As ESPN's Jeff Passon reports, the Twins and Rangers have agreed a deal that would send infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Minnesota. According to MLB Network's John Heyman, Kiner-Falefa and one prospect will be leaving for Minnesota in lieu of Mitch Garver. Pitcher Ronnie Henriquez is likely in the deal, according to Betsy Helfand of St. Paul's Pioneer-Press.
For Rangers, it marks another title-grabbing move in a very busy season for the club. Before the lockdown, he threw in big bucks to connect various players, with two of the biggest names being shortstop Corey Seeger and second baseman Marcus Semien. The linking of those two fielders with the imminent arrival of potential Josh Jung immediately sparked speculation that Kiner-Falefa could be a trade candidate. But when Jung underwent shoulder surgery last month, it looked like the pendulum was being turned towards Texas, with Kiner-Falefa as his everyday third baseman. However, this is no longer proven, as he is headed for Minnesota.
The Twins had Andrelton Simmons' primary shortstop last year. Despite showing the defensive prowess he has long known, Simmons had a disappointing year at the plate, .223/.283/.274, a WRC+ of 56. Yesterday, he signed with the Cubs for a modest $4MM salary, showing the Twins weren't very motivated to get him back in the fold. With Kiner-Falefa, they have brought in a player with a similar profile to Simmons, but there is more reason to be optimistic about his future performance. Like Simmons, Kiner-Falefa is a glove-first player, placing third among MLB shortstops in fielding Bible polling last season. His bat has been below average in his career so far, he has never put up more than 94 WRC+. However, he is still relatively young, compared to 32-year-old Simmons who turns 27 at the end of the month. He hit .271/.312/.357 last year for a WRC+ of 85, not a huge number, but certainly better than what Simmons provided. He also estimates an arbitration salary of $4.9MM for Matt Swartz per MLBTR contributor, and that comes with an additional year of control beyond that.
But to make that solid addition to their field, the Twins had to send a valuable player to the other side. Garver had a tremendous breakout season in 2019, .273/.365/.630, wRC+ of 155. This would be an extraordinary production for any player but was particularly impressive for a catcher. Injuries were limited to only 23 games of anemic production in the 2020 season, but he made a good comeback last year. Still dealing with injuries and playing only 68 games, his 2021 line up was .256/.358/.517, wRC+ of 137. Last year, Rangers split the catching duties almost equally between Jose Trevino and Jonah Heim, who put wRC+ heights of 60 and 64 respectively. Garver has been able to produce at a much higher rate, but the past few years of injury come with concerns, making him a high-risk, high-reward option for Texas. However, he won't be a huge risk from a financial standpoint, as he is projected to have an arbitration salary of $3.1MM this year, followed by another year of control remaining.
The reason why he teamed up with such a talented catcher as Gevers was the rise of Ryan Jeffers. Making his MLB debut in 2020, he played 26 games and hit .273/.355/.436, wRC+ of 120. In 2021, he had a rough start, hitting .147/.216/.176, and was demoted later. end of April. After showing signs of improvement in Triple-A, he was recalled in June and hit .206/.277/.433, good enough for a WRC+ of 92. While it's clearly a drop-off from Garver's numbers, Jeffers is turning 25 in June and comes with five years of control. The Twins clearly felt it was worth giving the youngster a chance to upgrade his field.
Of course, it's not all twin pairs, as Ronnie Henriquez was also brought on board in the deal. The 21-year-old right-hander split between High-A and Double-A last season, making 16 starts in a total of 21 games. In 93 2/3 innings, that 4.71 ERA was not particularly impressive, but the Twins were certainly concerned with his 27.1% running rate and 6.5% running rate, both better than average. The club certainly needed arms after losing Jose Berios to trade, Kenta Maeda to injury and Michael Pineda to free agency. Henriquez likely won't provide immediate assistance in that regard, given that he's never above Double-A, but he could potentially be a factor later in the season.