This winter’s free agent market has been hot in some ways but there are still plenty of intriguing names out there for most positions. One area that moved fairly quickly was the catching market, with many of the top names off the board.
It wasn’t an amazing class to begin with but the top free agent backstops this winter were Danny Jansen, Carson Kelly and Kyle Higashioka. All three of them signed about a month ago. Gary Sánchez, Travis d’Arnaud, Jacob Stallings and Austin Hedges have also been locked up.
For teams still looking for help behind the plate, their options are now more limited. Former All-Star Game MVP Elias Díaz is still out there, though he’s coming off a season in which his struggles were pronounced enough that he was released by the Rockies, finishing out the year as Higashioka’s backup in San Diego. Christian Bethancourt had some good results with the Cubs last year but was nonetheless outrighted, perhaps due to how inconsistent he’s been in recent years. James McCann has had passable offense at times but his work behind the plate hasn’t been well regarded.
One intriguing guy still available is Yasmani Grandal. His numbers were rough in 2022 and 2023 but there are some ways in which last year was a bounceback. The Pirates gave a lot of time behind the plate to Joey Bart, who engineered a nice breakout season, as well as former top overall pick Henry Davis. But Grandal was somewhat quietly in the mix next to those guys and managed to get into 72 games and step to the plate 243 times, as well as crouching behind the dish for 560 1/3 innings.
Offensively, he had a cromulent performance. His 18.9% strikeout rate was his best apart from his part-time work over a decade ago, before he was established as a big leaguer. His 9.9% walk rate was a bit below some of his previous work but still above league average. He also popped nine home runs in that limited role. His .228/.304/.400 batting line translated to a 95 wRC+, below average overall but above par for a catcher.
Grandal has been a solid defender in his career, particularly in the framing department, and that continued last year. Among guys with at least 550 innings caught in 2024, Grandal ranked seventh on the FanGraphs leaderboard for framing. The six guys ahead of him on that list each had more than 700 innings behind the plate. Patrick Bailey was the only backstop significantly ahead of the pack on a rate basis. Statcast had Grandal 11th on their framing leaderboard. Of the 10 guys ahead of him, only Hedges caught fewer pitches than Grandal.
The strong framing contributed to a solid overall defensive profile. When combined with a decent year at the plate, he actually provided some sneaky value, depending on which measure of wins above replacement you trust most. Baseball Reference only gave him 0.6 WAR on the year but FanGraphs had him at 1.4 and Baseball Prospectus at 1.8. That’s likely due to those outlets having different weights for catcher defense or framing specifically.
Grandal hasn’t gotten any attention this offseason. He hasn’t been tagged at MLBTR since early May, when he was activated from the injured list, having started the season on the IL due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
He isn’t going to help sell season tickets, but for clubs who still want upgrades behind the plate, perhaps he’s the best bet. He isn’t likely to cost much either. He only got $2.5MM plus incentives from the Bucs a year ago. Perhaps his solid season can get him a bump, but he’s also now 36 years old and still unsigned, which doesn’t give him a lot of negotiating leverage. Even if he does earn a raise, it surely won’t be massive.
Going back to Pittsburgh is probably not an option. Bart surely earned himself some run after his strong season, while the club still has Davis. There’s also Endy Rodríguez, who seemed to be emerging as the club’s catcher of the future in 2023, but then spent 2024 recovering from surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament and flexor tendon in his throwing arm. Jason Delay is on the 40-man roster as well.
Teams like the Red Sox, Nationals, Padres, Phillies, Atlanta, Blue Jays, Mariners and others could arguably do with improving their catching depth. Some of those clubs have strong starting options but most clubs avoid leaning on one catcher too much these days. Cal Raleigh led the league with 125 starts last year, meaning every team had a backup/secondary catcher in the starting lineup at least 37 times, often far more.
There’s obviously some risk with signing a 36-year-old catcher but he arguably has a decent floor, depending on how one values his framing. While he struggled offensively in 2022 and 2023, BR considered him to be well below replacement level, but FG had him just barely below, while BP gave him 2.3 WAR for that two-year period.
Psychguy
Hang’em up Grandal. You’re done.
avenger65
Psychguy: Completely agree. I can only remember seeing one C worse than grandal. I can’t remember his name but he played for the cubs. He would box the ball, preferring to repeatedly pick the ball up giving him no chance of throwing runners out. I would take a bad framer over a guy who has mastered the art of the passed ball while failing to save his P from wild pitches. Offensively, he takes a lot of hittable pitches, hoping for a walk over a hit.
YourDreamGM
.299 average after July 5
Biggest problem is his pop time is like Paul getting out of his lazy boy.
TheMan 3
I’m retired, being a slug in my recliner is earned
YourDreamGM
You’re fine. Grandpal only threw out 6 more runners than you did.
sjwil1
Todd Hundley?
avenger65
sjwil: No, it wasn’t him. This guy was so bad he didn’t catch many games before the cubs gave him the hook. I wish I can think of the year…
ESixFive
Not that I’m a huge fan or anything, but he had an decent second half in Pittsburgh
mlb1225
He turned a complete 180 half-way thru the year. His OPS dropped to .460 on July 4th, lower than what Austin Hedges had with the Pirates. Then after that, he had a .982 OPS, higher than Mike Piazza’s career OPS. Defensively he’s not bad, but this guy would make some of the most bonehead miscues at the worst moments. Pirates probably lost an addtional 2-3 games because of stupid stuff he did.
Acoss1331
With the White Sox, Grandal’s biggest issue was catcher’s interference. It was so bad that Steve Stone pointed it out a few times…
YourDreamGM
Pirates fans are well aware of what he did after July 4th because someone on here famously predicted it at that time.
PiratePartyTime412
Hedges was good behind the plate Yaz was slower than molasses & can’t count how many errors/drops games he cost us that one week kept lolipopping throw back to pitcher guys would take second walking like he was baddddddd
andrew fraudman
“Cromulent”?!?
Canuckleball
I liked that word choice. He was thoroughly and aggressively unexceptionable!
3 finger split
It means he was adequate
He wouldn’t be a bad option for the Padres…in expensive, hits from the left side, still does a good job behind the plate and would be a good platoon guy with Luis Campusano hitting from the right side
1.5-2 million with some incentive possibilities
I know he’s been in San Diego before so it wouldn’t be foreign territory for him
avenger65
3 finger split: What have you got against the Padres?
avenger65
It means “crummy”.
SFGRab
Beat me to it.
YourDreamGM
Well worth 3 or 4 million except that he can’t throw out runners. Minor league deal is all I would give him. Not worth 40 man spot. But if you don’t care about giving up free bases he is a solid #2.
KaraokeTJ
Paul Skenes’ personal catcher. He somehow always turned into Superman with the bat on those days. And contrary to this article, he IS still on the Pirates’ radar, even with all the other catchers they have. They’ve already ruined Henry Davis, so he’s likely to be traded anyway.
RonDarlingShouldntBeInTheHallOfFame
How’s Davis’ defense behind the plate? Wonder if the Padres and Pirates match up on a deal..
YourDreamGM
Below average but playable if bat plays.
Not Davis fault. After a night and day improvement from 1 visit to drive line last off season he could have been at least average or above if the Pirates had even average player development.
JoseLind
Trade Davis for Tork so they both get new scenery.
YourDreamGM
Davis superior in value. Not saying much as I don’t see much in Tork.
Jarren Duran's Tennis Racket
Why would they trade their #1 overall pick?
ESixFive
Well, maybe because he’s been a giant bust here so far. Davis probably could use a fresh start, away from a franchise that played mind games with him
Because I was born in PIT
But there is Endy. Does he deserve a chance to prove it?
JackStrawb
Hard to believe the Mets dealt Endy Rodriguez for Joey Lucchesi.
thickiedon
This article should be archived as one of the finest examples of a puff piece in sports journalism history. Kudos, Darragh. You took the assignment and showcased your brilliance.
YourDreamGM
I just skimmed the article but seen no mention of the most important stat. Caught stealing. Unless there is some way to improve this he shouldn’t be expecting a bump in $. Personally I wouldn’t even give him a major league deal.
avenger65
YourDreamGM: It also passed over passed balls. In his career he’s led the majors twice and the NL once. I saw him have 3 in 1 inning his last season with the Brewers.
YourDreamGM
Good catch. Although now it doesn’t matter as they can just steal the base anytime they want. Last year he lazy lobbed a ball back to pitcher and guy took home.
Because I was born in PIT
He finds himself in the awkward position of being the potential top pitcher in baseball’s personal catcher on a team that has a better veteran option and a top draft pick with potential and an injured prospect with an apparently high ceiling who has yet to prove himself. Pirates probably want to give Henry and Endy at least another chance before committing to re-signing Yasmani. Grandal’s best move may be to wait it out for the inevitable injury need when leverage is highest. Just has to find a way to stay in the game – Independent League where Minors contract doesn’t bind him up?
ItsMillerTime
I’d gladly take him over McCann as a back-up catcher to Langeliers.
OhHello
“Teams like the Red Sox, Nationals, Padres, Phillies, Atlanta, Blue Jays, Mariners”
Am I the only one who noticed this writer, for some reason, wrote Atlanta & not Braves?
ESixFive
Apparently you are. You win a cookie
jtboy123s
Possible. But nice work, Darragh!
receo
Cromulent? Check out the big brain on Brad!
Psychguy
A team that signs him has got to be rater desperate.
Rsox
Padres or Reds make sense. Red Sox do to
BetterMuppet:JUDGEorKERMIT?
Jays as a pairing with Kirk. Need the left handed bat. Would be a nice fit
rememberthecoop
Cromulent?