It appeared the Twins would shop Pablo López and Joe Ryan this offseason, considering the team listened to offers for Ryan this past summer and acquired three new starting pitchers (Mick Abel, Taj Bradley and Kendry Rojas) while also trading away nearly 40% of their roster to shed salary and bolster the team's farm system. López is owed $42.5 million over the next two seasons, while Ryan will be more expensive as he enters his final two seasons of arbitration. If the Twins trade Ryan or López this winter, it would continue the trend of trading expensive players for young talent. Not to mention, a lockout seems almost certain to occur in 2027, which is the final year of Ryan and López's contracts.
However, Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey put Twins fans at ease with a statement made on Tuesday.
Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey expects Pablo López, Joe Ryan to remain with Twins next season
“When I look at this roster and I look at the team,” Falvey said to MLB's Matthew Leach, “I've said it now probably a number of times about the core and the group: Those guys [López and Ryan] are part of it, right? So that's my vision, that's my hope. That's my expectation as we sit here. It still requires some ongoing conversations with ownership and what that looks like. And ultimately, my hope is that we could build around that group. That would be my hope.”
If the Twins do end up holding onto López and Ryan next year, the club has a much better shot at returning to the postseason. Of course, both pitchers will likely have to remain healthy for the majority of the season to have that big of an impact, so hopefully the stars align for the Twins' pair of aces next year. Ryan struggled a bit in the second half of this season, but still had an overall spectacular year, posting a 3.42 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate in 171 innings. López missed most of the season due to injuries but was effective when healthy, managing a 2.74 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate in 75 2/3 innings.