Red Sox Deadline Target: SP Joe Ryan

With reports circling that Boston's kicked the tires, what might a trade package for RHP Joe Ryan look like?

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As the saying goes, good baseball starts and ends with pitching.

While the Boston Red Sox have seen dominant stretches of late from right-handers Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello, the team shouldn’t be content with those two and Ace left-hander Garrett Crochet moving forward.

You can never have enough pitching, especially in the rotation with how rampant injuries are out there.

This deadline doesn’t promise much in the way of supremely gifted starters as it is, especially not controllable ones. So, when someone like MLB Network’s Jon Morosi says the Red Sox are monitoring the availability and cost for Minnesota Twins right-hander Joe Ryan, it perks the ‘ole ears up a little bit.

Red Sox Deadline Target: C Sean Murphy

What to like about Ryan:

Ryan’s become something of a naughty dream for Red Sox fans for a few years at this point, and for good reason. In 2025, the 29-year-old has a 2.76 ERA with the fourth-best K-BB% in the sport (23.4%).

While the overall body of work makes this look like something of an outlier campaign, his stuff is up there with some of the best in the business; it’s no surprise the Twins want a King’s ransom for his services.

The Red Sox rotation, with Ryan, immediately leaps into the upper echelon of the American League, as it would become the following:

1. LHP Garrett Crochet
2. RHP Joe Ryan
3. RHP Lucas Giolito
4. RHP Brayan Bello
5a-d. RHP Walker Buehler/Tanner Houck/Hunter Dobbins/Richard Fitts

His fastball ranks in the 99th percentile for run value, despite being 33rd percentile for velocity with a usage rate over 50 percent. He’s thrown 869 four-seamers in 2025 and held opponents to a .171 average against it with a 27.6% whiff rate.

His sweeper is filthy too, with a batting average against of .188 and a 37.8% whiff rate. Both pitches have putaway rates north of 20% as well.

What not to like about Ryan:

Second halves haven’t been kind to the right-hander in his MLB career. In 2024, he posted a 3.98 ERA, but injuries limited him to four starts, but his career ERA in the second half is 4.73.

He does also give up loud-adjacent contact pretty frequently. In addition to not having a hard fastball, the exit velocity against him on average is in the 31st percentile (90.1 mph).

Typically, someone who gives up hard contact you’d like to see generate more ground balls to offset it, but Ryan does not. His career ground ball rate is 32.5% and his sinker, which he truly started throwing in 2024, historically gets hit very well.

Perhaps Boston, who as mentioned kicked the tires on his availability, sees something easily tweakable in his sinker that can make it more effective, but a fly ball pitcher that gives up hard contact can potentially become an issue.

All in, however, given what the Twins likely ask for, is it a worthwhile trade to make?

Potential Trade Package

Red Sox get: RHP Joe Ryan and C Christian Vazquez
Twins get: OF Wilyer Abreu, SS Franklin Arias (No. 4 on Sox Prospects), 1B/LF James Tibbs (No. 7), LHP Connelly Early (No. 10) and cash considerations

Obviously, this is a steep outgoing package to Minnesota. The Twins get a guy with 30-homer potential plus tremendous right field defense, in addition to a top 100 prospect, an intriguing lefty bat in Tibbs and a promising young lefty starting pitcher with a high floor.

The Red Sox, in addition to landing the star right-hander with two additional years of team control, bring back a familiar face in Vazquez, who gives the Red Sox a much-needed boost to their catching depth.

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Getting Vazquez also allows the Red Sox to option Connor Wong to Triple-A Worcester and mentally reset and get ready for 2026. The defensive returns on him this year are largely good, but hard to see if that’s sustainable playing once, maybe twice a week.

Regardless, this move would facilitate a 40-man shuffle, but the Red Sox have some candidates to choose from.

Who Says No?

To be honest, I think this trade gets it done. It’s the perfect balance of “OUCH!” on the outgoing but also “This is great!” on the incoming.

I don’t know what Baseball Trade Values has as far as its model is concerned on these players’ value, but it’s hard to imagine landing a starter in his prime with two more years of control and not having to go gangbusters for him.

The irony of trading Abreu in a deal where you bring back Vazquez would be pretty comical, as well, and didn’t even resonate until after drawing out the trade package.