3 Twins to watch as tender deadline looms
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As teams tidy up their rosters in preparation for their offseason moves and the upcoming Winter Meetings in Dallas at the start of December, there¡¯s one more significant deadline that looms: Friday¡¯s 7 p.m. CT cutoff for clubs to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players.
The Twins (along with many other teams) typically also use this deadline to avoid arbitration with those players altogether by agreeing to guaranteed one-year deals -- and they sometimes get more creative, like the one-year deals with options they found with Kyle Farmer and Jorge Alcala at this point last season.
Of the Twins¡¯ recognizable names eligible for arbitration this year -- that¡¯s Willi Castro, Ryan Jeffers, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Jhoan Duran, Trevor Larnach, Griffin Jax, Royce Lewis and Brock Stewart -- there don¡¯t appear to be many difficult decisions, as that group encompasses much of the core of this roster.
Alex Kirilloff might have started to approach non-tender status given his injury and performance history -- especially as he got deeper into his arbitration eligibility -- but his retirement earlier this offseason ultimately made that a non-issue ahead of this deadline.
But outside of that, who might be some names to watch in the non-tender discussion?
RHP Michael Tonkin
The Twins clearly saw something intriguing in Tonkin, considering they brought him back off waivers twice last season -- seven years following the conclusion of his initial stint with the club -- but they also designated him for assignment in between those two claims and didn¡¯t really give him a shot at leverage situations when he was on the roster.
Tonkin is eligible for arbitration for a second time this season, with Cot¡¯s Baseball Contracts estimating a $1.575 million salary in 2025 as the 35-year-old comes off a 3.63 ERA for the Yankees, Twins and Mets in ¡®24. It¡¯s not all too crazy of a price, but considering Minnesota¡¯s continued financial constraints, it¡¯s far from a sure thing.
RHP Ronny Henriquez
Though Henriquez pitched in some leverage spots down the stretch for the Twins, posted a 3.26 ERA in 19 1/3 innings and isn¡¯t yet arbitration-eligible, he shows up on this list because, well, Minnesota already non-tendered him once last season (before bringing him back to the organization on a Minor League deal).
For the decent surface stats in that small sample size, Henriquez¡¯s underlying numbers aren¡¯t as flattering, and he¡¯s out of Minor League options, which means he could eventually be a fringe-type reliever without roster flexibility -- a tough spot.
RHP Justin Topa
Topa would be the least likely candidate here, mainly because the Twins traded for him last offseason considering both his team control, his high-quality stuff and his enormous success with a 2.61 ERA in 69 innings out of the Seattle bullpen in 2023.
But Topa is coming off a nearly lost 2024 season -- one in which he finally tracked back from knee issues and arm fatigue to make three appearances at the very end of September -- and is entering a second season of arbitration eligibility, though it projects to be a fairly cheap one (estimated at $1.225 million, per Cot¡¯s Baseball Contracts).
The high-quality stuff could still help Topa stick on the roster.