Twins extend qualifying offer to Gray

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins formally extended a qualifying offer to Sonny Gray on Monday, setting themselves up for Draft-pick compensation in the event that the right-hander signs with another team in free agency.

Though nothing is official and Gray doesn’t need to make a decision until the deadline at 3 p.m. CT on Nov. 14, he is expected to decline the qualifying offer and enter free agency for the first time in his career. Gray was adamant at the end of the season that he wished to test the open market, and the Twins have also indicated they fully expect him to become a free agent.

“We've had an incredible experience here,” Gray said when the Twins were eliminated from the playoffs. “But going into Spring Training this year, we wanted to become a free agent. We wanted to experience that. We wanted to see what it's like. I know how good I am. We want to bet on ourselves, essentially, and I know that I have a whole lot left to give to the baseball world, wherever that may be.”

The qualifying offer is a one-year, $20.325 million deal this year, equivalent to the mean salary of MLB’s 125 highest-paid players. It’s rare for a qualifying offer to be accepted; it hasn’t happened for the Twins since Jake Odorizzi accepted his in ‘19. Kenta Maeda was also eligible for the qualifying offer, but the Twins did not extend one to the 35-year-old free agent-to-be.

Gray, who finished second among AL pitchers in both WAR and ERA, is expected to be one of the top available arms on the free-agent market and should command a large, multi-year contract. If he declines the qualifying offer and signs elsewhere, the Twins will receive a high Draft pick; the signing team will also have to forfeit a Draft pick.

“I’m really proud of what he accomplished over the last couple of years for us,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said last month. “We’ll continue to have dialogue with Sonny, but that process is going to take some time to work through the part of the free agent process that he’s earned. I’m sure he’s going to be respected through this process by a whole host of clubs.”

Gray notably said following the season that “money is not the ultimate factor” in his free agency, that he feels strongly about the Twins’ future and that the organization does check all the boxes of what he and his family are looking for -- but he also wanted to bet on himself on the open market, and he should get his opportunity to do that after he presumably declines this offer.

“It's something we're going to have to take a look at as a family and see what is the next step for us, not only as a baseball player, but, where are the next three to four years of our lives going and what direction is that going to go in?” Gray said. “I do know it's going to be playing baseball, I just don't know exactly where.”

Camargo, Severino added to 40-man roster; more to come
The Twins also selected the contracts of catcher Jair Camargo and infielder Yunior Severino to their 40-man roster on Monday, preventing the pair from becoming Minor League free agents and protecting them from the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.

The newcomers bumped the Twins’ 40-man roster to 36 players, and there will almost certainly be more additions ahead of the 5 p.m. CT deadline on Nov. 14 to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft.

Most notably, Twins No. 3 prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez -- ranked No. 48 overall in MLB’s top 100 -- should be considered a lock to be added, as should No. 20 prospect Austin Martin, who headlined the return in the José Berríos trade with Toronto at the ‘21 Trade Deadline and is expected to play a significant role as a utility man for the Twins in ‘24.

These two early additions also come as little surprise.

Though the Twins needed only two catchers to get through the ‘23 season, Camargo has all the makings of at least a solid Major League backup in the years to come, having posted an .826 OPS with 21 homers in 90 games for Triple-A St. Paul, with plenty of all-around familiarity due to his four seasons in the organization.

And though Severino had already been unprotected (and unclaimed) in previous Rule 5 Drafts, this year was different, as he led all Minor Leaguers with 35 homers across Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul with time spent at designated hitter, first base, second base and third base -- though his defensive future remains unclear and his strikeout rate remains high.