Twins acquire Isiah Kiner-Falefa by Mitch Garver

The Twins and Rangers agree a deal that sends a player Isaiah Keener Valiva to Minnesota, ESPN’s Jeff Bassan reports. Kiner-Falefa and likely will head to Minnesota in exchange for the catcher Mitch Garverfor every MLB’s John Heyman. jar Ronnie Henriquez Is the potential client bound for Minnesota in the deal, According to Betsy Helfand of St. Paul Pioneer Press,.

For Rangers, this is another move that has grabbed the headlines in a season that has been very busy for the club. Before closing, they dumped big money to add different players, the two biggest names were shortstop Cory Seeger And the second rule Marcus Simin. The addition of these two detainees, along with the impending arrival of the prospect Josh Jong, which led to immediate speculation that Kiner-Falefa could be a commercial candidate. But when Young had shoulder surgery last month, it seemed to move the pendulum toward Texas while keeping Keener-Valeva the daily third baseman. However, it has now been proven that this is not the case, as he is heading to Minnesota.

It was twins Andrelton Simmons As short their primary last year. Despite displaying the defensive skills he has long been known for, Simmons had a sombre year on the board, notching .223/.283/.274, wRC+ of 56. Yesterday, he signed with the Cubs for a modest $4 million salary, Which shows that the twins didn’t have a terrible motive to get him back into the fold. With Kiner-Falefa, they brought in a player with a similar profile to Simmons, but there are more reasons to be optimistic about his future performance. Like Simmons, Kiner-Falefa is a first jumper, who won the Golden Glove in 2020 and finished third among MLB shortstops in last season’s Fielding Bible vote. His racket has been below average so far in his career, having never put a WRC+ above 94. However, he’s still relatively young, aged 27 later this month, compared to Simmons’ adult She is 32 years old. He also hit .271/.312/.357 last year for a WRC+ of 85, not big numbers but definitely better than what Simmons delivered. He is also expected to receive an arbitration salary of $4.9 million, Per MLBTR Contributor Matt SchwartzAnd it comes with an extra year of control after that.

But in order to make this powerful addition to their court, the Twins had to send a valuable player the other way. Garver had a massive breakout season in 2019, scoring .273/.365/.630, a WRC+ of 155. This would be an exceptional production for any player but was particularly impressive for a hunt. Injuries have limited him to just 23 anemic games in the short 2020 season, but he made a good recovery last year. Although he’s still dealing with injuries and only played 68 games, his streak in 2021 was .256/.358/.517, a WRC+ of 137. Last year, the Rangers split pickup tasks roughly evenly between Jose Trevino And the Jonah Heim, who subtracted wRC + enumerations of 60 and 64, respectively. Garver is capable of producing at a much higher rate, but it comes with concerns given the injuries that have occurred in the past few years, making it a high-risk, high-reward option for Texas. However, it wouldn’t be too risky financially, as he was expected to earn an arbitration salary of $3.1 million this year, with another year of control remaining after that.

The reason the twins were able to let go of such a talented catcher like Garver was because of the appearance of Ryan Jeffers. On his MLB debut in 2020, he played 26 games and hit .273/.355/.436, WRC+ from 120. In 2021, he made a tough start, scoring .147/.216/.176 before being demoted. to me. end of April. After showing signs of improvement in Triple-A, it was called up in June and hit .206/.277/.433 the rest of the way, good enough for wRC+92. Although this is clearly a drop in Garver numbers, Jeffers reports He turns 25 in June and comes with five years left of the dominance. The twins clearly felt it was worth risking the younger player as a regular catcher in order to upgrade their playing field.

Of course, that’s not all the twins added, as they also brought in Ronnie Henriquez in the deal. The 21-year-old right-hand man split last season between High-A and Double-A, making it 16 games in 21 games. At 93 2/3 innings, his 4.71 ERA wasn’t particularly impressive, but the twins certainly were mesmerized by his 27.1% strike rate and 6.5% walk rate, both of which are better than average. The club definitely needs weapons after the loss Jose Perios for trade, you were maid to injury and Michael Pineda for free agency. Henriquez likely won’t be of immediate help in this regard, given he’s never outpaced Double-A, but it will likely be a factor later in the season.

Back at Rangers, with Kiner-Falefa out of the picture and Jung on the shelf for about six months, they will have to make a decision on third base of the season. Interior options include Andy IbanezAnd the Nick SolakAnd the Yoni Hernandez And the Shirt Apostille. They can also turn their attention towards external addition, although a Tweet from Jeff Wilson Cast doubt about the pursuit of Chris Bryant.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.