Minnesota Twins Reach Arbitration Deals with Multiple Young Contributors

By Ted Schwerzler |

Updated: Jan 9, 2025

Minnesota Twins, Royce Lewis — Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The offseason has been, and will probably continue to be, a slog for the Minnesota Twins. The Pohlad family continues to complain about cash flow and needs to sell the team. There could be new ownership soon, however. The franchise did decide to pay the eight players that were tendered contracts without going to arbitration, while they still own the team, though.

Thursday was the deadline for teams to agree on new contracts for arbitration eligible players ahead of 2025. The Twins have previously taken players to hearings, but that won’t be the case this season. All eight players got deals done, and most at much less than projected. Once again saving money for the Pohlads.

Minnesota Twins save money on arbitration eligible players

In recent seasons we have seen Derek Falvey operate on a file and trial basis. While the Twins haven’t taken every player to arbitration, they have often looked to have at least one case needing to be worked out. That didn’t happen this season and they beat most of the MLB Trade Rumors projections.

Here are the Minnesota Twins arbitration deals and difference from projection:

Royce Lewis $1.625M (-675K)
Ryan Jeffers $4.55M (-150K)
Willi Castro $6.4M (+200K)
Griffin Jax $2.365M (-235K)
Jhoan Duran $4.125M (+425K)
Bailey Ober $3.55M (-750K)
Trevor Larnach $2.1M (0)
Joe Ryan…
— Ted (@tlschwerz) January 9, 2025

Only utility man Willi Castro, and closer Jhoan Duran, beat their projections. At $800,000, $750,000, and $675,000 in deficit from their projections, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, and Royce Lewis fell the most short. I’d still assume that Lewis, who is getting married on Monday (January 13), is happy with the gift for 2025.

It remains possible that the Twins trade Castro. He is a utility man making more than $6 million, and Minnesota got burned on that front last season by bringing back Kyle Farmer. They could shed his salary and give second-year player Austin Martin those opportunities.

With all of their arbitration deals done (and for significantly less than projections) here's the up to the minute Minnesota Twins payroll situation. pic.twitter.com/BkV03EB9MX
— Ted (@tlschwerz) January 9, 2025

The payroll still sits above where Minnesota is allowed to have it going into 2025. The trade for additional catching depth in the form of Diego Cartaya continues to make it likely Christian Vazquez gets moved. That would free up $10 million depending on the return.

Thus far the Twins have yet to sign a single free agent player to a major league deal. They were never expected to be busy on that front, but trades of big league salary haven’t materialized either with teams waiting out the market.

We continue to draw closer to spring training, and ultimately opening day. Rocco Baldelli must see some additions to round out his roster. Falvey and newly appointed general manager Jeremy Zoll are banking heavily on the holdovers producing in a big way this season.