Well, this is a nice surprise.
OFFICIAL: The #WhiteSox have agreed to terms on a four-year, $73-million contract with free agent All-Star catcher Yasmani Grandal (@YazmanianDVL08). Under terms of the agreement, Grandal will receive $18.25 million per year from 2020-2023. pic.twitter.com/dczzZo8UTE
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) November 21, 2019
You read that correctly. Your Chicago White Sox have made a big splash in the otherwise placid waters of the early offseason by signing arguably the best catcher in baseball to a completely reasonable contract. I'm not sure what reality we've collectively entered, but so far I like it.
Here's what Kenny Williams had to say at the Owner's Meetings:
Ken Williams on having the temerity to give a really interesting quote about Yasmani Grandal and what him signing this early in the offseason means and not realizing that it's six characters too long to fit into a tweet so that I have to attach a screenshot of it. pic.twitter.com/sqh5YOaoFd
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 21, 2019
If you weren't already one of the Offseason Planners or podcast listeners onboard the Yasmani Grandal hype train, let me get you excited. Here's how the White Sox's new catcher has produced over the last four seasons by WARP and fWAR (both metrics include pitch-framing in their valuations):
2016: 6.0 (WARP) / 5.8 (fWAR)
2017: 4.5 / 4.1
2018: 4.7 / 4.7
2019: 6.1 / 5.2
There's still plenty of time for this to go wrong in a quintessentially White Sox way, but for now we're talking about a bona fide star. We're also talking about depth at a position that's been a sinkhole since A.J. Pierzynski left town, excepting James McCann's surprise All-Star season. McCann and Zack Collins now figure to get some playing time at DH and perhaps first base, but kudos to Rick Hahn for not relying on McCann's aberrant production moving forward.
The Grandal contract is the biggest in Sox history, narrowly eclipsing Jose Abreu's 6 year / $68 million contract from 2014. But it's an appropriate, even economical, price to pay for a player with Grandal's skillset. And it theoretically leaves plenty of leftover payroll space for a front office that suddenly looks like an aggressive player for other upper-echelon free agents.
In a corresponding move, Daniel Palka was DFA'd to make room on the 40-man roster. While Palka had a very fun 2018 season, not much more needs to be said at the moment besides wishing him good luck on his future endeavors (as long as they're not against the Sox). If anything, it's another indication that Hahn will be looking for major upgrade elsewhere in the lineup.
Speaking of Hahn, he has long promised that "the money will be spent." If this move is any indication how he plans to spend it, then let's hope he can extract a lot more cash from Uncle Jerry's pockets.
Don't stop now, boys!
