The offseason has officially begun, and the Twins have made their first big moves, exercising the club options on longtime veterans Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler.

Polanco is due $10.5 million next season and Kepler will earn $10 million. It will be Kepler’s last year under contract with the Twins, while Polanco has an additional club option for the 2025 season.

The duo’s careers have been intertwined since they were part of the Twins’ 2009 international signing class. Kepler, who hails from Germany, and Polanco, a native of the Dominican Republic, were roommates their very first year in professional baseball.

They have been close friends ever since, both inking five-year extensions ahead of the 2019 season, and talked during the playoffs about how meaningful it was to be playing alongside each other on the sport’s biggest stage.

“It’s very special to be here with you, bro, at this point,” Kepler said to Polanco during an October press conference. “I think it’s been over 10 years now, almost 12, 13 years together. I’m proud of this guy.”

While it seemed a given that the Twins would pick up the club options on both, it wasn’t always so clear.

Kepler had a slow start to the season, hitting .207 with a .688 on-base plus slugging percentage in the first half of the season. But a remarkable turnaround in the second half of the season in which he hit .306 with a .926 OPS saw him finish the season with a .260/.332/.484 slash line.

“The way the team played in the second half I think re-energized Kep, but it also worked the other way around, too,” manager Rocco Baldelli said last month. “I think Kep re-energized the team. It was really pretty amazing how that all kind of happened at the same time and watching the emotion on his face, the way that he played, you know in that entire last couple of months, a few months of the season.”

He finished with a 121 OPS+ (100 marks a league-average hitter), a figure which was the second-highest in his nine-year career, behind just his 2019 season. Kepler led the Twins with 24 home runs and 66 RBIs while playing solid defense in right field.

Polanco’s season, meanwhile, was disrupted by injuries — he started the season on the injured list because of a lingering knee issue and twice dealt with hamstring strains — and he played in just 80 games.

But he was productive when he did play, finishing the year hitting .255/.335/.454. While he primarily played second base, he did shift across the infield to third base to accommodate rookie Edouard Julien when the Twins asked him to do so.

While they picked up his option, it’s possible that the Twins could explore a potential trade for Polanco this offseason with Julien in the mix at second and top prospect Brooks Lee, who finished the season in Triple-A, getting closer to the majors.

Or, they could let him bounce around, playing second — he is a superior defender to Julien — getting some DH at-bats and backing up third baseman Royce Lewis as needed.

But as it stands right now, two of the longtime pillars of the team are back, reunited for one more season.

“Those are two really good players,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said last month. “I think we know we’ve known those guys longer than probably almost anybody in that room, so I think that we’re proud of what they both accomplished.”