From Royce Lewis to Justin Topa, the Twins have cost certainty as the offseason starts to wrap up.
The Twins have come to terms with all 11 of their arbitration-eligible players on the deadline to submit arbitration figures. They had already signed Justin Topa, Brock Stewart, and Michael Tonkin earlier this offseason.
Twins have avoided arbitration hearings with all of their 11 eligible players by agreeing to one-year deals.
As usual, @mlbtraderumors did a good job projecting arbitration salaries.
Twins’ group of 11 players were projected to make $33.3 million. They signed for $30.9 million. pic.twitter.com/ndISWmZuSE
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) January 9, 2025
The projected figures provided above are courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors. All the contracts except for Topa’s are standard, one-year deals. Topa’s contract includes a $2 million team option for 2026 or a $225K buyout.
As a group, the Twins saved about $2.5 million over their projections, which goes a long way for a team that is pinching pennies. Individually, perhaps the most surprising is Royce Lewis who accepted a deal $700K below his projected arbitration figure. While that’s not that big of a difference relatively speaking, it’s important to keep in mind that future arbitration salaries build off of your previous one; and as a Super Two player, Lewis will get to go through arbitration four times. Securing that first year at 30% below projection should help the Twins over the following three seasons.
With all salaries settled for the 2025 season, POBO Derek Falvey and GM Jeremy Zoll know exactly where they stand payroll-wise, which should hopefully help get the ball rolling on offseason trades and/or free agent acquisitions. Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in a month, so it’s now or never on a team with contending aspirations and holes on the roster.