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Ronny Henriquez

Marlins Claim Ronny Henriquez, Designate Xzavion Curry For Assignment

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed right-hander Ronny Henriquez off waivers from the Twins. The latter club had designated him for assignment last week. To open a roster spot, the Marlins have designated right-hander Xzavion Curry for assignment.

Henriquez, 25 in June, came up through the minors as a starter but has been kept mostly in a relief role for the past two seasons. To this point in his career, he has thrown 31 innings in the big leagues over 19 appearances, including one start. He has allowed just 2.90 earned runs per nine in that small sample. His 18.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his 6.1% walk rate and 53.1% ground ball rate are both strong numbers.

He made 34 Triple-A appearances last year, just three of those being starts, logging 55 innings overall. In that time, he had a 3.44 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 53.8% ground ball rate.

That was a pretty decent season on the farm but he exhausted his final option year, meaning he’s now out of options going into 2025. That got him squeezed off the Minnesota roster when the Twins needed to make space for their signings of Danny Coulombe and Harrison Bader.

For the Marlins, they are clearly not targeting a competitive year in 2025. Their offseason has mostly focused on subtractions, as they have traded controllable players like Jesús Luzardo to the Phillies and Jake Burger to the Rangers.

Their bullpen is fairly wide open. They traded Tanner Scott, A.J. Puk, Bryan Hoeing, Huascar Brazobán and JT Chargois at last year’s deadline. Now Anthony Bender is the only reliever on the club with more than three years of service time and Andrew Nardi is the only other guy over the two-year line. In short, Henriquez has much better odds of sticking on the roster in Miami than he did with a competitive club like the Twins.

If he manages to hold onto a spot, he’ll be affordable and controllable for quite a while. He has less than a year of service time, meaning he’s still at least two years away from arbitration and six years from free agency. Though of course, that all depends on him performing well enough to avoid another DFA from his new club.

Curry, 26, was claimed off waivers from the Guardians in August. He has 147 innings of big league experience with a 4.35 ERA, 15.7% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. He tossed 60 2/3 minor league innings last year with a 6.97 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.

The Marlins will now have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next for Curry, whether that’s a trade or some fate on waivers. He was once a notable prospect in the Cleveland system, which could intrigue some clubs. Over 2021 and 2022, he tossed 219 2/3 innings in the minors with a 3.28 ERA, 28.7% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate. He was then kept in the big league bullpen in 2023 before struggling last year.

Curry still has an option remaining, so he could be kept as minor league depth if any club is willing to give him a 40-man spot. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he would provide the Marlins with some non-roster depth. He has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, meaning he won’t have the right to reject an outright assignment.

Twins Designate Ronny Henriquez For Assignment

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The Twins announced that right-hander Ronny Henriquez has been designated for assignment. That opens a roster spot for the signings of outfielder Harrison Bader and left-hander Danny Coulombe, which are now official. The club opened another roster spot yesterday by trading utility player Michael Helman to the Cardinals.

Henriquez, 25 in June, has spent most of the past three years on the club’s roster. He came up as a Rangers prospect, getting added to that club’s 40-man roster in November of 2021, keeping him out of that year’s Rule 5 draft. Texas traded him to the Twins a few months later alongside infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the March 2022 deal to acquire catcher Mitch Garver. Henriquez spent 2022 and 2023 as a depth arm but was non-tendered after the latter of those two seasons. He re-signed on a minor league deal going into 2024 and was back on the 40-man in late April.

Over those three years, he didn’t get much major league action. He has 31 innings pitched at this point with a 2.90 earned run average in that small sample. His 18.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his 6.1% walk rate and 53.1% ground ball rate are both strong.

His numbers in the minors have been somewhat similar. A starter earlier in his career, the Twins have mostly kept him in a multi-inning relief role for the past two seasons. In 2024, he logged 55 innings over 34 Triple-A appearances with a 3.44 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 53.8% ground ball rate.

Despite the decent results, Henriquez was likely running out of time on the roster. He exhausted his final option year in 2024, meaning the Twins would no longer be able to move him to Triple-A and back with such fluidity. As such, he got bumped off the roster today. Minnesota will now have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next, whether that’s a trade or some fate on waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would have to take place in the next five days.

Though the Twins couldn’t find room for him, it’s possible another club is willing to grab him. As recently as June, Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs ranked Henriquez as the #27 prospect in the Twins’ system, suggesting he had a future as a decent middle reliever. If some club is willing to give him a roster spot now, he has less than a year of service time, meaning he comes with a possible six seasons of club control.

Twins Place Chris Paddack On Injured List

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The Twins announced Tuesday that they’ve placed right-hander Chris Paddack on the injured list with shoulder fatigue. Right-hander Ronny Henriquez has been recalled from Triple-A St. Paul in his place. Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets that Paddack informed the team after his most recent start that he’s been experiencing a dead arm recently.

Some fatigue for Paddack should come as little surprise. The 28-year-old righty pitched only 18 1/3 innings last year (minors and postseason included) in his return from 2022 Tommy John surgery — a procedure that limited him to just 22 1/3 frames that season. He’s already surpassed his combined 2022-23 innings total with this year’s 78 1/3 frames.

It’s been an up-and-down season for Paddack in his first full year since his second career Tommy John surgery. Overall, his 5.29 ERA looks rather grim, but that number is heavily skewed by two disastrous outings: a nine-run drubbing in Baltimore during his third start of the season and a seven-run showing at Yankee Stadium earlier this month. On the other end of the spectrum, Paddack has a pair of 10-strikeout gems this season. He’s been a boom-or-bust option for manager Rocco Baldelli throughout the year, but Paddack will take a seat for at least the next two weeks after yielding a combined eight runs in his past seven innings of work across two starts (both of which came against a lackluster Oakland lineup).

With Paddack on the shelf, the Twins will have an opening in the fifth spot of the rotation behind Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Simeon Woods Richardson. Paddack’s spot is set to come up on Thursday, though the Twins just had an off-day, which could allow them to start Ober on regular rest that day. St. Paul righties Caleb Boushley and Randy Dobnak would also be on full rest (Dobnak would need to be added to the 40-man roster) if the Twins want to give Ober an extra day after throwing a complete game his last time out.

Other depth options like Louie Varland and top prospect David Festa both pitched within the past couple days, likely ruling them out for Thursday — but either could be an option for subsequent starts, depending on how long Paddack is out. There’s no timetable for Paddack’s return at present, though the lack of a strain or any other notable injury doesn’t create immediate concern of a protracted absence. The right-hander is in the second season of a three-year, $12.5MM extension he signed while rehabbing from that Tommy John procedure. That deal bought out Paddack’s final two arbitration seasons as well as his first free-agent year.

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 Re-Sign Jovani Moran, Ronny Henriquez To Minor League Deals

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The Twins have re-signed relievers Jovani Moran and Ronny Henriquez to minor league contracts, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Both were non-tendered a few weeks ago. The left-handed Moran is expected to miss the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery following the ’23 campaign. Henriquez, acquired from the Rangers as part of 2022’s Mitch Garver trade, battled elbow trouble and struggled in 37 Triple-A appearances this past season.

Both pitchers were non-tendered despite being several years from arbitration eligibility. However, the non-tender deadline gives teams the unique opportunity to immediately remove a player from the 40-man roster without needing to pass him through waivers, so the Twins used that chance to clear up some space while retaining hope for this type of minor league re-signing.

Moran, 26, has been a heavily used option for manager Rocco Baldelli over the past two seasons, at times looking like a potential setup man — he logged a 2.21 ERA, 32.9% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate in 40 1/3 innings in 2022 — but also battling inconsistencies stemming from his below-average command. He picked up nine holds for the Twins this past season but struggled to a 5.31 ERA with a diminished 26.1% strikeout rate and an alarming 14.7% walk rate.

Moran looked to have righted the ship, to an extent, after a shaky start to the year before a brutal stretch in July that saw him yield nine runs on seven hits and seven walks in what proved to be his final seven innings of the season. He was placed on the injured list with an always-ominous forearm strain, ultimately going under the knife a couple months later. He’ll miss the 2024 season and look to get back into the mix for a roster spot in 2025.

The 23-year-old Henriquez made his big league debut with the Twins in 2022 and impressed with 11 2/3 innings of 2.31 ERA ball. He fanned 18% of his opponents against a 6% walk rate and kept the ball on the ground at a healthy 52.8% clip while averaging 93.2 mph on his heater. He ranked 19th among Twins prospects at FanGraphs and 23rd at Baseball America before this past season’s elbow troubles derailed his year. Henriquez had multiple IL stints due to elbow inflammation and ultimately pitched to an unsightly 5.64 ERA in 57 Triple-A frames. He’ll likely open the season back in Triple-A St. Paul as a depth option.

American League Non-Tenders: 11/17/23

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on American League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

Onto the transactions…

Latest Moves

  • Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that the Rays non-tendered righty Cooper Criswell. He’d been designated for assignment on Tuesday.
  • The Mariners announced this evening that the club has non-tendered first baseman Mike Ford. Ford hit well (.228/.323/.475) in 83 games with Seattle this season but had already been designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Yankees announced this evening that the club has non-tendered right-handers Albert Abreu and Lou Trivino in addition to left-hander Anthony Misiewicz. Trivino didn’t pitch in the majors this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in May. Abreu pitched to a 4.73 ERA and 5.26 FIP across 59 innings of work while Misiewicz posted a 7.36 ERA across 11 innings of work for the Diamondbacks, Yankees, and Tigers.
  • The Twins have non-tendered left-hander Jovani Moran and right-hander Ronny Henriquez, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Moran finished the season on the injured list and, per Hayes, will require Tommy John surgery this offseason. Henriquez did not appear in the majors this year and struggled to a 5.68 ERA in 37 appearances at the Triple-A level.
  • The Angels announced this evening that they have non-tendered right-hander Jose Marte. Marte had gotten brief looks out of Anaheim’s bullpen across the past three seasons but struggled to a 8.14 ERA in 24 1/3 combined innings of work over those cups of coffee.
  • The Red Sox have non-tendered right-hander Wyatt Mills, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Mills, 28, did not appear in the big leagues this year and underwent Tommy John surgery over the summer.

Earlier Moves

  • The Rangers announced this evening that they have non-tendered right-hander Matt Bush and left-hander Brett Martin. Bush, 37, struggled to a 9.58 ERA with the Brewers this year and did not make an appearance with Texas. Martin missed the entire 2023 campaign with shoulder issues.
  • The Royals announced this evening that they have non-tendered outfielder Diego Hernandez, left-hander Austin Cox, catcher Logan Porter and right-hander Josh Staumont. All but Hernandez had already been designated for assignment by the club earlier this week. Hernandez has yet to appear in the majors during his career and slashed .245/.302/.291 in 60 games at the Double-A level this season.
  • The Athletics announced today that they did not tender a contract to infielder Kevin Smith. Smith joined the club in the trade that sent Matt Chapman to Toronto and slashed just .182/.218/.314 in 297 trips to the plate with Oakland over the last two seasons.
  • The Blue Jays are expected to non-tender right-hander Adam Cimber this evening, per Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC-2. A veteran of six MLB seasons, the 32-year-old Cimber struggled badly in 2023 with a 7.40 ERA in 22 appearances despite a strong 2.53 ERA in 149 appearances with Toronto between 2021 and 2022.

AL Notes: Altuve, Rodon, Twins

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Astros second baseman and franchise face Jose Altuve is set to begin a rehab assignment this evening with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sugar Land. Altuve has been on the injured list all season after undergoing surgery on his right thumb after suffering an injury during the World Baseball Classic this spring. Though Altuve was initially expected to miss at least the first two months of the season, his rehab process gone quite well, allowing him to begin a rehab assignment somewhat ahead of schedule.

That’s great news for the Astros, who have scuffled to a 19-18 record in the early going this season, behind both the Rangers and Angels in the AL West. While Mauricio Dubon has filled in adequately at second base during Altuve’s absence, his .287/.306/.357 slash line in 134 plate appearances this season pales in comparison to the .300/.387/.533 line Altuve put up last season en route to the third top-5 finish in AL MVP award voting of his career. Houston is certainly hoping their 33-year-old superstar can jog a lineup whose .672 OPS as a team ranks bottom three in the majors.

More from around the American League…

  • Carlos Rodon has yet to throw a regular season pitch for the Yankees this season after signing a six-year, $162MM deal with the club this past offseason, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post provides some clarity on the lefty’s timetable for return. Heyman notes that with Rodon resuming throwing today after the cortisone injection he received earlier in the week, the 30-year-old figures to be six weeks away from his Yankees debut, should everything go according to plan. The sooner Rodon is able to return to the Yankees, the better, as the club has fallen to fifth place in the AL East with a 21-18 record to open the season. Rodon, who has posted a 2.67 ERA in 310 2/3 innings since the beginning of the 2021 season, would surely bolster a Yankees club that has been forced to rely on Clarke Schmidt, Jhony Brito, and Domingo German to fill out the club’s rotation behind Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes.
  • Twins reliever Ronny Henriquez has been reinstated from the 15-day IL and optioned to Triple-A, per the club’s communication director Dustin Morse. Henriquez, 23 next month, pitched to a 2.31 ERA in 11 2/3 innings of work with the Twins as a rookie last season, striking out just 18% of batters faced, though he generated an impressive 52.8% groundball rate. That being said, Henriquez struggled during his rehab assignment this season, with a 4.76 ERA in 5 2/3 innings during that time. Henriquez will look to get right in the minors on a more permanent basis going forward while acting as bullpen depth for the Twins alongside Josh Winder.

Twins Notes: First Base, Kirilloff, Henriquez, Rotation

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The Twins don’t plan on using a dedicated first baseman in 2023, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters this week (link via Dan Hayes of The Athletic). Minnesota will utilize a rotation of players through the position, giving looks to Alex Kirilloff, Jose Miranda, utilityman Nick Gordon and offseason signees Joey Gallo and Donovan Solano at the position. The Twins cycled through various DH options last season after three years with Nelson Cruz as the mainstay in that spot of the lineup, and it seems as though they’ll now go with a that rotational approach at both DH and first base.

Kirilloff told Hayes that he’s feeling “optimistic” about his twice-surgically repaired wrist, which is improving by the week. A healthy Kirilloff would be the favorite for work at first base. The former No. 15 overall draft pick climbed as high as the ninth-ranked prospect in all of baseball on MLB.com’s top-100 list prior to the 2019 season (and No. 15 at Baseball America), and the Twins thought highly enough of him to give him his MLB debut during the 2020 postseason.

Injuries have derailed both his 2021 and 2022 seasons, however, and after a hot start in 2021, his production began to slide. He currently has just a .251/.298/.398 batting line in 387 Major League plate appearances, but Kirilloff is also a .323/.378/.518 hitter in the minor leagues and comes with substantial upside at the plate. He could be an option in the outfield as well — he’s played all three spots in his career — but the Twins are deep in the outfield and clearly have more playing time for him at first base.

Of the options to split time at first base, the newly signed Solano could be a frequent one. Twins president of baseball ops Derek Falvey told reporters this week Solano will get a “good amount” of time at the position (link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Helfand writes that the Twins first reached out to Solano back in early January, though a deal obviously took quite a bit longer to formally come together. Solano adds that other clubs made him offers, but it seems some might’ve come from rebuilding teams, as he cited the Twins’ desire to compete in 2023 as a reason for signing in Minnesota.

Elsewhere in camp, pitching prospect Ronny Henriquez, who recently underwent an MRI after experiencing posterior elbow soreness, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (Twitter link). The right-hander received an injection and will be reevaluated in a week’s time.

The 22-year-old Henriquez, acquired alongside Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the trade that sent catcher Mitch Garver to the Rangers, made his big league debut in 2022 and tossed 11 2/3 innings of 2.31 ERA ball. He struggled to a 5.66 ERA in 95 1/3 Triple-A frames, thanks largely to an inflated 1.79 HR/9 mark, but his 25.7% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate were more encouraging. He currently ranks 23rd among Twins farmhands at Baseball America. A strong performance in camp and/or in Triple-A to begin the season could put him in the mix for a bullpen spot during the upcoming campaign.

Henriquez has been primarily a starter in the minors, but with a rotation consisting of Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda — plus Bailey Ober looming as a solid sixth option — it’d be an uphill battle to get into the starting mix. It’s a deep collection of starters for the Twins — one that Baldelli will likely treat differently than in 2022, when pitchers like Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy were deployed in short starts by design. Via Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Baldelli said this week that he expects Twins starters to work deep into games this year.

“I expect more out of our starters this year,” Baldelli said. “…We have several guys that, what they probably take most pride in, is giving you a good, deep effort into a ballgame. Guys that are not satisfied giving you five good innings. They want more than that out of themselves.”

The now-26-year-old Ryan led all Twins pitchers with just 147 innings pitched in 2022. Part of that was due to rampant injuries up and down the roster, but part of it was also an ostensibly conscious effort to shield starters from facing a lineup three times in an outing. Twins starting pitchers averaged just 4.83 innings per outing in 2022. The group ranked as a middle-of-the-pack unit in terms of results, landing 20th in MLB with a 4.11 ERA. Archer, in particular, averaged just 4.11 innings per start. Lopez, acquired from the Marlins last month, averaged 5.63 innings per start and pitched at least six frames in 16 of his 32 starts.

Twins Promote Ronny Henriquez, Designate Dereck Rodriguez

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The Twins announced they have recalled right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez, with fellow righty Dereck Rodriguez designated for assignment in a corresponding move. This drops the club’s 40-man roster to 39.

Henriquez, 22, began his career with the Rangers and pitched in rookie ball in 2018 and then A-ball in 2019. He pitched well enough down there that he first cracked Baseball America’s list of top Texas farmhands in 2020. After the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic that year, Henriquez split his 2021 between High-A and Double-A. He appeared in 21 games, 16 starts, throwing 93 2/3 innings with a 4.71 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate. Those are strong rate stats, but 17 home runs helped inflate the ERA.

He was added to the Rangers’ 40-man roster in November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, which ended up getting canceled by the lockout. Once the lockout was over, the Rangers flipped him to the Twins as part of the Mitch Garver and Isiah Kiner-Falefa deal. The Twins have kept Henriquez in Triple-A all year to this point, giving him 14 starts and 10 further bulk appearances. Through 95 1/3 innings, he’s again posted strong rate stats but has seen the long ball contribute to poor results overall. He has a 5.66 ERA on the season with 19 homers, despite striking out 25.7% of batters faced and walking just 8% of them.

The Twins led the AL Central for much of the season but have slipped recently, thanks in part due to mounting injuries. They are now seven games behind the Guardians with the White Sox in between them and even further back in the Wild Card race. With their playoff hopes fading and their roster decimated by injuries, they’ll turn to Henriquez and see how he fares against MLB hitters down the stretch.

As for Rodriguez, this goes down as an exceptionally short stay on the roster as his contract was selected just yesterday. He pitched 3 2/3 innings in the 15-inning nightcap of yesterday’s marathon doubleheader. He didn’t allowed any earned runs but did take the loss thanks to the Manfred man scoring in the bottom of the 15th. As a thank you for that yeoman’s work, he’ll be sent out to the waiver wire. He’s logged 89 2/3 innings in Triple-A this year with a 5.02 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 30.1% ground ball rate. If he clears waivers, he will be eligible to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency since he has been previously outrighted in his career.

Twins Acquire Isiah Kiner-Falefa For Mitch Garver

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The Twins and Rangers are in agreement on a deal that will send infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Minnesota, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Kiner-Falefa and a prospect will head to Minnesota in exchange for catcher Mitch Garver, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Pitcher Ronny Henriquez is the prospect heading to Minnesota in the deal, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.

For the Rangers, this is yet another headline-grabbing move in what has been a very busy offseason for the club. Prior to the lockout, they threw around big money to add various players, with the two biggest names being shortstop Corey Seager and second baseman Marcus Semien. The addition of those two infielders, along with the impending arrival of prospect Josh Jung, led to immediate speculation that Kiner-Falefa could be a trade candidate. But when Jung underwent shoulder surgery last month, that seemed to swing the pendulum towards Texas keeping Kiner-Falefa as their everyday third baseman. However, that has now proven not to be the case, as he is headed for Minnesota.

The Twins had Andrelton Simmons as their primary shortstop last year. Despite showing the defensive skills he has long been known for, Simmons had a dismal year at the plate, hitting .223/.283/.274, wRC+ of 56. Yesterday, he signed with the Cubs for a modest $4MM salary, showing that the Twins weren’t terribly motivated to bring him back into the fold. With Kiner-Falefa, they’ve brought in a player with a similar profile to Simmons, but more reasons to be optimistic about his future performance. Like Simmons, Kiner-Falefa is a glove-first player, winning a Gold Glove in 2020 and finishing third among MLB shortstops in the Fielding Bible’s voting this past season. His bat has been below average thus far in his career, having never put up a wRC+ higher than 94. However, he’s still relatively young, turning 27 later this month, compared to the 32-year-old Simmons. He also hit .271/.312/.357 last year for a wRC+ of 85, not great numbers but certainly better than what Simmons provided. He’s also projected for an arbitration salary of $4.9MM, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and comes with an extra year of control beyond that.

But in order to make that solid addition to their infield, the Twins have had to send a valuable player the other way. Garver had a tremendous breakout season in 2019, hitting .273/.365/.630, wRC+ of 155. That would be exceptional production for any player but was especially impressive for a catcher. Injuries limited him to just 23 games of anemic production in the shortened 2020 season, but he bounced back well last year. Despite still dealing with injuries and only playing 68 games, his 2021 line was .256/.358/.517, wRC+ of 137. Last year, the Rangers split the catching duties almost evenly between Jose Trevino and Jonah Heim, who put up wRC+ tallies of 60 and 64, respectively. Garver is capable of producing at a much higher rate, but comes with concerns given the injuries of the past few years, making him a high-risk, high-reward option for Texas. He won’t be a huge risk from a financial standpoint, however, as he’s projected for an arbitration salary of $3.1MM this year, with another year of control remaining after that.

The reason the Twins could afford to part with such a talented catcher as Garver was the emergence of Ryan Jeffers. Making his MLB debut in 2020, he played 26 games and hit .273/.355/.436, wRC+ of 120. In 2021, he got off to a rough start, hitting .147/.216/.176 before getting demoted at the end of April. After showing signs of improvement in Triple-A, he was recalled in June and hit .206/.277/.433 the rest of the way, good enough for a wRC+ of 92. Although that’s clearly a drop-off from Garver’s numbers, Jeffers is turning 25 years old in June and comes with five remaining years of control. The Twins clearly felt that it was worth taking the chance on the younger player as their regular catcher in order to upgrade their infield.

Of course, that’s not all the Twins added, as they also brought Ronny Henriquez over in the deal. The 21-year-old right-hander split last season between High-A and Double-A, making 16 starts in 21 total games. In 93 2/3 innings, his 4.71 ERA wasn’t especially impressive, but the Twins were surely intrigued by his 27.1% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate, both of those being better than average. The club certainly needs arms after losing Jose Berrios to trade, Kenta Maeda to injury and Michael Pineda to free agency. Henriquez likely won’t provide immediate help in that regard, given that he’s never pitched above Double-A, but he could potentially be a factor later in the season.

Circling back to the Rangers, with Kiner-Falefa out of the picture and Jung on the shelf for around six months, they will have to decide what do about third base for this season. In-house options include Andy Ibanez, Nick Solak, Yonny Hernandez and Sherten Apostel. They could also turn their attention towards outside addition, although a tweet from Jeff Wilson casts doubt about a pursuit of Kris Bryant.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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