Rangers Trade For Mitch Garver, Send Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Twins
The Texas Rangers have traded Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for catcher Mitch Garver. The Rangers are also sending pitching prospect Ronny Henriquez to Minnesota in a two-for-one deal.
The club confirmed the trade Saturday morning. The transaction leaves 38 players on the Rangers 40-man roster.
Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels said initial conversations with the Twins about Kiner-Falefa began a couple days prior to the lockout. Once the lockout was lifted, the two clubs re-engaged in talks with the bulk of the trade coming together Friday.
Garver provides an immediate offensive upgrade to the catcher position. The 31-year-old catcher slashed .256/.358/.517/.875 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI in 68 games last season. Garver also slugged 31 home runs and posted a .995 OPS over 93 games in 2019.
Meanwhile, Rangers catchers ranked 28th in on-base percentage, 23rd in OPS and 26th in offensive bWAR last year.
Like Kiner-Falefa, Garver has two years of club control remaining. According to MLB Trade Rumors' arbitration projection model, Garver could earn around $3.1 million in what will be his second year of arbitration. Kiner-Falefa is projected to make $4.9 million this season.
The addition of Garver does upgrade the offense, but also sparks some questions. For starters, the move gives the Rangers four catchers on the 40-man roster. While Sam Huff still needs to work out some things in the minor leagues, Jonah Heim and Jose Trevino are now set to battle for the backup spot behind Garver.
While Heim and Trevino were arguably the best duo in baseball at stealing strikes last year, Garver is no slouch in that regard. Per Baseball Savant, Garver ranked in the 93rd percentile in pitch framing in 2021. Couple that with his offensive ability, it's clear why the Rangers intend for Garver to be the starting catcher.
However, Garver has battled injuries in the past and has the ability to play first base or DH, giving manager Chris Woodward the ability to be flexible in how to keep Garver in the lineup. It is yet to be determined if the Rangers feel any of their remaining catchers are expendable. For now, they do like the way the group looks after the trade.
"It's a position of strength for us," Daniels said. "With Jose and Jonah, we're going to sort through that here in camp. We're not ready to say how that's going to turn out."
The trade also leaves a bit of a gaping hole at the hot corner. Even before top prospect Josh Jung went down with a shoulder injury, the Rangers previously committed to Kiner-Falefa as their everyday third baseman after the club signed Corey Seager and Marcus Semien to fill the two middle infield positions. Jung would have been the obvious choice to slot in as the starter, but he won't even be able to DH in games until August.
For the time being, Andy Ibáñez and Yonny Hernandez now sit atop the depth chart. The Rangers also have a lot of infield depth down the pipeline, though the club is committed to not rushing any development plans to supplement the 2022 roster. In turn, the Rangers will sift through external options for depth, though it won't likely come with a significant financial commitment.
"That (young) group that we're high on, we don't view them as ready for Opening Day," Daniels said. "They need some time to develop and we want to do right by them. So we are going to continue to look externally to see if there's a right fit for us."
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