The Twins have released catcher Jair Camargo, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Minnesota designated him for assignment a few days ago when they claimed catcher Jhonny Pereda off waivers from the Athletics.
Camargo was placed on the minor league injured list on May 25th. He posted on Instagram about a month ago that he had undergone Tommy John surgery. The return timeline from that procedure can be shorter for position players than for pitchers, but throwing is very important for catchers as well. His timeline wasn’t explicitly laid out but he could be sidelined until the middle of next season. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, which is why Camargo has now been released.
Originally an international signing of the Dodgers, Camargo came to the Twins as part of the Kenta Maeda deal in February of 2020. The Twins added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2023 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
He got to make his major league debut last year, in very limited fashion. He got into five games and took seven plate appearances, with no hits, one walk and three strikeouts. He has been better in the minor leagues in the past but has struggled more recently. He first made it to Triple-A in 2023 and hit .259/.323/.503 for a 97 wRC+. Since then, he has a .220/.291/.389 line and 73 wRC+. Even when he has put up good minor league numbers, he has struck out around 30% of the time. Defensively, Baseball Prospectus ranks him as a decent blocker but a subpar framer.
With Camargo having had subpar results lately and now this extended surgery rehab ahead of him, it’s understandable that the Twins bumped him off the 40-man. It’s possible they will look to re-sign him on a minor league deal but Camargo will have the chance to talk to the other 29 teams as well.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
Making Room for Harry Ford! Harry Ford for Griffin Jax and Willy Castro.
Ha!
What is the difference between being placed on outright waivers and being released? I assume some sort of salary settlement?
Outright waivers allow the team to push the player off the 40 man roster but keep him in the organization (if he isn’t claimed by another team). If he has a previous career outright or has more than a certain amount of service time, he can reject that outright assignment and elect free agency.
I believe the service time calculation is after 3 years you can decline the outright and elect free agency but give up your remaining salary, and after 5 years you can decline the outright and elect free agency and keep your remaining salary. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.
Released is just releasing them from their contract to free agency. Since Camargo is injured and you can’t outright an injured player, they had to release him. Otherwise they likely would have outrighted him off the 40 man roster, since he doesn’t have a previous career outright or the service time to decline the outright.