The shockwave was sent to the entire Texas Rangers fan base on Saturday when the team coordinated a deal to buy former Minnesota Twins catcher Mitch Garver in exchange for Isiah Kinerfarefa and pitching prospect Ronnie Henriquez.
On the surface, it’s a great move for a ranger to put a power hit catcher in the slot in the middle of an already improved lineup. Gerber quickly becomes a daily starter behind the plate.
Fans’ favorite, Trading Kiner-Falefa, was definitely a difficult pill to swallow. Versatile defenders have been an integral part of the Rangers for the past few seasons.Texas will miss his Gold Glove that spreads around the infield, but it was a healthy baseball decision to leave him in favor of someone to improve both Team defense and attack at Mitch Garver. These are the kind of moves that the winning organization makes, as the Rangers will soon try to become one again.
However, for now, there are three spillover effects from the Mitch Garver transaction.
Three spillover effects of Texas Rangers’ acquisition of Mitch Garver
1. Rangers need a third baseman
This is probably the most obvious effect of Gerber pickups. Prior to trading with Minnesota, Isiah Kinerfarefa became a Penciller in 2022 as the third baseman of the Texas Rangers. All next season.
But now that Kinerfarefa is playing in the Twins, the Rangers need a third baseman. There are also options both internally and externally.
Texas can find the Kris Bryant type in the free agent market and has already hashed a total value of $ 565 million this offseason. They were able to track Matt Chapman of Oakland Athletics. He is expected to be available when the team starts their fire sale. But they can also help prospects like Davis Wenzel and Sherten Apostel, and big leaguers like Andy Ibanez and Yonny Hernandez fill the gap in third base.
Rangers have options. But they need to know what’s happening on third base this spring.