Grandal

[Trudem]

Sox just signed catcher Yasmani Grandal.

4 years 73 mill

 

[richig07]

And... we can finally let the "we will never spend even though we offered a player 300 mil last year" nonsense die.

Great signing. Great, great bat from the left side. He's improved a little bit swinging right-handed as well.

I assume he will be both catch and DH a bit. He was towards the top of the league in quite a few defensive catching metrics.

I love this.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Sox just signed catcher Yasmani Grandal.

4 years 73 mill

Just read it myself. Wow, that's a major coup and it's proving to me that the Sox, at least with this signing, are not just talking the talk this offseason.

 

[Jiddy]

And... we can finally let the "we will never spend even though we offered a player 300 mil last year" nonsense die.

Great signing. Great, great bat from the left side. He's improved a little bit swinging right-handed as well.

I assume he will be both catch and DH a bit. He was towards the top of the league in quite a few defensive catching metrics.

I love this.

While it appears to be a good signing... (Wish I could hit .240 over a career for 73 million)...Let's not ever forget that he's not an A-tier free agent....He's 31 and b-tier....and 73 million is a far cry from 300.

I guess McCann and him will platoon and cover DH some? I guess this is plan B from Martinez.

 

[Jiddy]

Just read it myself. Wow, that's a major coup and it's proving to me that the Sox, at least with this signing, are not just talking the talk this offseason.

Left handed bat made sense...and he was the best one available, so indeed this is good for us.

I'm surprised we got it done so fast.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

While it appears to be a good signing... (Wish I could hit .240 over a career for 73 million)...Let's not ever forget that he's not an A-tier free agent....He's 31 and b-tier....and 73 million is a far cry from 300.

I guess McCann and him will platoon and cover DH some? I guess this is plan B from Martinez.

While his avg isn't much to brag about, at least Grandal has the eye to take a few walks (109 BBs last season). The Sox, as you may have read somewhere, had the worst SO/BB ratio in the majors and second worst wasn't even close. With Grandal in the lineup and at some point Madrigal joining the club, we may finally start to reverse that ugly trend.

As for McCann, it wouldn't surprise me to see him out there at least every time Giolito starts. Remember, Giolito gave much of his credit for that incredible turnaround last season to McCann.

 

[RP-29]

While his avg isn't much to brag about, at least Grandal has the eye to take a few walks (109 BBs last season). The Sox, as you may have read somewhere, had the worst SO/BB ratio in the majors and second worst wasn't even close. With Grandal in the lineup and at some point Madrigal joining the club, we may finally start to reverse that ugly trend.

As for McCann, it wouldn't surprise me to see him out there at least every time Giolito starts. Remember, Giolito gave much of his credit for that incredible turnaround last season to McCann.

Yes, this. He was HUGE taking long-AB walks in front of Yelich last year. And he had quite a few clutch hits himself. I expect him to be worth that money for you guys.

I wanted MIL to re-sign him, but 18 for 4 is a bit more than MIL could pay. Glad he's in the AL now and good luck.

 

[richig07]

While it appears to be a good signing... (Wish I could hit .240 over a career for 73 million)...Let's not ever forget that he's not an A-tier free agent....He's 31 and b-tier....and 73 million is a far cry from 300.

I guess McCann and him will platoon and cover DH some? I guess this is plan B from Martinez.

A) This is the biggest contract in White Sox history. This certainly qualifies as spending. lol

B) He's not Cole. But a great defensive catcher with his offensive output is a marquee signing.

C) I guess this is plan B from Martinez

What? How is a catcher like Grandal plan B from Martinez? lol. Totally different positions and players. Yasmani Grandal is now our full-time starting catcher. McCann is our 2nd catcher, will DH some vs LHP (unless we make another signing) and then it's rumored he'll played some first.

D) (Wish I could hit .240 over a career for 73 million)...

Uh... he had a .380 OBP last year. .350 over his career and... again... you seem to missing where he's one of the best defensive catchers in all of baseball.

Nice try to save face.

This is also a big boost to our staff. He's one of the best framing catchers in baseball.

 

[GNG]

Sox just signed catcher Yasmani Grandal.

4 years 73 mill

A good signing. Grandal is a good hitter but not as effective behind the plate.

 

[GNG]

And... we can finally let the "we will never spend even though we offered a player 300 mil last year" nonsense die.

Great signing. Great, great bat from the left side. He's improved a little bit swinging right-handed as well.

I assume he will be both catch and DH a bit. He was towards the top of the league in quite a few defensive catching metrics.

I love this.

He may have led the league in passed balls.

 

[richig07]

He may have led the league in passed balls.

He led the league in stolen strikes and had the same amount of passed balls (8) as Realmuto. Middle of the league.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Yes, this. He was HUGE taking long-AB walks in front of Yelich last year. And he had quite a few clutch hits himself. I expect him to be worth that money for you guys.

I wanted MIL to re-sign him, but 18 for 4 is a bit more than MIL could pay. Glad he's in the AL now and good luck.

Good to hear from a Brewers fan, you guys obviously can offer takes on Grandal much better than us Sox fans. Thanks for the positive opinion on him.

 

[GNG]

He'd make an excellent DH.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

He'd make an excellent DH.

On days when he doesn't start at catcher, Grandal might see some time at the DH spot. But make no mistake about it, he was signed to be our starting catcher and health permitting, should see at least 120 games behind the plate. I can live with the passed balls, being his pitch framing and the way he handles his pitchers will more than make up for it. And let's not forget, now that's he's inked with the Sox, this may help attract a SP who might otherwise have given pause to sign with us.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

A) Yasmani Grandal is now our full-time starting catcher. McCann is our 2nd catcher, will DH some vs LHP (unless we make another signing) and then it's rumored he'll played some first.

This leads to an interesting question as to what the Sox will do with Zack Collins. Believe it or not, we have kind of become catcher rich in our system. Grandal and McCann to handle the vast majority of duties behind the plate, plus we have Seby Zavala and Yermin Mercedes down on the farm, and both have solid backgrounds in handling the catcher duties - at least from a minor league standpoint.

So what to do with Collins? Make him our primary DH? Send him back down for added experience behind the plate? Or trade him? I'm going with the latter. I suspect he'll be part of a package of players Hahn will send in a trade for someone like JD Martinez or some other experienced player, likely with a short term contract (Mookie??????).

 

[Jiddy]

A) This is the biggest contract in White Sox history. This certainly qualifies as spending. lol

B) He's not Cole. But a great defensive catcher with his offensive output is a marquee signing.

C) I guess this is plan B from Martinez

What? How is a catcher like Grandal plan B from Martinez? lol. Totally different positions and players. Yasmani Grandal is now our full-time starting catcher. McCann is our 2nd catcher, will DH some vs LHP (unless we make another signing) and then it's rumored he'll played some first.

D) (Wish I could hit .240 over a career for 73 million)...

Uh... he had a .380 OBP last year. .350 over his career and... again... you seem to missing where he's one of the best defensive catchers in all of baseball.

Nice try to save face.

This is also a big boost to our staff. He's one of the best framing catchers in baseball.

You're killing me. 18.25 would be the 50th highest salary in the mlb last year....So it is "spending"...but it isn't like we dropped a bucketload of money on a player. Do you think we'll sign somebody else for higher than we just spent on this guy? I'd venture to say no. But you never know, Jerry isn't as cheap as some make him out to be, if he thinks we have a winner...Granted, I wouldn't expect THAT kind of signing until we actually hit .500...so if the Sox did go out and get Cole/Strasburg this offseason, there's not enough adjectives in the English language to quantify what would be my surprise.

Soup to nuts: The best part of this signing is that he was the probably the cream of the crop of the most realistic players we would go after...so yay for that.


As for plan B: Who is playing DH for us next year? We're just gonna play McCann for 30 games-ish? That's what I meant by plan B, as a I assume the 2 of them will platoon C/DH for about 90% of the plate appearances...unless there's something else in the pipeline? But if so, who?

It is ridiculous that a person can earn 73 million playing baseball when he can't put the ball on the ground or out of the stands 25% of the time he makes contact. That is not all going to change any time soon. I would be littering this forum with angered posts and losing my sh*t right now if we paid 300-400 million for Harper/Machado and they went .256/.260 for us while we hovered at .500 or under. At least this Grandal guy isn't anywhere near that...so it is 100 times better as there's less fear that we dipped so hard there's no turning back if it doesn't pan out. If we sign a guy for 9 figures, he HAS to produce at an elite level as we're not rich enough as a team to overcome it a la Yankees/Red Sox/Dodgers/Cubs/etc. I think our management understands this...Cross your fingers that we make the right moves.

Whatever you're getting on about with saving face...yeah...that's a big whatever burger. Knock your socks off I guess. We're a better team today. In the end, that's all that matters.

 

[navamind]

Grandal's bat loses a lot of value if you make him into a DH. he's easily one of the best hitting catchers and rates as one of the best pitch framers in the league. the catcher position is rather thin right now.

 

[Jiddy]

While his avg isn't much to brag about, at least Grandal has the eye to take a few walks (109 BBs last season). The Sox, as you may have read somewhere, had the worst SO/BB ratio in the majors and second worst wasn't even close. With Grandal in the lineup and at some point Madrigal joining the club, we may finally start to reverse that ugly trend.

As for McCann, it wouldn't surprise me to see him out there at least every time Giolito starts. Remember, Giolito gave much of his credit for that incredible turnaround last season to McCann.

Jimenez and Moncada should continue to improve in this area as well.

 

[Jiddy]

Grandal's bat loses a lot of value if you make him into a DH. he's easily one of the best hitting catchers and rates as one of the best pitch framers in the league. the catcher position is rather thin right now.

Oh yeah? Catchers at a premium?

We'll give you McCann and a Nancy Faust lap dance for the JD Martinez guy.

 

[richig07]

This leads to an interesting question as to what the Sox will do with Zack Collins. Believe it or not, we have kind of become catcher rich in our system. Grandal and McCann to handle the vast majority of duties behind the plate, plus we have Seby Zavala and Yermin Mercedes down on the farm, and both have solid backgrounds in handling the catcher duties - at least from a minor league standpoint.

So what to do with Collins? Make him our primary DH? Send him back down for added experience behind the plate? Or trade him? I'm going with the latter. I suspect he'll be part of a package of players Hahn will send in a trade for someone like JD Martinez or some other experienced player, likely with a short term contract (Mookie??????).

Right now, I would say that McCann is our DH against LHP and Collins vs RHP. McCann catches on most of Grandal's off days (where I still hope Grandal DH's some of those days). Collins maybe gets worked in with a start behind the plate once in a blue moon. Both play a little first base. I don't know how it all flushes out. It should look something like that, though.

What's interesting is that Collins has a relationship with Grandal going back to when he was 15 years old. Maybe they like the idea of having him around to mentor Collins? If one is a trade chip. I feel like it may be McCann on his one year deal. But I get the feeling both are here. Don't quote me on this aspect of it, of course.

Also, you bring up Zavala/Mercedes. We promoted Mercedes to the 40 man roster to protect him from Rule 5. So, yeah... we have a lot. It's pretty incredible how weak this position was and now it's the strongest that even an old White Sox fan should be able to recall for quite some time. Potentially, ever. We'll see.