Twins bring back Taylor Rogers to fortify bullpen with 1-year, $2M contract, finalize Caratini deal

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins signed left-hander Taylor Rogers to a one-year, $2 million contract to bring the veteran reliever back to his original team as part of a bullpen revamp Friday, while also finalizing a two-year, $14 million deal with catcher Victor Caratini.

Rogers and Caratini were at Target Field for their physical exams to make their signings official, after recently agreeing to terms. Rogers had a 3.15 ERA in 319 appearances over his first six major league seasons with the Twins, accumulating 361 strikeouts in 314 2/3 innings. He became a closer in 2019 and made the All-Star team in 2021.

“The Taylor Rogers we knew in ’18 and ’19 is going to be different than this guy, but he’s still a really good reliever and I think he’s going to have a big impact in our bullpen not only pitching-wise but with the ability to lead our group,” said new manager Derek Shelton, who was the bench coach for the Twins during part of Rogers' first stint with the club.

Over the last four years, Rogers has pitched for five teams. He was traded to the San Diego Padres right before the 2022 season and then to the Milwaukee Brewers right before the deadline. Rogers signed with the San Francisco Giants in 2023 to join his twin brother, Tyler Rogers, and was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in 2025. The Reds traded him to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline last summer.

The 35-year-old Rogers has a career 3.34 ERA in 566 relief appearances, with 626 strikeouts in 541 1/3 innings and 83 saves. Rogers, who was drafted by the Twins as a starter in the 11th round in 2012 out of Kentucky, was converted to relief just before his major league debut in 2016.

The Twins traded their top five relievers during the week leading up to the deadline last season: Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and Danny Coulombe. Rogers will mix in with bullpen holdovers Cole Sands, Justin Topa and Kody Funderburk.

“It’s the most obvious area of need coming into the offseason, something we feel like ‘Rog’ is a step in that direction, but help in that regard is going to come in all shapes and sizes," general manager Jeremy Zoll said ahead of the team's annual fan festival.

The 32-year-old Caratini, who will also be in the mix at first base and designated hitter while backing up catcher Ryan Jeffers, hit .259 in 2025 in his second season with the Houston Astros and set career bests with 12 homers, 46 RBIs and 386 plate appearances.

The 32-year-old switch-hitter has a .244 batting average over nine major league seasons. The Twins will be his fifth different team. Among active catchers with a minimum of 3,500 innings behind the plate, Caratini's catcher ERA of 3.92 ranks eighth best in baseball.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Caratini and Rogers, the Twins designated right-handed reliever Pierson Ohl and catcher Jhonny Pereda for release or assignment.

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FILE - Houston Astros' Victor Caratini sprints to third during a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas., Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

FILE - Chicago Cubs' Taylor Rogers throws during the eighth inning of Game 2 of a National League wild card baseball game against the San Diego Padres Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley,File)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Sunday he would accept a proposal made by the nation’s largest remaining rebel group to allow an independent commission to investigate the group’s alleged links to the drug trade.

The proposal was made in a video published on Jan. 20 video by Antonio Garcia, the head of the National Liberation Army, or ELN. In the video, Garcia said that while the rebels impose a tax on cocaine traders, they do not run any drug trafficking routes or cocaine labs.

“The ELN has no relation to drug trafficking,” Garcia said in the video and challenged the government to allow an independent commission to verify the group’s claims.

In a message on X Sunday, Petro said he would accept the proposal, adding that the agency that verifies the rebel’s claims should be “scientific and independent of governments” and should deliver its findings to the United Nations. Petro also urged the rebels to back efforts to replace coca crops in the northeastern Catatumbo region.

Colombia’s president has long accused the rebels of profiting from the drug trade calling its leadership “drug traffickers dressed up as guerrilla fighters.”

The group’s alleged relation to drug trafficking was one of the issues that stopped peace talks from advancing in the first two years of the Petro administration.

Peace talks between both sides ultimately broke down last year after the ELN staged an offensive in Catatumbo in which dozens of people were killed and more than 50,000 were forced to flee their homes.

The ELN said in January that it would like to work with the government on a “national accord” that would enable negotiations to resume.

But Petro has said that he will only resume talks with the group when it gives up drug trafficking.

The ELN was founded in the early 1960s and has approximately 5,000 fighters in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela.

The ELN’s grip over rural communities along Colombia’s border with Venezuela has increased in recent years as it fills a power vacuum left by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the rebel group that disbanded in 2017, after signing a peace deal with Colombia’s government.

In January, Colombian officials said that in call with President Donald Trump they discussed the possibility of staging attacks on the ELN with the help of the U.S. military.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro speaks during a news conference at the Colombian embassy in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)