Almost exactly four years after trading him to the Padres, the Twins agreed to a one year contract with left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers according to Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. The pact will pay
Rogers $2M in 2026.
Rogers has been bouncing around National League contenders since leaving the Twin Cities. He split 2022 between the Padres and Brewers when he was dealt to Milwaukee as part of the infamous Josh Hader trade. Rogers then signed a three year, $30M deal with the Giants prior to the 2023 season and split the final year of that contract between the Reds and Cubs where he had a 3.38 ERA/4.38 FIP in 50.2 innings. Unfortunately for those teams, after putting up at least 1.5 fWAR every season from 2018-2022 (COVID-shortened 2020 season excluded), Rogers maxed out at 0.3 fWAR in 2023.
It’s fair to question what Rogers can provide at this state of his career, but the same could have been said of the Danny Coulombe signing last year and the Twins were able to squeeze a bit more usefulness out of him in 2025. Rogers’ signature sweeper is still a well above-average pitch and a Griffin Jax-esque approach could benefit him greatly. In 2025, opposing hitters hit .168 with a .337 SLG against his sweeper while his sinker allowed a .326 BA and .537 SLG. As a two pitch pitcher, seems like an obvious solution when one of your pitches turns opposing hitters in to Aaron Judge and the other turns them into James Outman.
At this stage in his career, I would expect Rogers to be deployed as more of a lefty specialist than a true late game option. The Twins could still bring in another closing option like Seranthony Dominguez, but even as it stands he slots in firmly behind Justin Topa, Cole Sands, and Kody Funderburk (who quietly had an excellent second half). And that’s before getting into the Twins’ plethora of SP options, some of which will have to transition to the bullpen due to the sheer depth in the system.
With nearly all of the big relief names off the free agency board, the Twins will likely employ a Rays-style mix and match system at the end of games. Pete Maki’s bullpen wizardry will be put to the test early in 2026.
