The Minnesota Twins needed to create two roster spots to accommodate the signings of Harrison Bader and Danny Coulombe, and the first of those moves was trading Michael Helman to the St. Louis Cardinals for cash on Thursday.
The other shoe dropped on Friday when the Twins designated right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez for assignment.
The team now has seven days to trade, release or place Henriquez on outright waivers.
No transaction log I can find lists Henriquez as having been outrighted before, so if he clears waivers, he’d remain in the organization and be invited to spring training as a non-roster player.
The Twins non-tendered him after the 2023 season, but would not have been subject to waivers and thus this does not — as far as my limited brain capacity is aware — count as a used outright.
To the contrary, a player who has already cleared outright waivers in a previous instance can reject the assignment and elect free agency — but even if that is/was an option for Henriquez, this is a difficult time for a player to be a free agent.
The free-agent pool is already large with spring training right around the corner and likely only minor-league contract offers coming, and the odds of being claimed in the first place on waivers are tricky, too.
Sometimes it’s better to dance with the devil you know than try to find a new partner.
This is true for both sides, as Henriquez and Twins have been intertwined since he was acquired with Isiah Kiner-Falefa for Mitch Garver just about three years ago (March 12, 2022).
Many 40-man rosters are full right now, and any open spots will likely to go any big-league caliber free agents who’ve yet to sign (more than just Alex Bregman, for instance). However, some players have been claimed on waivers in recent days and weeks, with rhyme or reason sort of hard to dictate as an outsider.
But therein lies the risk in waivers in the first place; a team might have a full 40-man roster, but if a live arm like Henriquez becomes available, that may change the organization’s calculus.
And all bets are off if he hits free agency; he’s already done that once and come back to the Twins after they non-tendered him — and I understand that to not be an “outright” under the CBA (hence my slight hesitation to say he’s never cleared).
Henriquez is still impossibly young for being in pro ball since signing with the Rangers in 2017, as he’s just 24 and won’t turn 25 until late June. He was born in the year 2000, which makes me feel incredibly old.
He’s only thrown 31.0 big-league innings in parts of two seasons (2022 and 2024), but he’s shown fairly good results (2.90 ERA but only 7.0 strikeouts per nine innings) and averaged a healthy 95.7 mph on his heater last season according to Fangraphs. He throws a hard sinker that gets grounders, and his swinging strike rate was 11.6 percent last season.
There very likely is a good pitcher here, but Henriquez simply fell prayer to a numbers game on a contending roster. One thing I’m certain of is the Twins will be more than happy to have him back if he clears.
