The Milwaukee Brewers have agreed to terms of a one-year contract worth $18.25 million (just over the declined $17.9 million qualifying offer from the Dodgers) with catcher Yasmani Grandal. This signing comes as a shock to the league as the Brewers were not rumored to sign him, the Mets and Dodgers were favorites over the course of his free agency. Ken Rosenthal reported the teams being close on a contract and confirming the deal, Jeff Passan followed shortly after with the official terms and financials.
#Brewers in agreement with free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal on a one-year contract, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 10, 2019
Yasmani Grandal’s one-year deal is for $18.25 million, source tells ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 10, 2019
In the 2018 season, Grandal had a slash line of .241/.349/.466 for the Dodgers while mashing 24 home runs with 68 RBI’s to accompany that. Most notably though is Grandal’s defense, he is one of the stronger defensive catchers in the league and his defense should hopefully provide the Brewers with a nice boost both offensively and defensively. The Brewers were coincidentally knocked out of the 2018 postseason in the NLCS by Grandal and the Dodgers, so hopefully, Grandal’s addition will help them piece together the perfect team for a deeper postseason run.
Grandal’s $18.25 million signing is a shocking signing after he turned down multi-year contracts worth well over $20 million, however, his AAV per year will be higher than if he signed with the Mets on their multi-year offer. He will test the market going into the 2019 free agency period next year in search of a better deal.
