Twins Receive Encouraging News From Joe Ryan's MRI

After No. 1 pitcher Pablo Lopez underwent season-ending elbow surgery earlier this month, Twins fans expected the worst with Ryan's exit. They received best-case scenario news on Sunday, and Ryan is expected to miss only a limited amount of time.

Ryan's availablity for next month's World Baseball Classic for Team USA is still in question, but he expected to be ready for the start of the regular season on March 26.

"He’ll be down for a few days here just to let things calm down,” Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll told The Athletic's Dan Hayes. "We’ll progress him as tolerated and don’t envision this impacting his readiness for Opening Day... As of now, we’re just going to take (WBC readiness) day by day here before we have anything definitive on that front. We’ll see how things go. But overall, this is about as good of news as you could have."

Ryan is coming off his fist All-Star game appearence, and his best MLB season. He finished last year with a career-best 3.42 ERA and 194 strikeouts in just 30 starts. At 29 years old he looks like an elite option on any pitching staff in baseball.

He was one of just a few players on Minnesota's roster to survive last year's trade deadline firesale. After some contract questions, Minnesota avoided arbitration and settled on a $6.1 million contract in 2026 for its star pitcher in the offseason. Ryan continues to be in the middle of trade rumors, but the entire Twins franchise can now take a deep breathe.