Joe Ryan Exposes Pohlad Budget Cut That Killed the Twins

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Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins
Credit: Yannick Peterhans / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For two years the Minnesota Twins have made repeated organizational missteps that helped lead to what has devolved into their 62-80 record this season, currently bad enough for the 2nd best odds in next year’s MLB Draft Lottery.

There are positive ways to spin that, but only if your last name is Pohlad and you prefer a cheap consolation prize over winning. This MN Twins team was supposed to compete for an AL Central title, just like the 2024 underachievers, who also fell short.

And these underachievers paid the price, when president Derek Falvey and the Pohlads teamed up to rip apart the roster at the trade deadline in a way we have NEVER seen before, dealing nearly half of their active roster and more than half of the bullpen.

Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins
Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

If we peel back the layers, what led to the demise of what was, not that long ago, an incredibly bright future? Well, it doesn’t take a baseball scientist or detective to find that answer. It all stems back to when the Minnesota Twins announced a $30 million cut in payroll, between the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

But for the Twins’ 2025 All-Star starting pitcher, Joe Ryan, it wasn’t about the money they cut, it was about losing the third member of their 3-headed starting monster from 2023, the last time they made the postseason.

Joe Ryan calls out Minnesota Twins for move that ended it all

Sonny Gray was an All-Star for the MN Twins that season, not to mention their No. 2 starter in the playoffs. That was the final year of a contract, however, one that he signed with the Cincinnati Reds, before Minnesota acquired him via trade in March, 2022.

In 2023, at 33 years old, Sonny posted a 2.79 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and a league-leading 2.83 FIP in 184 innings pitched, good for a runner-up Cy Young finish. Oh, and he pitched phenomenally in his Wildcard game two start vs the Blue Jays.

That offseason, rather than doing everything possible to retain arguably the best starting rotation in baseball, the Twins never showed interest in re-upping Gray, who Joe Ryan says wanted badly to come back. Instead, Sonny signed for $25 million per year (3 years) with the St. Louis Cardinals.

According to what Ryan told the Star Tribune’s Phil Miller, that was the beginning of the end to a MN Twins team that wound up being deconstructed at the 2025 trade deadline.

“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.

[Gray] 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.”

Star Tribune

Related: Twins Lose Veteran Starter in Latest Roster Moves

Here’s what I know about the situation. Ryan isn’t wrong, and he’s certainly not alone. In discussions with multiple team sources over the past two years, I have heard the exact same things that Joe expressed this weekend in the Star Tribune.

That letting Sonny Gray walk, and refusing to replace him with another legitimate top three starter, is what ultimately sank the MN Twins. As one team official put it to me, the clubhouse felt well set up with Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray leading the rotation.

Not only could they compete with the top of any rotation in the league, but the rise of Joe Ryan had the staff in a spot where they came in with the superior starter almost every day. With Gray gone, Ryan slid up a spot, where he continued to blossom. But behind him and Lopez, the Minnesota Twins’ rotation became very average.

Minnesota Twins owners chose cheapness over Sonny Gray

Sonny Gray, Minnesota Twins
Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Ryan realizes the reason for letting Gray walk was financial, that the Pohlads were facing a debt that reportedly reached $400+ million. Those pay cuts, however, resulted in two-straight losing seasons and more fan fall out than anytime in recent MN sports history.

But really, Joe is convinced that had the Twins elected to bring Sonny back and cut elsewhere, things would’ve been different the past two summers (and falls).

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 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.”

Star Tribune

Joe Ryan knows his time may soon be coming too

Joe Ryan isn’t going to see his significant payday until 2028, when he reaches free agency. Two more years of arbitration raises will bump up his $3 million salary nicely from 2025 though. In part, that’s why Minnesota has already been exploring the possibility of trading him.

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.

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