C Yasmani Grandal signs with White Sox - 4 years $73 million

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

4 years, $73 million.

 

Darn for the Brewers, but good for him.

[Warning Track Power]

Wow...I will miss him but not at that salary! Gracious.

 

Come on back Moose!

[pacopete4]

So glad we didn't make this deal. It was fun to have him for a season but that's just nuts for an aging catcher.

[wibadgers23]

This sucks!

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

So glad we didn't make this deal. It was fun to have him for a season but that's just nuts for an aging catcher.

 

Agreed! Time for DS to pull another catcher rabbit out of his hat. I'm happy for Yasmani, as he seemed like a great guy, and was awesome in his one year as a Brewer.

 

On to Plan B. All aboard the Jake Nottingham bandwagon!

[clancyphile]

That sort of deal was doable for the Crew, IMO.

 

At least it isn't the NL, but it means a downgrade at catcher for sure.

[MrTPlush]

Yup, at that price it just is not worth it. There are definitely a plethora of ways to spend that much money and/or type of commitment to a player in likely better ways. White Sox could easily get a near average catcher right from the start. If not it probably won't take long. If he somehow is elite for 2+ years good for him. I personally always though he was a bit overrated by people and I would argue he was even slightly disappointing. I was expecting a lot more for a guy coming from Dodgers stadium to Miller Park.

[bill hAll Star]

I'll get in before anyone else:

 

Please, no, we should not trade for James McCann. Unless he is a juiced ball mastermind, he will not put up anything close to a .359 BABIP again this year.

[clancyphile]

So glad we didn't make this deal. It was fun to have him for a season but that's just nuts for an aging catcher.

 

Agreed! Time for DS to pull another catcher rabbit out of his hat. I'm happy for Yasmani, as he seemed like a great guy, and was awesome in his one year as a Brewer.

 

On to Plan B. All aboard the Jake Nottingham bandwagon!

 

With the DH, this is a VERY good deal for the Sox. Grandal catches two years, DHs the next two.

 

I'd figured about $80 million - and that included Yasmani as the primary 1B for the latter half of the deal as Feliciano/Henry/Fry forced their way up.

[JimH5]

Lots of payroll coming off the books. This better mean something big is in the works.

[TURBO]

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

Damn

[Ennder]

I totally understand this deal for the White Sox who are just coming into their young talent and have a lot of free money for the next few years. He will likely DH towards the end but he isn't a super amazing bat for a DH if any of his skills fade. I think the last couple years of his deal will probably not look very good so kind of glad the Brewers didn't try to match it.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

That sort of deal was doable for the Crew, IMO.

 

At least it isn't the NL, but it means a downgrade at catcher for sure.

 

If David Stearns wasn't willing to go there with a fan favorite catcher in LuCroy at a similar age, there was NO WAY he was going there with Grandal. The White Sox can absorb that type of risk much easier than the Brewers can. 4 years at $18.25 per season is about the max that I foresaw Grandal getting. I'm just glad this isn't the Reds that got him.

[bill hAll Star]

Lots of payroll coming off the books. This better mean something big is in the works.

 

The White Sox also had been running a very low payroll and this might finally have been their time to strike.

[TURBO]

Agreed, glad it wasn't the Reds or another National league team for that matter...

 

But still, DAMN!

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

So glad we didn't make this deal. It was fun to have him for a season but that's just nuts for an aging catcher.

 

Agreed! Time for DS to pull another catcher rabbit out of his hat. I'm happy for Yasmani, as he seemed like a great guy, and was awesome in his one year as a Brewer.

 

On to Plan B. All aboard the Jake Nottingham bandwagon!

 

With the DH, this is a VERY good deal for the Sox. Grandal catches two years, DHs the next two.

 

I'd figured about $80 million - and that included Yasmani as the primary 1B for the latter half of the deal as Feliciano/Henry/Fry forced their way up.

 

Paying nearly $20 million per year for an aging 1B/DH is an extremely irresponsible use of funds. The White Sox better hope he can be their primary catcher for the next four years.

[TURBO]

My guess is he is their primary catcher for at least 2 years, and nothing I have seen says he can't be just that for 3... If he is part time catching in year 4, along with DHing, this is still a decent deal for the Sox.

[bill hAll Star]

 

Agreed! Time for DS to pull another catcher rabbit out of his hat. I'm happy for Yasmani, as he seemed like a great guy, and was awesome in his one year as a Brewer.

 

On to Plan B. All aboard the Jake Nottingham bandwagon!

 

With the DH, this is a VERY good deal for the Sox. Grandal catches two years, DHs the next two.

 

I'd figured about $80 million - and that included Yasmani as the primary 1B for the latter half of the deal as Feliciano/Henry/Fry forced their way up.

 

Paying nearly $20 million per year for an aging 1B/DH is an extremely irresponsible use of funds. The White Sox better hope he can be their primary catcher for the next four years.

 

The Brewers did the same thing with Cain. It's possible that Grandal is a part-time catcher 3 or 4 years from now but if he delivers for 2-3 years, they'll take it.

 

They had an insanely low payroll with guys like Eloy, Giolito, Luis Robert, Yoan, etc. all making peanuts. This is the time to strike and try to compete. They could make 2-3 more massive signings and still run a payroll barely more than what the Brewers are.

[KeithStone53151]

I'm overall fine with this. Good for him definitely, and we were never meeting that price.

[pacopete4]

If the White Sox end up paying Grandal to be a DH, this is a terrible deal as his bat isn't that great. It is great for a catcher but at DH it doesn't play that well long-term.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

 

The Brewers did the same thing with Cain. It's possible that Grandal is a part-time catcher 3 or 4 years from now but if he delivers for 2-3 years, they'll take it.

 

They had an insanely low payroll with guys like Eloy, Giolito, Luis Robert, Yoan, etc. all making peanuts. This is the time to strike and try to compete. They could make 2-3 more massive signings and still run a payroll barely more than what the Brewers are.

 

I would imagine that historically OFers have been able to maintain productivity into their mid-30s at a higher rate than catchers. I'm sure that was a line of thinking. But yeah, the Brewers will be hoping for a Cain offensive rebound in 2020, or he will be a case study on how expensive long-term contracts can hurt mid-market ballclubs. The Brewers can take chances on longterm deals, but they need to be limited and smart.

[bill hAll Star]

 

The Brewers did the same thing with Cain. It's possible that Grandal is a part-time catcher 3 or 4 years from now but if he delivers for 2-3 years, they'll take it.

 

They had an insanely low payroll with guys like Eloy, Giolito, Luis Robert, Yoan, etc. all making peanuts. This is the time to strike and try to compete. They could make 2-3 more massive signings and still run a payroll barely more than what the Brewers are.

 

I would imagine that historically OFers have been able to maintain productivity into their mid-30s at a higher rate than catchers. I'm sure that was a line of thinking. But yeah, the Brewers will be hoping for a Cain offensive rebound in 2020, or he will be a case study on how expensive long-term contracts can hurt mid-market ballclubs. The Brewers can take chances on longterm deals, but they need to be limited and smart.

 

I really don't think these contracts "hurt" if they are planned correctly.

 

If you've got 5-6 great players pre-arbitration and you sign a guy for 4-5 years and he's great for 2-3 years, that is really good.

 

Say Grandal is dead weight 3 years from now after being productive for the first half of his contracts similar to Cain if he falls off another cliff in 2021 or something.

 

The only thing that they are blocking these teams from doing is...signing more overpriced veterans. I'd assume that if the White Sox are really good and are dying to sign Nick Madrigal to a pre-arbitration extension that they can and will do so with or without Grandal's contract.

[wildcat83]

but it means a downgrade at catcher for sure.

 

Offensively

 

I know he was rated as a good pitch framer, but I won't miss his defensive skills overall.

 

Seemed like a good guy and good teammate. Was fun to have him here for a year, and wish him the best with the Sox.

[RollieTime]

Good for Grandal. I’m personally glad that he signed quickly since I didn’t want to think about the Brewers giving him a long term deal. Plus, Stearns can pivot and focus on other free agents.

 

There is no other catcher that will get anything close to this. There will be plenty of money to be spent elsewhere now. It’ll be interesting to see if they put that money into upgrades at SS and bringing someone like Moose or Donaldson in at 3B or if it will go into the rotation.

[Fear The Chorizo]

 

The Brewers did the same thing with Cain. It's possible that Grandal is a part-time catcher 3 or 4 years from now but if he delivers for 2-3 years, they'll take it.

 

They had an insanely low payroll with guys like Eloy, Giolito, Luis Robert, Yoan, etc. all making peanuts. This is the time to strike and try to compete. They could make 2-3 more massive signings and still run a payroll barely more than what the Brewers are.

 

I would imagine that historically OFers have been able to maintain productivity into their mid-30s at a higher rate than catchers. I'm sure that was a line of thinking. But yeah, the Brewers will be hoping for a Cain offensive rebound in 2020, or he will be a case study on how expensive long-term contracts can hurt mid-market ballclubs. The Brewers can take chances on longterm deals, but they need to be limited and smart.

 

The hope with Cain is that his thumb heals to the point he can actually swing a bat without pain or issues, which he pretty much couldn't do most of 2019. Happy for Grandal - he wound up getting the deal he was looking for and was a big reason for the Brewers' solid 2019 season. But no way do I want to offer a 30-something catcher a 4 year deal. Pina-Nottingham is blah place to start in terms of MLB catching for 2020, but it's at least something. I'd hope for another 1 year stopgap catcher option to take most of the starts and try to catch lightning in a bottle before some of the other catching prospects are closer to being ready for MLB. There seems to be alot of C's in the system hovering between low A and AA headed into 2020 - would be nice for a couple of them to be pushing for Milwaukee in 2021. It wouldn't surprise me to see Cervelli as an option if they want to roll the dice on him being past the concussion issues, perhaps Castro or even Darnaud as well.