than being focused on the lowest possible payroll figure.
Related: MN Twins Fans Make Hatred for Pohlads 98.5% Loud and Clear
Ryan is definitely a guy that gets it. He gets how roster building works. He gets that he plays for a franchise with a terrible ownership group. It also wouldn’t shock him if he’s the one parted out next. “I got traded once, it was an adjustment, and if I got traded again, that would be another adjustment. But it doesn’t change my goals.”
It’s a sad reality, but it’s also just the current state of the Minnesota Twins.
Mentioned in this article: Joe Ryan Sonny Gray
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