Twins and Taylor Rogers settle at $7.3 million, avoid arbitration

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Taylor Rogers, who will be a free agent after this season, ended his final time through arbitration by agreeing to a $7.3 million salary for 2022.

A source confirmed Tuesday that the lefthanded reliever settled, shortly after the deadline for players and teams to exchange salary numbers.

The Twins will try to come to terms with their two other arbitration-eligible players, infielder Luis Arraez and catcher Gary Sanchez.

Arbitration allows players with three to six years of major league experience to negotiate their salaries with the team; it typically happens in mid-January, but was delayed by the lockout. The Twins have usually avoided arbitration by agreeing to deals before the exchange deadline. But those deals might have been harder to come by this season because of the lockout.

After the exchange, there will be a hearing at which players have to be present, meaning they will likely come on an off day. The Twins' only off day this spring is March 28, but hearings could stretch into early this season before a panel of arbitrators will choose either the club's or the player's salary offer.

Rogers made $6.25 million last season. Arraez, who made $611,000 last season, is eligible for arbitration for the first time, and Sanchez is also in his final year of arbitration eligibility. He made $6.35 million last season with the Yankees.

MLB.com reported Sanchez filed for $9.5 million and the Twins countered with $8.5 million, and Arraez filed for $2.4 million and the Twins proposed $1.85 million.

The Twins' most recent case that went all the way to arbitration was for pitcher Jose Berrios in 2020; he asked for $4.4 million but lost to the Twins' offer of $4.025 million. Kyle Gibson also lost his arbitration case in 2018, when arbitrators eschewed the pitcher's salary of $4.55 million in favor of the Twins' $4.2 million. That was the first arbitration case for the Twins since 2006.

To make room for Carlos Correa, the Twins had to make room on the 40-man roster. The expected move was to place pitcher Blayne Enlow — who had a 1.84 ERA in three starts for Class A Cedar Rapids last season — on the 60-day injured list while he recovers from last June's Tommy John surgery.

Instead, the Twins designated bullpen righthander Ralph Garza Jr. for release or assignment, giving them a week to trade him or place him on outright waivers. Garza, who will be 28 in April, and Correa were briefly teammates at the Astros, where Garza made his debut last season before the Twins picked him up on waivers. In 30⅓ innings last season, he had a 3.56 ERA.

"I hope we're able to keep Ralph," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "… He can come in and do a lot of different things for you, with his different arm angles, and I think his added deception the way he releases the ball, I think it can really play. We got some good results out of him last year, and I think he's going to have a lot of success going forward. You're really comparing a bunch of guys you don't want to lose when you make these decisions."

Baldelli said Enlow's recovery is still on its same timetable.

"We don't normally … speed guys up after coming back from surgery," Baldelli said. "… Whatever the schedule was originally, we're going to stick to it. But he's been doing great. And I've heard from both medical room and talking to Wes [Johnson, pitching coach], he's just as you would hope."

The Twins hired Kevin Goldstein to serve as special assistant, player personnel. Goldstein most recently worked for Fangraphs, blogging and podcasting, and he also spent several years in the Houston front office as special assistant to the general manager. He started with that team in 2012 as a pro scouting coordinator after making a name for himself as a Baseball Prospectus writer.

After the sign-stealing scandal from the Astros' 2017 World Series, Goldstein was one of many let go from their jobs in 2020. Per his goodbye column at Fangraphs, Goldstein will provide the Twins with "individual player assessments, as well as broader process advice across the team's international, pro and amateur player evaluation groups."