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Jair Camargo

Twins Release Jair Camargo

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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

Twins Claim Jhonny Pereda, Designate Jair Camargo For Assignment

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The Twins have claimed catcher Jhonny Pereda off waivers from the Athletics, per an announcement from the latter club, who designated him for assignment a few days ago. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that the Twins have optioned Pereda to Triple-A St. Paul and designated catcher Jair Camargo for assignment as the corresponding move.

Pereda, 29, has a major league track record which is both small and unimpressive. In 39 games with the Marlins and A’s, he has stepped to the plate 86 times and slashed .203/.267/.228. The Marlins designated him for assignment in the offseason and flipped him to the A’s for cash.

His minor league work is greater in both quantity and quality. From 2022 to the present, he has stepped to the plate 811 times at the Triple-A level. In those plate appearances, his 19.1% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate are both solid figures. His combined .302/.394/.427 batting line in that span leads to a 118 wRC, indicating he’s been 18% above league average. Defensively, Baseball Prospectus has ranked him as an above-average framer during his Triple-A time, though with his blocking a bit below par.

Camargo, 26, has a somewhat similar big league profile. He has only appeared in five big league games with seven plate appearances, leading to a .000/.143/.000 line. However, his minor league work hasn’t been as strong. Dating back to 2023, the first year Camargo reached Triple-A, he has a combined .237/.305/.439 batting line and 83 wRC+. That includes a rough .212/.258/.319 line here in 2025. He has been punched out in 32% of his plate appearances since the start of 2023 while only drawing walks at a 7.7% rate. BP ranks him as a decent blocker but a subpar framer.

Both players can be optioned for the remainder of this year and one additional season. It seems the Twins view Pereda as a better depth catcher, so they have dropped one backstop onto the roster and knocked out the other. At the big league level, they have Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez. The latter is an impending free agent and theoretical trade candidate. Jeffers is only under club control through 2026. If Pereda performs well with his new organization, there’s a path to more big league playing time for him.

Camargo heads to DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Twins could take five days to see if there’s any trade interest. If he were to pass through outright waivers unclaimed, he would not have the right to elect free agency, as he doesn’t have a previous career outright nor three years of big league service time.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Sun, Imagn Images

Twins Activate Kody Funderburk From Injured List

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The Twins announced that they have reinstated left-hander Kody Funderburk from the 60-day injured list. Catcher Jair Camargo was optioned to open an active roster spot. Outfielder Max Kepler has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Prior to the official announcement, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reported on X that Funderburk would be activated.

Funderburk, 27, had an intriguing debut last year. Called up in August, he was able to pitch 12 innings for the Twins with a 0.75 earned run average. He struck out 40.4% of batters faced and got grounders on 54.5% of batters faced.

He hasn’t been able to maintain results that strong in 2024. He currently has 33 2/3 innings on the year with a 5.61 ERA. His ground ball rate is the same as last year but his strikeout rate has essentially been halved, landing at 20.3% so far. In July, he landed on the 15-injured list due to a left oblique strain, later being transferred to the 60-day version.

The Twins have just one lefty in their bullpen at the moment in Caleb Thielbar. They have had Steven Okert, Cole Irvin and Brent Headrick on the roster somewhat recently but Okert and Irvin were designated for assignment in recent weeks while Headrick was optioned a couple of days ago.

The club’s season is currently hanging by a thread. They are three games back of the Tigers and Royals with each team having three games remaining. The Twins hold the tiebreakers over both of those clubs but still have long odds of getting back into a playoff spot at this point. Funderburk will give manager Rocco Baldelli a second lefty option in the bullpen as they try to hang on. The Twins host the Orioles this weekend as the Royals are in Atlanta and the Tigers host the White Sox.

As for Kepler, this move will end his season, regardless of whether the club makes the postseason or not. He landed on the IL September 2 due to left patellar tendinitis in his knee. He told Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic a couple of days ago that he wasn’t likely to return and might need offseason surgery.

That would be unfortunate timing as he is heading to free agency for the first time in his career. He and the Twins signed a five-year, $35MM extension going into 2019, with that deal containing a $10MM club option for 2024 that was eventually picked up.

Kepler is a strong defender on the grass, with career tallies of 50 Defensive Runs Saved and 66 Outs Above Average. He has occasionally paired that with strong offense, though not consistently. He hit 24 home runs last year and drew walks at a 9.2% clip, leading to a .260/.332/.484 batting line and 123 wRC+. But this year, around multiple IL stints, he has just eight homers and a 5.5% walk rate. His .253/.302/.380 line has led to a 94 wRC+.

Twins Option Louie Varland, Select Ronny Henriquez

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The Twins announced a series of moves today, activating outfielder Max Kepler from the injured list and selecting the contract of right-hander Ronny Henriquez. Those two will take the roster spots of right-hander Louie Varland and catcher Jair Camargo, who have been optioned. Right-hander Daniel Duarte was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Henriquez.

The Minnesota rotation has shifted quite a bit since last year, as Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle all reached free agency after the 2023 season. Mahle was already out of the picture after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of last year, but the departures of Gray and Maeda left big holes relative to late last year.

The club acquired Anthony DeSclafani in the winter to take one rotation spot and it was hoped the remaining innings could be taken up by a healthy Chris Paddack or continued development from Varland. Unfortunately, none of three plans have worked for the Twins thus far. DeSclafani required flexor tendon surgery last month, which will keep him on the injured list for the entire year. Meanwhile, Paddack has an earned run average of 8.36 so far this year while Varland is even higher at 9.18.

The Twins’ faith in Varland wasn’t totally without merit, as he showed some encouraging signs last year. He tossed 68 innings for the big league club, striking out 25.1% of batters faced while walking just 6%. His ERA was up at 4.63 thanks to allowing 16 home runs, a 21.1% rate of fly balls leaving the yard. That was about double league average, which is part of the reason why his 3.77 SIERA was almost a full run lower than his ERA. He also had a 3.97 ERA in his Triple-A work last year.

Here in 2024, he’s already allowed six homers in just 16 2/3 innings, a massive 35.3% rate. That would naturally regress going forward, which is why his 4.30 SIERA this year is less than half of his ERA, but that doesn’t entirely wave away his results so far this season. Varland’s strikeout rate has dropped to 20.7% and his walk rate to 10.3%, both significantly worse than last year. After yesterday’s start, where Varland didn’t make it through the third inning, manager Rocco Baldelli was noncommittal about Varland sticking in the rotation.

“We have a whole lot of things we have to talk about,” Baldelli said, per Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. “We have to have really almost anything on the table right now to find a way to improve.” He also said: “We’re going to have to be open to making roster moves and finding new ways to use players and figure some things out.”

Those rotation struggles have played a big part in the Twins limping out of the gate this year. The defending division champions are currently 7-13, putting them in a distant fourth place in the early going. They will obviously have to get the group in better shape as the season rolls along to get back in contention, and that starts with giving Varland a breather in the minors.

He’ll head to Triple-A and look to get himself back in good form. The length of his optional assignment could potentially impact him from a service time perspective, depending on when he comes back and for how long. He came into this season with 108 days of service time, meaning he needs to accrue 64 days this year to get to 172 and hit the one-year mark.

The Twins could have Paddack, Pablo López, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober throw the next four games but will need someone to retake Varland’s spot by Friday at the latest. It’s possible that will be Simeon Woods Richardson, who came up to start one game of the club’s doubleheader on April 13. Brent Headrick and Matt Canterino are also on the 40-man roster but the former is on the IL with a forearm strain and the latter has been dealing with a rotator cuff strain and hasn’t pitched in the minors yet this year.

For now, Henriquez takes a spot on the roster and could give the club a multi-inning option out of the bullpen. He has thrown 13 1/3 Triple-A innings over seven appearances so far this year with a 4.05 ERA, striking out 14 opponents while giving out just two walks.

He has 11 2/3 innings of major league experience, which came with the Twins in 2022, but he struggled in the minors last year and was non-tendered. The Twins re-signed him to a minor league deal and he’ll now rejoin the roster, giving a fresh arm to a bullpen that had to cover a lot of innings after Varland’s poor start yesterday. Henriquez still has an option and can be sent back down to Triple-A at a later date without having to be exposed to waivers.

As for Duarte, it was reported over the weekend that he would require season-ending elbow surgery, so his move to the 60-day IL was an inevitability.

Twins Place Carlos Correa On 10-Day IL, Designate Michael Tonkin

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The Twins announced a set of roster moves prior to their double-header with the Tigers, including the expected news that Carlos Correa has been placed on the 10-day injured list.  Right-hander Michael Tonkin has also been designated for assignment, and the Twins have filled those two open roster spots by calling catcher Jair Camargo up from Triple-A, and selecting the contract of right-hander Matt Bowman.  In addition, right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson was also called up as the extra 27th man for the double-header.

Correa suffered a right oblique strain in yesterday’s game, and while he told MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park and other reporters today that MRI results hadn’t yet come back, an IL stint seemed inevitable.  The question now facing Correa and the Twins is just how much time the shortstop will miss, as oblique injuries have a tendency to linger unless Correa lucked out with a very low-level strain.  It seems likely that Correa will miss more than just 10 days, and since third baseman Royce Lewis is also out with a quad strain, Minnesota is suddenly rather short-handed in the infield.  Utilitymen Willi Castro and Kyle Farmer were already handling the bulk of third base duties, and since one of them will now be moved over to shortstop, Jose Miranda or Austin Martin could get more looks in the infield.

Camargo is perhaps something of an unusual call-up in this context, as the Twins already have Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vazquez handling catching duties.  However, if Miranda gets more time at third base, that opens up some DH at-bats to allow Jeffers and Vazquez in the lineup at the same time, with Camargo providing depth behind the plate.

When and if Camargo does get into a game, it will mark the 24-year-old’s Major League debut.  An international signing for the Dodgers in 2015, he started his pro career at age 16, and has toiled away in the minors before getting his first crack at the Show.  Camargo made it to Triple-A for the first time in 2023, and to date has hit .260/.328/.499 with 23 homers over 415 plate appearances at the top rung of the minor league ladder.  Baseball America ranked Camargo as the 26th-best prospect in Minnesota’s farm system, citing his power, hard contact, and an above-average throwing arm as pluses.  However, Camargo’s defense as a whole is average at best, and he has posted some hefty strikeout rates across his minor league career.

Tonkin finds himself back on the DFA wire just over a week after the Mets initially designated the righty.  The Twins acquired Tonkin in a trade earlier this week, and he allowed two runs over two relief innings in yesterday’s 8-2 loss to Detroit.  This could potentially mark Tonkin’s only appearance in his second career stint with Minnesota, unless he clears waivers and accepts an outright assignment.  Since electing free agency would mean giving up what remains of his $1MM guaranteed salary from the Mets, Tonkin might decide to simply bide his time at Triple-A Saint Paul.

Speaking of guaranteed salaries, Bowman’s selection to the active roster means that the veteran reliever has now locked in $925K for 2024, as per the terms of the minors contract he signed with the Twins in January.  Bowman posted a 4.02 ERA over 181 1/3 innings for the Cardinals and Reds from 2016-19 before an extended Tommy John rehab kept him from pitching at any level for the next three seasons.  He finally returned to action with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate last year, and completed the comeback by tossing four innings over three MLB games for New York in September.

Bowman provides Minnesota’s pen with a fresh arm for at least today’s double-header, and perhaps for a longer stint given how seven Twins relievers are still on the injured list.  Caleb Thielbar and Josh Staumont have begun Triple-A rehab assignments, while closer Jhoan Duran has started to throw bullpen sessions as he worked his way back from an oblique strain.

Twins Select Jair Camargo, Yunior Severino

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The Twins are selecting the contracts of catcher Jair Camargo and infielder Yunior Severino, per Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. Both players were scheduled to reach minor league free agency, though the Twins have prevented that outcome by adding them to the 40-man roster.

Camargo, 24, made his professional debut with the Dodgers back in 2016. After three seasons in the rookie leagues, he eventually made his full-season debut in 2019, slashing .236/.301/.342 in 316 plate appearances while splitting time between catcher and third base at the Single-A level. Camargo was then packaged alongside veteran right-hander Kenta Maeda and shipped to Minnesota in exchange for Brusdar Graterol, Luke Raley, and a 2020 draft pick during the 2019-20 offseason.

After scuffling to a .236/.279/.418 slash line at the High-A level during his first season with the Twins, Camargo broke out during his age-22 campaign by slashing .262/.310/.483 with 18 home runs in just 326 trips to the plate primarily between the High-A and Double-A levels.

Severino, 24, was originally signed by the Braves as an amateur but was declared a free agent when the league sanctioned the Atlanta organization in the wake of violations on the international free agent market. He subsequently signed in Minnesota and, after a few nondescript minor league campaigns, has elevated his stock and now played his way onto the 40-man roster.

The 2023 season saw Severino slash .272/.352/.546 with 35 homers, 17 doubles and three triples between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. That marked an impressive followup to 2022’s .278/.358/.530 output between High-A and Double-A. Severino has worked primarily as a third baseman in recent seasons but logged notable reps at first base and second base this past season as well. He adds to a wealth of infield depth in a Twins organization that currently has Jorge Polanco, Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa, Eduoard Julien and Alex Kirilloff at the MLB level, in addition to prospects like Brooks Lee and Austin Martin knocking on the door after impressive minor league campaigns.

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