The Minnesota Twins’ foundation is secure.
The Twins avoided arbitration with eight key players on Thursday, agreeing to one-year contracts with each ahead of a noon CT deadline, team sources said.
Though taking a player to arbitration is more rare in this era compared with several decades ago, the Twins still entered Thursday with nearly one-third of their roster unsigned for 2025.
The arbitration-eligible group included the team’s starting catcher, two starting pitchers, two back-end relievers, the club’s 2024 MVP, slugger Royce Lewis and potential starting outfielder Trevor Larnach.
Utilityman Willi Castro, who is set to become a free agent after the 2025 season, earned the biggest payday, agreeing to terms on a $6.4 million contract.
Catcher Ryan Jeffers will make $4.55 million next season after avoiding arbitration. Reliever Jhoan Duran received a hefty raise to $4.125 million in 2025.
The club on Thursday also agreed to terms on one-year deals with Bailey Ober ($3.55 million), Joe Ryan ($3.0 million), Griffin Jax ($2.365 million), Trevor Larnach ($2.1 million) and Lewis ($1.625 million).
Three players have taken the Twins to arbitration during team president Derek Falvey’s tenure in Minnesota, with the club winning all three.
Nick Gordon’s quest for $1.25 million ahead of the 2024 season was denied as an arbiter awarded the utilityman $900,000. With the intent of establishing a new standard for similar starting pitchers, José Berríos aimed high when he took the Twins to arbitration in 2020, only to lose and settle for $4.025 million instead of the $4.4 million he sought. Kyle Gibson lost his bid in 2018, settling for $4.2 million after asking for $4.55 million.
Former American League batting champion Luis Arraez was set to take the Twins to arbitration in 2023 — the first of two consecutive unsuccessful arbitration cases for the infielder — before the club traded him to the Miami Marlins for Pablo López that January.
The Twins originally entered this offseason with 13 potential arbitration-eligible players.
Alex Kirilloff surprisingly retired in October.
The team agreed to terms with arbitration-eligible relievers Michael Tonkin ($1 million), Justin Topa ($1.225 million with a 2026 club option) and Brock Stewart ($870,000) in November. The Twins also exercised Jorge Alcala’s $1.5 million club option in November. The Twins also exercised a $1.5 million club option with Jorge Alcala to avoid arbitration.
(Photo of Royce Lewis: David Berding / Getty Images)
