Mitch Garver traded to Texas Rangers in first trade after lockout

The first MLB trade after the lockout ended on Thursday just went down. The Minnesota Twins are sending catcher Mitch Garver to the Texas Rangers and shortstop/catcher Isiah Kiner-Falefa is heading back to the Twins in the deal, per Jeff Passan.

The Kiner-Falefa side of the trade was announced first, but then the news dropped that Garver was the Minnesota piece heading back to the Rangers. Texas appears to be going all-in on the 2022 season as they spent half a billion dollars to shore up their middle infield by signing Corey Seager and Marcus Semien in free agency. The other piece heading to the Twins along with Kiner-Falefa is right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez.

Kiner-Falefa is primarily a shortstop, but he has the ability to play catcher at the big league level. He debuted in 2018 with the Rangers and has been with the team for the last four seasons.

Garver debuted for the Twins in 2017 and has served as their primary catcher for the past four seasons. He brings high upside to the position for the Rangers and can also be used as a DH as the Rangers give more experience to their switch-hitting catcher, Jonah Heim.