Former White Sox catcher Omar Narvaez traded to Milwaukee

Omar Narvaez

The Milwaukee Brewers moved to fill a hole at catcher Thursday, acquiring former White Sox backstop Omar Narvaez from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for pitching prospect Adam Hill.

Yasmani Grandal was Milwaukee's primary catcher last season, and obviously, he is now with the Sox. Enter Narvaez, 27, who is coming off a stunning offensive year with the Mariners in 2019.

In 132 games and 428 at-bats with Seattle, Narvaez batted .278/.353/.460 with 22 home runs and 55 RBIs. I never anticipated that kind of power coming from Narvaez's left-handed bat -- over parts of three seasons in Chicago he totaled 12 home runs in 634 at-bats.

Maybe this power surge from Narvaez can be attributed to the juiced ball, but he did hit 20 of his 22 home runs and had an .836 OPS against right-handed pitching last year, so the Brewers are hoping he'll be the left-handed half of a productive platoon with Manny Pina.

I don't envy the Milwaukee pitchers, however, because Narvaez is a huge defensive downgrade from Grandal by any measure. Narvaez's -20 defensive runs saved ranked second-worst among MLB catchers in 2019, and he threw out only 18 percent of would-be basestealers.

Over the past five years, the Sox have had their share of catchers who give away strikes, but perhaps none were worse framers than Narvaez. He's among the worst I've seen in that area.

But, Narvaez was the fourth-best catcher in baseball in terms of weighted runs created plus (119), and he wasn't too far behind Grandal (121) in that area.

The Brewers need to hope Narvaez keeps knocking balls over the fence to make up for his lackluster defense.

Catcher Yasmani Grandal (shockingly) gets only a one-year deal

Yasmani Grandal

Was I wrong for thinking Yasmani Grandal was the best free agent catcher on the market this offseason?

He's durable, having appeared in 115 games or more in each of the past five seasons. He's a switch-hitter with power, having hit 27, 22 and 24 home runs, respectively, in the past three seasons.

According to Baseball Prospectus' blocking and framing stats, he's been the best defensive catcher in the game over the past four seasons. And, he's not that old; 2019 will be his age 30 season.

So why is he settling for a one-year deal?

The Milwaukee Brewers reportedly have agreed to terms on an $18.25 million contract with Grandal for the upcoming season.

What a steal for Milwaukee, which had the combination of Manny Pina and Erik Kratz behind the plate last season. It was a minor miracle that 38-year-old Kratz batted .236 for the Brewers in 2018. That team needed to upgrade its catching situation, and even if Grandal can't duplicate his numbers from the previous three years, he's better than both Pina or Kratz.

What I can't figure out is how Grandal didn't get a two- or three-year deal. Grandal turned down the $17.9 million qualifying offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers, and who can blame him? It would have been totally reasonable for him to believe he could get, say, three years and $40 million on the open market.

Hell, it was only four offseasons ago that the Toronto Blue Jays gave 31-year-old Russell Martin five years and $82 million.

Times have changed. Not even the best free agents can make a deal. We're almost to mid-January and two dynamic superstars in their prime have yet to sign free-agent contracts. And, very few teams seem to be in the hunt for Bryce Harper (Nationals, Phillies, White Sox) and Manny Machado (Yankees, Phillies, White Sox).

You can't help but wonder if we might seem some labor strife in MLB when the collective bargaining agreement expires. Even good players who are age 30 and younger are having to wait it out in this marketplace.