Twins pick up Gray’s option, decline Archer, Bundy, Sano options

With the offseason now underway, the Minnesota Twins have officially made decisions on four club options.

The team announced Monday that it exercised the team option in starting pitcher Sonny Gray’s contract, keeping him in Minnesota for the 2023 season.

However, the Twins declined the club options for three other players: starting pitchers Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy, and infielder Miguel Sano. That makes all three players free agents.

Gray was acquired by Minnesota in March and made 24 starts for the Twins last season, going 8-5 with a 3.08 ERA, 117 strikeouts and 36 walks across 119.2 innings. He’s set to make $12.7 million next season, the final year of his contract, per Spotrac.

Bundy and Archer were signed as free agents last offseason. Archer went 2-8 with a 4.56 ERA across 102.2 innings for Minnesota while Bundy went 8-8 in a team-high 29 starts and 140 innings.

The move to decline Sano’s option ends his once-promising tenure with the team. After signing with the team out of the Dominican Republic, he became one of Minnesota’s top prospects before debuting for the Twins in 2015, when he hit .269/.385/.530 with 18 home runs in 80 games, finishing third in 2015 AL Rookie of the Year voting. He slugged another 53 home runs the next two seasons, earning All-Star honors in 2017. After an injury-plagued and down year in 2018, he rebounded in 2019 to hit a career-high 34 home runs but struggled in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and led the entire league in strikeouts. He came back in 2021 and hit 30 home runs but also struck out 183 times. Injuries limited him to just 20 games this past season.

Earlier Monday, star shortstop Carlos Correa officially opted out of his contract, as expected, to become a free agent.