This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

• The Mets signing Juan Soto (2:35)
• The Yankees to sign Max Fried (26:05)
• The Red Sox acquiring Garrett Crochet from the White Sox (36:10)
• The Giants signing Willy Adames (46:40)
• The Athletics signing Luis Severino (51:55)
• The Blue Jays acquiring Andrés Giménez from the Guardians who flip Spencer Horwitz to the Pirates for Luis Ortiz (1:01:25)
• The Orioles signing Tyler O’Neill and Gary Sánchez (1:14:00)
• The Tigers signing Alex Cobb (1:21:35)
• The Rangers re-signing Nathan Eovaldi and acquiring Jake Burger from the Marlins (1:25:20)

Check out our past episodes!

• Blake Snell, Dodger Fatigue, And The Simmering Hot Stove – listen here
• Yusei Kikuchi, The Aggressive Angels, And The Brady Singer/Jonathan India Trade – listen here
• The Rays’ Stadium Plans, Diamond Sports, And Some Offseason Rumors – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

December 7: The Orioles have agreed to a one-year deal with catcher Gary Sanchez, according to a report from Jon Heyman of The New York Post, who adds that the deal guarantees Sanchez $8.5MM. Sanchez is represented by MDR Sports Management.

Sanchez, who celebrated his 32nd birthday earlier this week, returns to the AL East after spending the first seven seasons of his MLB career with the Yankees. The first few years of his career saw him establish himself as one of the better offensive catchers in baseball with a .246/.328/.518 slash line in 327 games through the end of the 2019 season. In that time, he made two All-Star games and clobbered 105 home runs in 1576 plate appearances. That 30-to-35 homer power helped to make up for Sanchez’s middling defense behind the plate, but things took a turn for the worse when he started to struggle on offense. After striking out at a 24.1% clip through the end of the 2019 season, his 2020-22 seasons saw that rate tick up to 29.5%. Meanwhile, Sanchez’s home run power began to suffer as he hit just 49 homers in 294 games. This period even saw his defense drop from roughly average to nearly unplayable, including a -12 figure in Statcast’s catcher defense metric during the 2021 season.

These struggles led the Yankees to trade Sanchez to the Twins prior to the 2022 season, where he continued to struggle at the plate but managed to bounce back a bit on defense. Sanchez then entered free agency but did not find a deal before the 2022 season began. He eventually signed with the Mets during the season but lasted just three games on the club’s roster before spending the rest of the season in a Padres uniform. With San Diego, Sanchez managed to bounce back and flash some of the power he had shown during his Yankees days, slashing .218/.292/.500 with 19 homers in just 260 plate appearances and a 114 wRC+. That earned Sanchez a guranteed deal in Milwaukee this past season, where he served as a back up for William Contreras at catcher and occasionally found his way into the first base/DH mix as well.

Since leaving the Bronx, Sanchez has generally had the look of a solid if unspectacular catching option. In that time, he’s slashed .212/.291/.412 with a 96 wRC+ that’s more or less in line with his production for the Brewers last year, and he’s done so while providing the roughly average defense he offered early in is career. That’s enough to make him a quality back up catching option for virtually any team, and he’ll take over the role vacated by James McCann when he elected free agency last month as Adley Rutschman’s partner in the Orioles catching tandem. In addition to sharing catching duties, Sanchez can also serve a secondary role of helping improve the club’s offense against left-handed pitching by providing a righty-swinging alternative to Ryan O’Hearn at DH on days where he isn’t filling in for Rutschman behind the plate. That makes Sanchez the second player the club has added today who could provide a boost to their offense against southpaws, joining Tyler O’Neill who agreed to a three-year deal with the Orioles earlier today.

While the Orioles had internal options to serve as their secondary catcher behind Rutschman such as Rene Pinto and Blake Hunt, the club made clear in recent weeks that they hoped to add a more established player to that mix. That included a reported interest in reunion with James McCann, but reports seemed to indicate that McCann could look to find a multi-year deal in free agency while the Orioles were hoping to find a one-year arrangement given the presence of top catching prospect Samuel Basallo in their minor league system. To find a quality player willing to accept a one-year deal and a back-up job that won’t guarantee regular playing time, it seems as though Baltimore may have had to go over the top to land Sanchez; his one-year, $8.5MM guarantee matches the guarantee Danny Jansen landed from the Rays yesterday to serve as their regular starter behind the plate and far exceeds the $3MM guarantee he received from the Brewers last year.

That willingness to stretch financially in order to land the right fit for their roster is a luxury GM Mike Elias and his front office haven’t had in previous winters, when the Angelos family owned the team. New owner David Rubenstein has given the club the ability to expand payroll significantly, however, and the Orioles now project to open the 2025 season with a $122MM payroll according to RosterResource. It seems reasonable to expect that the club’s payroll could continue to climb from here as well, with Baltimore seemingly poised to turn their attention to the starting pitching market where they’ve been connected to Jack Flaherty and Nathan Eovaldi if they aren’t able to retain ace Corbin Burnes. As for the catching market, Sanchez joins Austin Hedges, Jacob Stallings, Kyle Higashioka, and Jansen in having already come off the board in what’s been the fastest-moving part of the positional market this winter. A few quality options remain available, however, including Carson Kelly and Elias Diaz.

Initially a one-year, $7MM deal contract, Sanchez’s deal with the Brewers ended up being a one-year, $3MM guarantee with a mutual option worth $11MM.  The size of the buyout was conditional based on whether or not Sanchez missed time due to a wrist-related injury, but that didn’t prove to be an issue, so he unlocked the maximum $4MM on the buyout, allowing him to land that $7MM in salary after all.

The restructured deal came about after the Brewers had some concerns with the state of Sanchez’s wrist after it was fractured in September 2023.  Sanchez did miss a month due to a calf strain, and he otherwise hit .220/.307/.392 with 11 homers over 280 plate appearances and 89 games.

Sanchez’s presence allowed William Contreras to get a good dose of extra playing time at the DH spot, thus allowing him some partial rest while keeping his bat in Milwaukee’s lineup.  The Brewers are likely to explore a similar plan for the coming season, if perhaps not necessarily with Sanchez in the backup catcher role.  A reunion shouldn’t be ruled out, however, if the Brewers were generally satisfied with Sanchez’s work, or if perhaps they simply aren’t enamored with any other catching options on the open market.

From Sanchez’s perspective, this particular scenario with Milwaukee would allow him essentially the same amount of playing time as he would in a normal platoon situation elsewhere, with the bonus of playing for a perpetual contender.  Now entering his age-32 season, Sanchez should get some attention from other teams due to the ever-churning nature of the catching market, even if his heyday as an All-Star with the Yankees is now increasingly in the rearview mirror.  Sanchez did rebound to hit 19 homers in 2023 with the Padres, though brought little else to the offensive table apart from that power.

In additional Brewers news, the team has placed catcher/DH Gary Sánchez on the 10-day IL (retroactive to June 24) with a left calf strain. The strain is “low-grade” according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, so Sánchez likely won’t be out too long. In the meantime, however, the team has selected veteran backstop Eric Haase from Triple-A Nashville to take over as the backup catcher. The team freed up an additional spot on the 40-man roster by transferring right-hander Joe Ross from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Ross is now ineligible to return until July 20 at the earliest.

11:51 am: The Brewers will select the contract of Dallas Keuchel ahead of this afternoon’s game against the Rangers, reports Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. The 2015 AL Cy Young winner came over to the organization from the Mariners on Tuesday in exchange for cash considerations. Milwaukee will need to open up a spot for Keuchel on the 26-man and 40-man rosters.

Keuchel’s start today will be his 2024 debut. After a highly successful seven-year tenure with the Astros from 2012-18, the southpaw signed a one-year deal with the Braves in 2019 followed by a three-year deal with the White Sox ahead of the 2020 campaign. Although he made a strong first impression in his first season on the South Side of Chicago (1.99 ERA in 11 starts), he struggled over the next two years, ultimately getting released in May 2022.

After brief stints with the Diamondbacks and Rangers during the 2022 season, Keuchel signed a minor league deal with the Twins in June 2023. He ultimately made 10 appearances (6 starts) for Minnesota, putting up a 5.97 ERA in 37 2/3 innings pitched. While his overall numbers were disappointing, his 3.04 FIP and 4.10 xFIP against lefty batters were promising evidence that the veteran can still retire same-handed hitters.

Keuchel went unsigned throughout the 2023-24 offseason before inking a minor league deal with the Mariners this past April. The 36-year-old was released in May but signed a new minor league pact with the organization three days later. Under the terms of that agreement, he will make a prorated portion of $1.5 million for the time he spends with the Brewers, with the opportunity to earn additional incentives (per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com).

Milwaukee has lost a full rotation’s worth of starting pitchers to the IL this year. DL Hall and Joe Ross are currently working their way back from their respective injuries, but Robert Gasser and Wade Miley are done for the season. Brandon Woodruff, who underwent shoulder surgery last fall, is also out for the year. Jakob Junis, who opened the year in the rotation, returned from a long stint on the IL this past weekend. However, is currently pitching out of the bullpen. Thus, it is clear to see why the Brewers could use an arm like Keuchel. While he has not had much major league success since the 2020 season, he can eat innings for Milwaukee, and he offers the team a left-handed option in the rotation. He has a 3.93 ERA but a 5.51 FIP in 13 starts at Triple-A this year.

Right-hander Colin Rea was originally scheduled to start this afternoon. Thankfully for the Brewers, there is no evidence to suggest Rea was scratched due to injury concerns, according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Rather, manager Pat Murphy might simply prefer to give Rea an extra couple of days of rest. With 82 innings under his belt this season, the 33-year-old is on pace to surpass his previous professional career high in innings pitched. Given all the pitching injuries the Brewers have already suffered this year, keeping Rea strong and healthy is of paramount importance.

Williams, 29, has established himself among the game’s most elite closers in recent years. Though the right-hander made his debut late in the 2019 season, he retained rookie eligibility into the 2020 season, which saw him dominant to an superlative 0.33 ERA with a 0.86 FIP in 27 innings of work, a strong enough performance to earn him the NL Rookie of the Year award during the shortened season. Since then, he’s settled in as one of the most reliably dominant relief arms in the game, having compiled a microscopic 1.75 ERA and 2.26 FIP in 200 1/3 innings over the past four years while striking out a whopping 40.5% of batters faced.

He enjoyed a characteristically excellent season in 2023, posting a 1.53 ERA in 61 appearances while collecting a career-best 36 saves and striking out opponents at a 37.7% clip. That dominance led to some trade speculation this winter as the club parted ways with both manager Craig Counsell and ace right-hander Corbin Burnes, though no deal ever came together regarding Williams and it’s unclear if the Brewers even shopped their relief ace. The right-hander remains under team control in Milwaukee through the end of the 2025 season, so it’s possible the club could look to part ways with Williams at some point in the future, but for the time being the right-hander appears poised to return to his role as Brewers closer come Opening Day if he’s healthy enough to take the field.

More from Brewers camp…

• Murphy also spoke to reporters, including Hogg, about the prospect of young outfielder Sal Frelick moving to the infield this season. The manager indicated that he feels that Frelick’s work at third base hasn’t been “emphasized” enough and that he could be “one of the best stories in baseball.” Frelick’s potential move to the infield had been reported last month, when The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal indicated that Frelick had begun work at both second and third base. Frelick has since appeared in five games at the hot corner this spring, the same number as he’s appeared in his native right field. Should Frelick’s experiment at third base carry into the regular season on even a part-time basis, it would go a long way to sorting out at-bats in the club’s crowded outfield mix, which includes the likes of Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer in addition to Frelick.
• Catcher Gary Sanchez has been slowed this spring by a right hand issue ever since signing with the Brewers on a big league deal last month, though as noted by MLB.com the 31-year-old backstop made it into game action ahead of schedule by appearing as the club’s DH in yesterday’s game. Sanchez was previously expected to start getting into game action on March 14, putting nearly a week ahead of schedule. That’s a good sign for Sanchez’s ability to get up to speed in time to avoid a stint on the injured list to open the season, though the club has Eric Haase also in camp and on the 40-man roster as a potential alternative backup to primary catcher William Contreras should Sanchez require more time to prepare for the coming campaign. Sanchez lingered on the free agent market through the early months of the 2023 campaign but performed well upon joining the Padres in late May, slashing .218/.292/.500 with 19 home runs in just 260 trips to the plate across his 72 games with the club.

The Associated Press reports the specifics. Sánchez will make a $3MM salary and has a buyout on a 2025 mutual option. The buyout figure could rise as high as $4MM depending on how much time Sánchez spends on the MLB roster or injured list for a fracture or ligament tear in any area of the body other than his right wrist.

He’d receive the full $4MM buyout if he reaches 150 days on the active roster or IL for a notable non-wrist injury. That dips to $3MM for 120-149 days, $2MM for 90-119, and $1MM for 60-89 days. There’d be no buyout for 59 days or fewer. The deal also contains a $1MM assignment bonus in the event of a trade.

Sánchez broke his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch while playing for the Padres last September. While that was the initially reported cause of the contract restructure, Sánchez told reporters this evening that he recovered fully from that incident (link via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). Via translator, the catcher indicated he injured his hand while working out over the offseason, which he says was the cause of the team’s concern.

In any case, ironing out the issue positions Sánchez to serve as a backup catcher/DH for the Brew Crew. He joins first baseman Rhys Hoskins and trade pickups Jake Bauers and Joey Ortiz as offseason additions to a reworked offense. Jack Magruder of MLB.com writes that Ortiz, acquired from the Orioles in the Corbin Burnes deal, could see action at both second and third base.

Ortiz has played mostly shortstop in the minors but doesn’t have a path to regular playing time there in 2024, barring a surprising late Willy Adames trade. Brice Turang is the frontrunner for reps at the keystone, although he’s coming off a well below-average .218/.285/.300 batting line as a rookie. Turang is a former top prospect who played strong defense, so it’s likely the Brewers will give him another run. That’d leave Ortiz vying with Andruw Monasterio and perhaps Owen Miller at third base.

In other Brewers news, Milwaukee added a former big leaguer in a non-playing capacity. Justin Bour announced (on X) that he’s taking on a role in the player development department. Bour hit .253/.337/.457 in parts of six MLB seasons between 2014-19. He finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting when he hit 23 homers for the Marlins in 2015. Bour played in a few foreign leagues before announcing his retirement as a player last February.

February 20: The Brewers and catcher Gary Sanchez agreed to terms on a one-year, $7MM contract in early February — but the team has yet to formally announce the signing. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic now reports that the Brewers had some concerns regarding Sanchez’s wrist, which he fractured in early September last season after being hit by a pitch, and that’ll likely lead to new financial terms. Sanchez will likely still be able to earn up to that same $7MM figure, per the report, but some of it will be contingent upon his wrist holding up. That implies that a lower base salary and incentives seem likely to be baked into the new-look contract arrangement.

While the financial terms of the deal seem likely to change, it doesn’t appear the concern was strong enough to torpedo the deal entirely. And, given that Sanchez was never expected to be the primary catcher on a roster featuring All-Star William Contreras anyhow, his role might not change much either. The veteran slugger will presumably operate as the primary backup to Contreras and also mix in at designated hitter a fair bit.

The Brewers could carry three catchers this season; they inked Eric Haase to a big league deal earlier in the winter. It’s a split contract, but he’s out of minor league options, so the minor league salary would only come into play if he first clears waivers. Rosenthal notes that the Brewers “plan to keep” Haase, though it’s at least possible they could simply be confident he’ll clear waivers and stick around as upper-level depth.

In particular, Sanchez will likely be in the lineup against left-handed pitchers as often as possible. The 31-year-old hit .267/.304/.680 against southpaws in 2023 and has generally posted better power numbers and a higher walk rate when holding the platoon advantage. Sanchez is just a .215 hitter against lefties in his career, but he’s reached base at a .314 clip and slugged .484 against them. Sanchez slotting in as a designated hitter against lefties could be used as a means of getting a breather for any of Milwaukee’s many lefty-swinging outfield/DH/first base options: Christian Yelich, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick or Jake Bauers.

The exact terms of the newly framed deal aren’t yet available, but the Brewers were projected for a $122MM payroll with Sanchez penciled in for his full $7MM guarantee (per Roster Resource). That was already about $10MM shy of their franchise-record mark, and shaving some of Sanchez’s guarantee off the books creates even more wiggle room. Of course, it’s still not known how much Brandon Woodruff will command on his new two-year deal to return to the Brew Crew, though it’ll presumably be quite backloaded given that he’s expected to miss the majority of the 2024 season following shoulder surgery.

However that pair of guarantees shakes out, the Brewers will likely still have some distance between their 2024 payroll figure and the previous franchise-high, established just two years ago in 2022. That could leave a bit of space for further additions to round out the roster, and for a team that already moved ace Corbin Burnes and saw its GM proclaim that he’s “open to more conversations,” the possibility remains that further changes to both the payroll and roster outlook could yet come together.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

• The Giants to sign Jorge Soler (1:25)
• The Brewers to sign Gary Sánchez (11:15)
• The Pirates to sign Yasmani Grandal (18:55)
• The Padres to sign Jurickson Profar (23:35)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

• Which teams do you think have a chance to exceed expectations this year like the Diamondbacks and Reds did last year? (26:00)
• Matt Chapman to the Cubs for one year and $27MM plus a $30MM mutual option for 2025 with a $3MM buyout, who says no? (30:40)
• Does Carlos Santana make the Twins better? (34:00)

Check out our past episodes!

• The Sale of the Orioles, Corbin Burnes Traded and Bobby Witt Jr. Extended – listen here
• The Jorge Polanco Trade, Rhys Hoskins and the Blue Jays’ Plans – listen here
• The Broadcasting Landscape, Josh Hader and the Relief Market – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Sánchez, 31, had a frustrating time getting a job last year but made the most of it when he finally got one. He initially signed a minor league deal with the Giants but opted out when that club wouldn’t give him a roster spot. He landed another minor league deal with the Mets and did get called up to the big leagues but was quickly put on waivers.

A claim by the Padres was the opportunity he needed. He went on to take 260 plate appearances over 72 games with San Diego, hitting 19 home runs in that brief time. His batting average and on-base percentage were low, as his fairly normal for him, but his .218/.292/.500 batting line in that time nonetheless translated to a wRC+ of 115 indicating he was 15% better than the league average hitter.

With Sánchez, the power has always been there, but his defense has been more questionable throughout his career. He seems to have improved over time, however. Defensive Runs Saved has given him positive grades in each of the past two years, including a +7 mark in 2023. Each of FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus considered his pitch framing to be a positive over the past two seasons. His throwing arm has always been considered strong with his blocking a weakness, though even his blocking grades have improved in the past few seasons as well.

His strong campaign in 2023 was cut short when he suffered a wrist fracture in early September. Between that and the late start, he only got into 72 contests with the Friars but still managed to produce 1.8 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs and 2.5 per the calculations of Baseball Reference.

In terms of intangibles, his tenure with the Padres overlapped with the breakout of Blake Snell last year. Through 10 outings last year, Snell had an earned run average of 5.04. But he posted a tiny 1.18 ERA over his final 22 starts, lowering his season ERA to 2.25 and earning himself a second Cy Young Award. Sánchez caught the first 18 of those 22 games, missing the last four due to the aforementioned wrist injury. Snell spoke positively of their relationship to Dennis Lin of The Athletic during the season.

Despite the strong season, there are concerns with Sánchez. As mentioned, he was a poor blocker earlier in his career. He’s never been a huge batting average or on-base guy, apart from the very early parts of his career. Strikeouts have occasionally been a problem, with his 26.8% career rate a few ticks north of typical averages. His power also eluded him in 2022, as he hit just 16 home runs in 128 games for the Twins that year.

But overall, the package has appeal. Apart from that power outage with the Twins, he’s always hit 20-35 home runs or has at least has been on pace to do so. The defense has been a struggle but has improved over time. In every full season dating back to 2016, he’s produced at least 1.3 fWAR. Even if you ignore the hot start to his career and look at 2018 to the present, he’s 10th among active catchers in fWAR.

He received interest from the Padres and Pirates this winter but will end up in an interesting landing spot with the Brewers. They already have a really good catcher in William Contreras. That perhaps suggests Sánchez will be a sort of backup catcher but part-time designated hitter. The right-handed-hitting Sánchez has fairly neutral platoon splits for his career but was excellent against southpaws last year. He hit .267/.304/.680 against lefties, 162 wRC+, but .194/.282/.406 against righties for a 90 wRC+.

The Brewers have a bunch of outfielders and Sánchez may have to split the DH time with them, but the platoon situation might work well there. Each of Christian Yelich, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick and Jake Bauers hit from the left side. Perhaps Sánchez can give Contreras the occasional breather behind the plate while also taking some at-bats away from that group by slotting in as the DH against tough lefties. This signing may perhaps bode poorly for Eric Haase, who was signed by the Brewers in December. He’s generally considered a bat-first catcher but struggled badly at the plate in 2023. He can also play the outfield but the Brewers have tons of guys battling for jobs out there. Since he’s out of options, he may find himself squeeze off the roster at some point.

The Brewers have been quite active in recent weeks, signing Rhys Hoskins before flipping Corbin Burnes to the Orioles for Joey Ortiz, DL Hall and a draft pick, then signing Jakob Junis and now Sánchez. The subtraction of Burnes obviously weakens their rotation, along with the loss of Brandon Woodruff, who was non-tendered after requiring shoulder surgery. But the additions of Hoskins and Sánchez, along with the impending debut of center field prospect Jackson Chourio, could have their offense making up some of the difference.

The club only allowed 647 runs last year, the lowest in the majors, whereas their 728 runs scored was middle of the pack. Perhaps they will allow a few more runs this year but also score a few more. Then again, based on how busy they’ve been in the past couple of weeks, they may not be done making moves. Roster Resource pegs their current payroll at $111MM, well below last year’s $126MM figure.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Brewers were signing Sánchez and added the $7MM guarantee. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that there was a mutual option for 2025.

Sánchez is no longer the franchise catcher he once seemed he’d be in the Bronx. He has been a solid regular for the majority of his career, though, and he’s coming off an effective season for the Padres. San Diego nabbed Sánchez off waivers from the Mets at the end of May. He emerged as their top option behind the plate with decent work on both sides of the ball.

His offensive profile is built around plus power. Sánchez popped 19 home runs in 260 plate appearances a year ago. Were it not for a season-ending wrist fracture sustained when he was hit by a pitch in early September, he’d have gotten to the 20-homer mark for the fifth time in his career. That compensates for low batting averages and middling on-base marks. Sánchez finished his time as a Padre with a .218/.292/.500 line.

Much maligned for his receiving skills with the Yankees, he has improved his defensive marks over the past two years. Statcast has rated him as a slightly above-average pitch framer in each of the last couple seasons. His blocking metrics are marginally below par but nowhere near as bad as they were during his first four campaigns. He still has a plus arm, ranking in the top 10 in average pop time last year.

The Padres remained in contact with Sánchez early in the offseason. It seems his asking price was beyond their comfort zone, though, and they pivoted to acquire Kyle Higashioka in the Juan Soto blockbuster. With Higashioka backing up Luis Campusano, it looks as if Sánchez will head elsewhere.

Pittsburgh wouldn’t have been a candidate to add a catcher a couple months ago. Second-year backstop Endy Rodríguez suffered a fluke elbow injury while hitting in winter ball and underwent UCL surgery that ends his 2024 campaign before it began. That leaves the Bucs to decide whether to count on former first overall pick Henry Davis as their #1 option behind the plate.

Davis hasn’t started an MLB game at catcher. He made 49 starts in right field and 11 as a designated hitter in deference to Rodríguez. Prospect evaluators have questioned his ability to stick as a catcher going back to his college days at Louisville. GM Ben Cherington and skipper Derek Shelton have both said this offseason they’re still optimistic about Davis’ future at the position, but there’d be risk in counting on him as the starter next season.

Their depth options don’t provide much offensive upside. Jason Delay remains on the 40-man roster, while the Bucs added Ali Sánchez on a big league free agent contract. Delay is a career .233/.293/.311 hitter in 127 MLB contests. Ali Sánchez is a 27-year-old with seven career big league appearances, none since 2021.

• Gary Sánchez: Sánchez has always had big power in his bat, having launched 173 home runs already in his career. But he’s often paired that with low batting average/on-base numbers, strikeouts and questionable defense. He wasn’t able to secure a major league deal last offseason, signing a minor league pact with the Giants and then opting out and signing another with the Mets. The latter club added him to their roster but quickly put him on waivers, with the Padres putting in a claim. From there, he went on to have a terrific season. He hit 19 home runs in just 75 games, keeping his strikeouts to a palatable 25.1% clip before a wrist fracture ended his season in September. His glovework has also improved lately, relative to earlier in his career. His joining the Padres coincided with Blake Snell completely turning his season around and eventually winning a second Cy Young. Snell spoke positively of his relationship with Sánchez during the year, as relayed by Dennis Lin of The Athletic, perhaps suggesting his game-calling could be viewed as a plus. There are warts on his profile but he’s clearly a strong player and should be able to find a better deal than he did a year ago. He’s going into his age-31 season.
• Yasmani Grandal: Grandal has long been a strong backstop on both sides of the ball, but he has tapered off lately. He hit .240/.355/.451 from 2012 to 2021, combining power with a keen eye at the plate, but that batting line has dropped to .219/.305/.306 over the past two seasons. He’s still a strong framer and was good against lefty pitchers as recently as 2022. The switch-hitter slashed .257/.409/.365 against southpaws that year but just .186/.265/.241 against righties, though that split evened out last year. Now 35 years old, he may not be able to get a job as a club’s primary catcher, but his defense, framing and switch-hitting ability should make him a fit somewhere.
• Curt Casali: Casali has never been more than a part-time player, but he’s been a solid one. He’s appeared in each of the past 10 MLB seasons, though never in more than 84 games in any individual campaign. He has popped 47 home runs in 1,454 plate appearances while walking at a 10.7% rate, leading to a .220/.314/.380 batting line. His 89 wRC+ is below average overall but pretty close to par for a catcher. He’s generally considered a capable defender as well. He’s coming off a disappointing season wherein he hit poorly in 40 games for the Reds before landing on the injured list in July due to a foot contusion and not returning. He’s now going into his age-35 season.
• Manny Piña: Similar to Casali, Piña has long been a serviceable part-time catcher. He has appeared in 10 MLB seasons, only twice playing more than 76 games. He’s hit 43 home runs in his 1,255 plate appearances and slashed .243/.312/.410 for a wRC+ of 91. He’s only played nine big league games over the past two years, primarily due to wrist issues. He underwent surgery in May of 2022 while with Atlanta, then was flipped to the A’s going into 2023 as part of the Sean Murphy deal. The wrist issues lingered into last year and he was released in August. He’s now going into his age-37 season.
• Mike Zunino: As recently as 2021, Zunino showed off his huge power at the plate, launching 33 home runs for the Rays. But the year after, he required thoracic outlet surgery and wasn’t able to bounce back. The Guardians gave him a one-year, $6MM deal for 2023 but he was nowhere near his previous self. Strikeouts have always been a problem for him even when he was at his best, as evidenced by his career rate of 35.1%. However, that rate was all the way up to 43.6% last year as he hit just .177/.271/.306. Zunino was released in June and didn’t sign with anyone else after that. His defense is considered strong, so he could be a useful player if his offense improved with a bit more remove from his surgery. He’ll be 33 in March.

Once upon a time, the expectations for Sánchez were so incredibly high. A top 100 prospect on his way up the minor league ladder with the Yankees, he burst onto the scene in 2016, hitting 20 home runs in just 53 games. He followed that up with 33 homers in his first full campaign in 2017, hitting .278/.345/.531 for a wRC+ of 131. He still hadn’t qualified for arbitration at that time, giving the Yanks years of cheap club control and leading many to give the nickname “The Sanchize” to the young catcher.

But he hasn’t been at that level since, which is why many now view him as a disappointment or a bust. In 2018, he hit below the Mendoza line while battling injuries and only getting into 89 games. He bounced back with a 34-homer campaign in 2019, but that was the “juiced ball” season and his batting average, on-base percentage and defense were all worse than in 2017. His 2.4 wins above replacement from FanGraphs were barely half of the 4.3 fWAR he had in 2017.

In 2020, Sánchez hit another 10 home runs in the shortened season but his .147 BA and .253 OBP were obviously rough. He struck out in 36% of his plate appearances. There were rumors that the Yankees were considering a non-tender, rather than giving him a raise on his $5MM salary. A poll of MLBTR readers from that offseason saw just 36.42% of voters suggest the club should run him back out as the starter again in 2021, with 41.04% suggesting a trade or non-tender and another 22.53% suggesting Sánchez be moved into a backup role.

The club did eventually tender him a contract, with the two sides settling on a $6.35MM salary for 2021. He went on to have a decent year, hitting 23 home runs and reducing his strikeout rate to 27.5%. His .204/.307/.423 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 101. That was enough to get him tendered a contract for 2022, though he was flipped to the Twins as part of the Josh Donaldson deal.

His one year in Minnesota yielded mixed results. His 16 home runs in 128 games were well shy of his previous power production, leading to a .205/.282/.377 batting line and 89 wRC+. But he showed some positive developments on defense. Defensive Runs Saved had him at -10 in 2021 but he jumped to +1 with the Twins. Framing metrics from FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus gave him a positive mark after being in negative territory the previous three years. Statcast gave him a league average zero for his blocking, an improvement from the negative numbers in the previous four campaigns. Despite the subpar offense, he still tallied 1.3 fWAR.

A free agent for the first time going into 2023, Sánchez found a fairly tepid market. He lingered on the open market until the end of March, when he signed a minor league deal with the Giants. He opted out of that deal in early May and secured another minor league pact, this time with the Mets. His contract was selected by that club but he was designated for assignment after just three games.

The Padres claimed him off waivers in late May and he went on a heater from there. He hit 19 home runs in just 75 games, striking out in just 25.1% of his plate appearances. His .217/.288/.492 batting line led to a wRC+ of 111. His defense was also strong, with a +7 DRS and positive framing grades from Statcast and Baseball Prospectus. He tallied 1.7 fWAR in less than half a season, getting shut down in early September due to a wrist fracture.

There’s also the game-calling to consider, which is hard to measure but definitely has value. Martín Maldonado has continued to get work despite being one of the worst hitters in baseball in his career, largely on the strength of his defense and work with a pitching staff. His defensive numbers were poor in 2023 but he was still able to get $4MM from the White Sox for 2024, with the Sox presumably willing to give out that kind of cash for some intangible benefit from Maldonado’s ability to tease more value of their pitchers.

Sánchez joining the Padres coincided with Blake Snell turning around his season. Through 10 starts this year, Snell had an earned run average of 5.04. But he posted a miniscule 1.18 ERA over his final 22 outings, lowering his season ERA to 2.25 and earning himself a second Cy Young Award. Sánchez caught the first 18 of those 22 games, missing the last four due to his wrist injury.

That may be a coincidence but Snell himself spoke positively of the pairing to Dennis Lin of The Athletic during the season. “I’ve always heard about him offensively, but I love him,” Snell said at that time. “He blocked, like, a 97-mile-an-hour fastball in the dirt. I threw a curveball and it hit the grass and he blocked it. I mean, I don’t see the problem. Even calling the game, we had a game plan; we executed. I even put a lot of trust in him, like, what do you want? Like, you tell me. … I trust him on that. He’s smart.” The praise didn’t end there. “Framing’s good. Framing, blocking, he’s got a hose,” said Snell. “No one’s even trying to run on me. And I’ve been, like, 1.5, 1.6 (seconds to home). I really trust him because of how good he is back there. It brings a lot of comfort. So I’ve been really happy about it.”

Now Sánchez is on the open market again, with very little smoke around his free agency. The Padres reportedly had interest in a reunion, though that was before they acquired Kyle Higashioka in the Juan Soto deal. No other club has been connected to Sánchez in rumors. That’s despite the fact that there are clubs with obvious needs behind the plate, including the Marlins, Rockies, Red Sox, Cubs, Angels, Rays and Pirates.

For some people, Sánchez will always be a bust, with his incredible early-career work having set the hopes so high. While the recent work is obviously not the same as in 2016-2017, the result is still a solid everyday player. His 8.6 fWAR dating back to 2018 his 11th in baseball among primary catchers. One of those ahead of him is Buster Posey, so he’s actually 10th among those that are still active. He’s never produced less than 1.3 fWAR in a full season. His batting average seems destined to remain low, but his power has been present in every season apart from his 2022 stint with the Twins. On defense, his blocking and framing have improved in recent years, while his arm has always been strong. The game-calling is tough to quantify but Snell’s results and high praise are positive omens.

The total package paints Sánchez as a decent everyday catcher, which could lead to pretty good money in free agency. In recent winters, Christian Vázquez got $30MM over three years, Omar Narváez got two years and $15MM, while Yan Gomes got $13MM over two. This winter, Mitch Garver got $24MM, Victor Caratini $12MM and Tom Murphy $8.3MM, all on two-year deals. Garver and Murphy have checkered injury histories while Caratini has never been a potent offensive threat. Sánchez could perhaps be in line for a much better trip to free agency than a year ago, so long as the expectations are set appropriately.

Dennis Lin of the Athletic wrote in October that the Padres were interested in retaining Sánchez, so it’s unsurprising they’re still in contact. The veteran catcher had a rebound year at Petco Park, blasting 19 homers in just 72 games. While he only hit .218 with a .292 on-base percentage, that kind of power production from behind the plate is an excellent result for a player whom San Diego had claimed on waivers at the end of May.

The season ended on a down note, as an errant pitch fractured Sánchez’s wrist at the start of September. That isn’t expected to have any impact on his availability for upcoming Spring Training. In a market very light on catching options, Sánchez will fare quite a bit better than he had a year ago. The two-time All-Star settled for a minor league deal with the Giants last winter on the heels of a .205/.282/.377 showing with the Twins.

San Diego needs to add a second catcher in some capacity. The Padres have made clear they’re going to turn the primary job to 24-year-old Luis Campusano, who’s coming off a .319/.356/.491 showing through 49 games. Campusano and Brett Sullivan are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. In addition to Sánchez’s free agency, the club non-tendered Opening Day starter Austin Nola after a rough 2023 campaign.

Moreno was hit on the hand with a foul tip bunt, and while he initially remained in the game, he was replaced with a pinch hitter before his next at-bat. This is the second time Moreno has exited a game early this postseason, the first coming when he was hit in the head by Brice Turang’s backswing during the Wild Card round. Fortunately, that incident didn’t lead to a concussion, and the young catcher was back on the field for Arizona’s next game. He has played in all five of the Diamondbacks’ postseason matchups thus far.

The 23-year-old catcher is enjoying a breakout season, proving himself to be a strong defensive player and a capable hitter. He improved at the plate as the year went on, too, batting .313 with an .894 OPS after the All-Star break.

In other news from the West divisions…

• Gary Sánchez is set to reach free agency after the World Series, but the Padres are reportedly interested in bringing him back, and the interest appears to be mutual, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The 30-year-old had a difficult year at the plate in 2022, but he bounced back this season after the Padres claimed him on waivers in May. In 72 games with San Diego, he hit 19 home runs and posted a .792 OPS before a wrist fracture ended his season in early September.
• Sarah Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Times named Angels infield coach Benji Gil as a potential managerial candidate, reporting that the Angels have expressed interest in him as their next manager. Valenzuela also included Buck Showalter on the list of candidates, although that comes as less of a revelation; the team’s interest in Showalter has already been widely reported. Gil has been a coach in the majors for the past two seasons, and he served as the manager for Team Mexico in the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

1:58pm: The Padres are set to select the contract of right-hander Nick Hernandez from Triple-A El Paso, reports Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC Channel 2. He’ll make his big league debut the first time he takes the mound.

Hernandez, 28, is a former Astros draftee (eighth round, 2016) who signed with San Diego in minor league free agency this offseason. His first year in the Padres organization has been mostly solid thus far. He’s posted sub-4.00 ERA marks with strong strikeout and walk rates in both Double-A and Triple-A, working to a combined 3.60 earned run average with a 33.2% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in 60 innings.

Hernandez has regularly posted quality ERA marks and missed bats in the minors. Command has been an issue at times, evidenced by a career 11.7% walk rate in parts of three Triple-A seasons –though he’s been quite a bit better in that regard this year. Hernandez will get the opportunity to show the Padres that he deserves a chance to stick at the big league level over the season’s final few weeks. He’ll be able to become a minor league free agent again at season’s end if he’s removed from the 40-man.

The Padres will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster in order to formally add Hernandez to the Major League club. That can be easily achieved at this stage of the calendar, however. Both Ji Man Choi and Gary Sanchez remain on the 10-day injured list despite recently suffering fractures. Choi has been trying to play through his injury in Triple-A and could still feasibly return, but moving either to the 60-day injured list would clear roster space for Hernandez.