The Minnesota Twins are stuck between contending and rebuilding, a place known in sports as "no-man's land." They haven't made the playoffs since 2023 and haven't made any notable moves this offseason besides signing first baseman Josh Bell, but they haven't committed to a full rebuild.

The Twins still have star outfielder Byron Buxton and star pitcher Joe Ryan, both of whom will play for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC). Both are coming off one of their better seasons, as Buxton finished 10th in MLB with an .878 OPS and tied for 13th with 35 homers, while Ryan was ninth with a 1.04 WHIP and 18th with a 3.42 ERA.

If both players continue their success on the world stage this March, then that could increase their trade values even more. Ryan has two more seasons of arbitration left before hitting free agency, while Buxton's seven-year, $100 million arbitration extension runs through the 2028 season.

That gives Minnesota time to trade each of them, but why wait? Doing so this offseason would give them a headstart on a potential rebuild, as it could flip each player for a heap of prospects and young big-leaguers to help the organization develop into a contender in the future.

As it currently stands, the Twins have little chance of competing in the AL despite having two of the league's best players. They traded star shortstop Carlos Correa back to the Houston Astros last season, and they don't have other established high-end players besides starting pitcher Pablo Lopez. Third baseman Royce Lewis is promising but injury-prone, and their other players aren't All-Star level.

Trading Correa was a rebuilding-type move, so it's time for Minnesota to go all-in and trade its other two stars for young talent. 

On one hand, it's not like the other 29 MLB organizations don't already know how good Buxton and Ryan are regardless of the WBC. So why would magical performances for Team USA affect trade values for either player?

The WBC was founded in 2005, so it's still a new competition. Japan leads with three titles and beat the USA in the 2023 Final, which was the most recent year of the tournament.

If either Buxton or Ryan is instrumental in delivering the USA a championship this year, it will give them unique legacies in the baseball pantheon. Unlike soccer and basketball, global competition has not been a large part of the sport's narrative for that long, as many stars sat out for world tournaments like the Olympics in previous years. 

In this scenario, a team looking to win now and/or sell more tickets could trade for either player and brand it as adding the "Team USA hero." Buxton and/or Ryan would not only be All-Stars in their prime, but legends of the nation that MLB calls home. That would give that team even more incentive to strike a deal, and perhaps give up more prospects/young big-leaguers than they normally would.

Of course, this is all a hypothetical, and waiting too long to trade Buxton and Ryan could still backfire on the Twins.