The Minnesota Twins needed a shortstop, and the Texas Rangers needed a catcher. On Saturday, both sides came together for a three-player trade that sends shortstop Isaiah Keener-Falef and a prospect to Minnesota for catcher Mitch Garver. Both teams have announced trades.
There has been some speculation that the 27-year-old Keener-Falefa will remain with the Rangers following Josh Young’s recent shoulder surgery. Keener-Falefa won the Golden Glove at third base in 2020 before moving to shortstop in 2021. He became expendable due to the club’s signings of Corey Seeger and Markus Semien before the lockout.
Keener-Falefa is an outstanding defender with a light bat (0.265/0.316/0.354 career) and speed who replaces Andrelton Simmons in the Twins and will serve as a temporary stand-in until better prospects Royce Lewis and Austin Martin are ready. He is under the team’s control as an arbitration-eligible player until 2023, so Minnesota is not on a one-year loan. Kiner-Falefa is a two-year infield addition.
The Twins have two young MLB-ready catchers in Ryan Jeffers and Ben Rortvedt, making the 31-year-old Garver expendable. He’s had a slew of injuries in his last two seasons, though he’s also hit .254/.348/.546 with 46 home runs in 184 games since 2019. This makes him one of the best catchers in baseball. Like Keener Falefa, Garver is under the control of the team until 2023.
With Garver joining Seager and Semien (and Cole Calhoun), the updated Texas roster would look something like this:
The Rangers still have a lot of work to do on their staff, although the roster is much more impressive than it was a year ago, when Texas was in last place in the American League in scoring. Jung’s injury will keep him out until at least August, so Texas could still bring in a third baseman like Jonathan Villar or Travis Shaw for a short time.
The prospect, 21-year-old right-hander Ronnie Henriquez, was No. 15 in the Rangers system prior to the deal, according to MLB.com. He had a 5.04 ERA in 69 2/3 innings in Double-A in 2021 and an MLB.com scouting report says he is “showing flashes of three pluses.”
The Twins went 73-89 in the “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” season in 2021, although they have talent and the AL Central is not a powerful division. A year ago, the Rangers went 60-102 and are making big moves this winter, looking to compete as soon as possible.