The Minnesota Twins are making moves in free agency, and that means even bringing back a familiar face to the organization. That's what they did in their latest move, signing Taylor Rogers to a one-year deal, according to Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic.
“Twins are reuniting with former All-Star closer Taylor Rogers on a one-year, $2 million contract. Logical fit for both sides, as the 35-year-old Rogers returns home to the team that drafted him and the Twins add some much-needed bullpen help,” Gleeman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Rogers spent the first six seasons of his career with the Twins. Last season with the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs, Rogers had a 3.38 ERA with 53 strikeouts and 23 walks in 50 2/3 innings. During the playoffs, he pitched one scorless innning for the Cubs.
He was selected to the All-Star team in 2021, and the Twins traded him the next season to the San Diego Padres with Brent Rooker for Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagán.
This time around, the Twins are looking to build their bullpen after what they did to it during the trade deadline last year. Rogers was one of the players they thought could help them get consistency back in the bullpen, but the Twins may still have to rely on some of their young players to produce, according to Derek Falvey.
“We’re close to being able to add some guys that we think will fill out some experience in that group, but we’re going to need some young guys to step up,” Falvey said via Bobby Nightengale of The Star Tribune. “There is no way around that. That’s going to have to happen for us. I think a couple of years ago, we didn’t know that was going to be Griffin Jax and ultimately it was. There have to be other guys in our group that are going to need to step into those roles.”
