Twins Place Kyle Farmer on IL, Recall Camargo

Farmer has a right shoulder strain

The Minnesota Twins announced Friday afternoon that infielder Kyle Farmer had been placed on the injured list with a right shoulder strain, had that catcher Jair Camargo had been recalled to take his place on the roster.

Farmer’s stint is retroactive to July 11, leaving him eligible to return as soon as the first series of the second half against Milwaukee.

The injury is yet another development in what has been a trying season for the 33-year-old infielder — who turns 34 on Aug. 17. He’s hit just .189/.291/.265 on the season (a 60 OPS+/65 wRC+) and depending on your favorite flavor of WAR, has been not particularly helpful (plus-0.1 fWAR based almost exclusively on defense) to fairly problematic (minus—0.5 bWAR).

This is on the heels of a respectable first season with the Twins, where Farmer had a 101 wRC+, slash line of .256/.317/.408 and was worth plus 1.5 fWAR.

What’ll be curious is to find out how much, if at all, Farmer’s injury played in him having a tough season to date. It’s been a recurring storyline that players have perhaps been a bit quiet about injuries for at least the last year — Joe Ryan last season; Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff this season — and that’s troubling on a few fronts.

It’s not surprising that players attempt to play through pain. Most players deal with something over the course of a long season, and it’s hard to gauge what that pain threshold is with regard to a player’s statistical output.

For older players, it’s more about being tough and a leader — though in Farmer’s case, one could easily suggest it was to the team’s, and his own, detriment.

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For younger players, it’s about scratching and clawing for a precious role on a team moving forward. The window of opportunity in the major leagues is limited, and players can either play their way out of a spot or even, unfortunately, be deemed too injury prone to be given more opportunities — hence the neverending dilemma that is far from unique to just the Twins.

Camargo will join the team in San Francisco for the final series of the first half, but it’s anyone’s guess how much longer after that. Camargo made his big-league debut on April 16, 2024 and went hitless in five plate appearances before returning to St. Paul. He’s likely protection behind the plate and a possible late-game pinch-hitter, but also likely not in the mix for much, if any, playing time behind the plate.

Ryan Jeffers has been a little banged up, but he and Christian Vazquez have teamed up to catch every single inning dating back to the start of the 2023 season — an incredible run of consistency at a position that is remarkably difficult to have such a thing.

Camargo hasn’t had the greatest season with the Saints, slashing .215/.277/.431 with 15 of his 28 hits going for extra bases (six homers, eight doubles and a triple). He’s also played no other position than catcher or DH, so again, he’s likely protection against any sort of injury behind the plate.

What’s curious about the move is that the Twins bypassed bringing back Edouard Julien — which would seem like a natural swap based on his/Farmer’s defensive positions — but it also likely speaks to the lack of playing time that’ll be afforded for whomever was going to be called up.

For a point of reference, Julien has hit .235/.397/.395 in 32 games/151 plate appearances since being sent back to St. Paul, and has hit .269/.441/.654 so far in July after hitting .229/.388/.323 in June and just .181/.272/.193 in May with the Twins.

Julien’s success also isn’t really a short-term thing, as he’s slashed .278/.458/.456 over his last 25 games dating back a month (June 12).

Don’t be surprised if Julien gets the call when the Twins come back for the second half, unless Farmer’s stint is the minimum 10 days (which is certainly possible).