IT BEGINS, PART TWO. The first trade of the renewed offseason, and it’s a guy we’d previously wanted for the Cubs (but who probably became a non-target after the Andrelton Simmons signing (and/or the Cubs pivoted to Simmons when the price was too high)).
I’m talking about Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the exceptional infield defender who got squeezed out on the Rangers by their Corey Seager and Marcus Semien signings:
And the trades begin!
The Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers are in agreement on a deal that will send shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Twins, sources familiar with the situation tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 12, 2022
Kiner-Falefa is definitely a glove-first left-side-of-infield type, who is cost-controlled and isn’t a disaster with the bat. I wanted him for the Cubs when we went over the various options earlier this offseason. My guess is he cost a pretty nice return from the Twins, though I’m obviously going to immediately compare it to the Cubs’ decision to sign Simmons. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Wow, the deal is for catcher Mitch Garver. The 31-year-old catcher has a couple years of arbitration left, and raked in 2021 and 2019 when healthy. He’s missed a lot of time over the last few years, which is the knock, but he’s a plus-glove catcher who hits like crazy. This is a serious win-now addition for a Rangers club that is obviously trying to go whole hog on winning this year.
UPDATE 2: Sounds like the Twins are also getting an intriguing young pitching prospect in the deal, too, which makes sense:
Sounds like the prospect coming back to the #MNTwins *could* be Ronny Henriquez, who is Texas' No. 15 prospect. Starting pitcher.
Small build, but has a fastball that touches 98 with good carry, says MLB Pipeline.
Lots of strikeouts.
— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) March 12, 2022