JUSTgottaBELIEVE

They were talking about this on the Score earlier today. They cited studies that indicate catcher pitch framing drops off dramatically starting at age 32. I’m not sure Grandal is even an average defender if you take out the pitching framing component. Hopefully he bucks the historical trend.

There’s no question he’s better than Wellington but he’s also getting paid MUCH more than Wellington was. You can’t completely discount the possibility of Grandal’s offense deteriorating in the relatively near future (particularly a known PED user, much like Welly). Hopefully it doesn’t deteriorate until year 4 rather than year 1 or 2.

That’s your opinion and I have mine on the 31 year old catcher. Just hope he doesn’t turn into Wellington offensively now that he’s been paid!

I’m in the Eminor camp on this one. Prefer the big money be spent towards pitching and I sure hope this doesn’t prevent them from doing so...

Ugh, not a fan of this move unless they are still willing to fork over the $$$ for high end starting pitching.

You’re going to be devastated when the Sox don’t sign Grandal.

Splitting hairs at that point. Either way, they could still put together a competitive team for next season while not risking too much of their future if they limited their FA signings this winter to only 1-2 year commitments. Not saying I’m advocating for that approach but it certainly is one way to field a competitive team in 2020 while maintaining financial flexibility beyond 2020.

If that’s the approach, give me Ryu, Hamels, Calhoun, Encarnacion, and Harris.

Understood and that’s where I’d slot him in the future. #3 behind Gio and hopefully a healthy Kopech.

He could DH for the Sox ala Ohtani (only half-joking)

MLBTR predicted the Twins sign him at 4/$72M. I would definitely do that if I’m the CWS.

Agreed. I know everyone here loves Wheeler but I’m thinking it will be Madbum as the premier FA signing this winter and I’m fine with that.

Well, the Sox can always sign him next winter if he opts out. If he’s still producing and Abreu is not, it could be ideal timing to bring him in.

Good luck with that. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/houston-astros/payroll/#

There’s still hope for you ?

I mean, all you need to do is watch the dude play. He’s one guy that I just can’t wrap my head around his off the charts defensive rankings.

We will know in a few days but we still don’t know if JD will opt out so all this discussion may be for naught (unless CWS trade for him). I’d put the odds at 50/50 he opts out. 6 months ago, I was much more confident he’d opt out.

Agree to disagree

It’s simple. I’ve watched Grandal catch quite a bit and I believe he’s much closer to the career 16 bWAR player per BR than the career 32 fWAR player per FG. At just a tick over 2 bWAR per season that’s not bad but he’s going to get paid much more than most 31 year old 2 WAR/season catchers would. Pass. Regarding JDM, he’s best suited as an AL DH but I also believe he could very well post a 3 WAR season next year as an OF, ala 2019 Jorge Soler (also not a major league quality OF).

Not pushing it but simply pointing out it’s a possibility. It’s unlikely an NL team signs JDM but at a discounted price in the range of $17M AAV I believe you’d find at least a couple NL teams interested. And what does JDM have to do with overrated Grandal anyway?

Pass. Not a fan at all of a monster deal for a soon to be 31 year old catcher that I feel is very overrated defensively.

My point is if we are concerned about his health in playing the outfield, then there should be equal or more concern as to whether he can even DH - which as you mentioned is even harder on the back based on the stresses to the core and lower body from the sheer mechanics of swinging a baseball bat.

I guess the question is were they simply being conservative by keeping him at DH or is the back issue expected to be a long term issue? If the latter, then I wouldn’t want him as a DH either.

I haven’t seen the articles you’re referencing but for the love of God it’s corner outfield. From a physical standpoint, LF or 1b are the least demanding positions in baseball after DH.

Where does this narrative come from? Last season he played 57 games in the field and 146 games total. He seems to be a guy that takes care of his body. Since when did playing LF or RF become so physically taxing? They’re not asking him to play catcher for God’s sake.