Article: Yasmani Grandal Agrees to Minor League Deal With Red Sox

[Caleb Kohn]

After Connor Wong fractured his pinky finger, the team wasted no time in finding the best catcher still on the free agent market.

Despite adding three catchers during the offseason, the Red Sox entered the season short on the depth at the position. That problem got worse after the club included top prospect Kyle Teel as the headliner of a trade package to get Garrett Crochet. It took an even bigger hit when Connor Wong fractured the pinky finger on his catching hand on a catcher’s interference this past week. The front office didn’t wait long to respond, signing a 36-year-old Yasmani Grandal to a minor league contract on Thursday. A two-time All-Star, Grandal spent his best seasons in the Dodger organization, but still put up a 2.0 fWAR season with the Pirates last year.

Grandal has earned a reputation for being a good hitter, but he has declined over the years. Last season was a bounce-bacek year at the plate, as he posted a 95 wRC+ and a .704 OPS, below average overall but above average for a catcher. He grades out fairly well on defense. His pop times are poor and blocking graded out as average last season, but his framing, by far the most important part of th job, graded out in the 86th percentile according to Statcast. Roll it all together and he ranks in the 52nd percentile in Fielding Run Value, or about average. It’s not flashy, but for a backup catcher, it should get the job done.

Grandal is a switch hitter, and has showed improvements in his rate stats over the years, dropping his strikeout rate to 18.9% last year, while posting a 9.9% walk rate. Grandal’s contact quality numbers took a big jump forward, and he ran an excellent 91.1 average exit velocity is. While he come to the plate enough to qualify for the batting title, his 35.3% squared-up rate was the best in the game. Grandal won’t be the 25-homer threat he was in his heyday, but he won’t be a liability either.

It's unclear how long it will take Grandal to get up to speed in Worcester, and the team has yet to set a timetable for Wong's return. Carlos Narváez has been getting the starts in Wong’s absence, and the team Blake Sabol from Worcester to serve as backup. “Carlos is going to play a lot,” manager Alex Cora told reporters. While Narváez has started the season fairly hot, adding a veteran presence in Grandal takes a lot of pressure off of the rookie catcher and hopefully allows the Red Sox to more effectively manage his workload without giving too many at bats to Sabol.

The thing that stands out to me the most about this deal is the willingness to add to this team and to do it quickly. It’s not unreasonable to give Narváez a chance here, and he likely will get a majority of the at-bats. But this team has playoff aspirations, and adding Grandal will help toward that end. My hope is that this is a preview of the trade deadline. While there are still a lot of games left before that kind of speculation starts, the front office is already on it.

View full article

[moonslav59]

Good signing. It can't hurt.