Journeyman signed to plug gap at catcher
The Astros began to address their most pressing offseason need Tuesday, signing free agent catcher Dustin Garneau to a oneyear contract.
The deal is worth $650,000, $100,000 of which is guaranteed, according to a person with knowledge of the terms. It contains $75,000 in performance bonuses.
Though Garneau supplies sorely needed depth, the 32-yearold journeyman catcher profiles as a backup, leaving the Astros in search of an everyday starter.
Garneau and Garrett Stubbs will be the only two catchers on the roster with any major league experience.
Stubbs saw mop-up duty in 19 games last season. Garneau, who played for the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics in 2019,
has never appeared in more than 41 games during any of his five major league seasons. He has made just 381 career big league plate appearances across 123 total games.
Signing Garneau should be only a start for Jeff Luhnow, who acknowledged the Astros’ need for catching at the general manager meetings but has since done little of consequence as the market continues to thin.
Citing his travel schedule, Luhnow declined to comment Tuesday once the Garneau deal became official.
Both Yasmani Grandal (Chicago White Sox) and Travis d’Arnaud (Atlanta Braves) signed multiyear deals within the last 10 days, removing arguably the top two free agent catchers from the market. Now atop the list of free agent at the position are two former Astros — Jason Castro and Robinson Chirinos.
Two-time Astros trade acquisition Martin Maldonado, a glove-first catcher who backed up Chirinos last season, remains unsigned, too. Whether Garneau’s addition eliminates a reunion possibility remains to be seen. Rosters will expand to 26 players in 2020. Configurations that include three catchers are possible.
That Luhnow looks solely at the free agent market is not a guarantee, either.
“Certainly the catching market, there’s a pretty decent list of free agents, but there are teams with a surplus of catching that we’re going to be talking to,” Luhnow
said earlier this month. “To a certain extent, same thing in the pitching market. I can’t predict the balance between trades and signings, but it’s possible that we lean more toward trades this year.”
With the addition of Grandal, reigning All-Star James McCann of the White Sox seems expendable. McCann caught for Astros ace Justin Verlander for parts of three seasons with the Detroit Tigers but will be due a raise from his $2.5 million salary as he enters his final year of arbitration eligibility.
Chirinos morphed into Verlander’s personal catcher last season, one that led to Verlander’s second Cy Young award. Chirinos’ defense was never elite, but he did produce one of the best offensive seasons of his eight-year career. His calm demeanor and affable
personality were loved in the Astros’ clubhouse.
Castro had a .767 OPS with the Minnesota Twins and remains one of the league’s elite pitch-framers. Twenty-nine of 37 would-be base stealers were successful against him. Chirinos, who posted a .790 OPS, allowed 45 stolen bases in 57 attempts.
Returning eight of nine players from a lineup that slugged higher than any other in MLB history suggests the Astros can afford to sacrifice offense for defense. Luhnow was not willing to reveal what specifically he will value more in 2020.
Though it’s a small sample size, Garneau demonstrated deftness on both sides. An offensive resurgence, continued defensive consistency and familiarity with the division made Garneau an attractive, buy-low
option.
Garneau resided in the AL West all year, splitting time between the A’s and Angels organizations. The Angels designated him for assignment twice, and Oakland outrighted him off its 40-man roster in August.
Garneau had a .757 OPS in 101 major league plate appearances last season. He had a .907 OPS and 18 extrabase hits in 34 games in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, too.
Garneau’s pitch framing is adequate — he ranked 37th of 113 catchers with 0.5 framing runs saved, according to Baseball Prospectus — to go along with a proven stalwart throwing arm.
Garneau threw out seven of 22 would-be base stealers last season, giving him a 38 percent career caughtstealing rate. He caught and called the combined no-hitter at Angels Stadium on July 12 — the first home game after Tyler Skaggs’ death — providing the franchise a memorable moment in an otherwise grief-filled season.
Not only do the Astros require a big league starter at catcher, but also some form of major league experienced depth at the minor league level should injuries or ineffectiveness arise.
Garneau has no minor league options remaining. Stubbs has two. Luhnow said last month he will scour the minor league free agent market for experienced depth to stock at Class AAA Round Rock.
“It’s a constant search,” Luhnow said. “One of the reasons we drafted a catcher No. 1 this year is we hope that we can grow our own.”