Escobar among 5 Twins to avoid arbitration

MINNEAPOLIS -- After avoiding arbitration with infielder Eduardo Escobar on a one-year, $4.85 million contract on Thursday night, the Twins avoided arbitration with four players before Friday's 12 p.m. CT deadline. Minnesota settled one-year deals with right-hander Ryan Pressly for $1.6 million, shortstop Ehire Adrianza for $1 million, right-hander Trevor May for $650,000 and outfielder Robbie Grossman for $2 million.
Minnesota exchanged figures with right-hander Kyle Gibson, who is the lone Twins player yet to avoid arbitration and could be headed to a hearing.
Pressly, 29, was in his second year of arbitration eligibility, and he gets a slight salary increase from the $1.175 million he earned in his first year. Adrianza, May and Grossman, all 28, were in their first year of eligibility.

Pressly had a 4.70 ERA in 57 relief appearances for the Twins last season, with 61 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings. Adrianza played in 70 games, and he hit .265 with a pair of home runs, 24 RBIs and eight stolen bases. May is recovering from Tommy John surgery, so he did not pitch in 2017. Grossman hit .246/.361/.380 with nine homers and 45 RBIs in 119 games while serving mostly as designated hitter.
Escobar, who made $2.6 million last season, is coming off a breakout campaign in which he hit .254/.309/.449 with 21 homers and 16 doubles in 129 games. The 29-year-old Venezuelan also had an impressive stint at third base in Miguel Sanó's absence late in the year.
Arbitration-eligible players and their teams must exchange proposed salary figures for 2018 by Friday's deadline. The Twins have still worked out deals after exchanging figures in the past, and they haven't been to a hearing since 2006 with Kyle Lohse. But there remains a chance they go to a hearing with Gibson, who made $2.9 million last season in his first year of arbitration.