Berríos, Buxton, Duffey, Garver, Thielbar sign

MINNEAPOLIS -- Considering all of the uncertainty around evaluation of players' stats from the 2020 campaign, the Twins entered the offseason with the hopes of avoiding the arbitration process and worked creatively with agents to come to early agreements for 2021 with their arbitration-eligible players.

With that in mind, the club announced one-year agreements with four arbitration-eligible players at the non-tender deadline on Wednesday night: José Berríos ($5.6 million with a $500,000 signing bonus, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand), Byron Buxton ($5.125 million), Tyler Duffey ($2.2 million) and Mitch Garver ($1.875 million). Taylor Rogers later agreed to a $6 million deal, per a source, and the Twins also announced a $650,000 contract with pre-arbitration reliever Caleb Thielbar.

Outfielder Eddie Rosario and reliever Matt Wisler were non-tendered as the Twins handled all of their arbitration-eligible situations well ahead of the typical deadline to exchange figures.

"It’s uncharted territory to some degree," president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. "So we entered the process hoping that we could say, listen, before we get into the process of tender and starting to charge toward the exchange state and the potential for arb hearings with a lot of lack of clarity around how to treat a 60-game season in the construct of arbitration, we wanted to try to be creative beforehand, and when we brought that to a number of agents, they agreed."

That was notable in the case of Berríos, the club's Opening Day starter for the last two years who lost an arbitration hearing with the Twins before the 2019 season, resulting in a $4.025 million salary. Falvey said that assistant general manager Daniel Adler and Berríos' agent, Nick Chanock, worked into the final hours before Wednesday's deadline to get a deal done, giving Berríos a bump of more than $2 million.

"They worked creatively to come up with it, and José felt really good about it in the end," Falvey said. "I feel like it was a reflection of a really good partnership there. Last year, there were probably more current class comps or guys in the process that might have played a little bit more of a role in the uncertainty around where he might slot. This year, it seemed a little more straightforward with respect to the comps that were in his class."

Duffey earned a raise from his $1.2 million last season after serving as the Twins' best reliever in 2020 with a 1.88 ERA and 0.79 WHIP. Thielbar's salary will be bumped up to $650,000 following a season in which he pitched in the Majors for the first time since 2015 and surprised with a 2.25 ERA.

Duffey broke out as one of the Majors' most effective relievers in the second half of 2019 following his final promotion from Triple-A on May 13 after two seasons bouncing between the Majors and Minors. The 29-year-old right-hander had 31 strikeouts and six walks in 24 innings, mostly in a setup role to Rogers and Sergio Romo. Duffey and the Twins agreed to a $1.2 million salary for '20, and he would have been eligible for arbitration a second time had he and the Twins not agreed to this deal.

Though Rogers didn't have the elite season that he did in 2019, the Twins still bumped up his salary from $4.45 million last season after the lefty closer's 4.05 ERA was balanced by elite underlying metrics, including a 2.84 FIP (actually better than his 2.85 mark in '19) due to his 24 strikeouts and only four walks in 20 innings. The Twins hope that Rogers' ballooned hit rate in 2020 was just a blip on the radar and that those underlying metrics indicate a return to his usual dominant form that brought a 2.61 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 69 innings in '19.

Buxton also earned a significant raise from his $3.075 million in 2020 after showing off an improved power stroke alongside his standard exemplary defense, for which he finished as an American League Gold Glove finalist in center field. Though he again had injury issues with his left shoulder and was hit in the helmet by a pitch toward the end of the season, he posted career-bests in slugging percentage (.577) and OPS (.844) thanks to eight September homers.

Garver also got a solid raise in his first year of arbitration eligibility despite a challenging 2020 in which he posted a .511 OPS and only two homers in 23 games as he missed a large chunk of time with a right intercostal strain. Though the Twins also figure to get significant production from top prospect Ryan Jeffers, who started both playoff games at catcher, Garver's historic 2019 season, for which he won the Silver Slugger Award with 31 homers and a .995 OPS, gives him a high ceiling to which the Twins hope he can return.

Thielbar originally arrived for 2020 on a Minor League deal with an invitation to Spring Training and later pushed his way onto the Twins' roster in August and excelled, posting 22 strikeouts and nine walks in 20 innings as he proved valuable in rounding out the club's bullpen depth. The emergence of both Thielbar and Wisler helped the Twins to receive 3.6 wins above replacement from the bullpen, per FanGraphs, tied for the Rays for best in the Majors.

The performance was good, and the story of personal redemption was better. Thielbar had accepted a job as pitching coach at Augustana University in South Dakota following the conclusion of the 2019 Minor League season after two frustrating seasons in which he didn't get promoted to the Majors despite strong performances, but he took a last shot when the Twins -- his hometown team -- came calling.