Milwaukee Brewers Yasmani Grandal bets on himself with a one-year deal

The Milwaukee Brewers signed arguably the best catcher on the market to just a one-year deal

Last month, I wrote an article on free agents I thought could rebuild their value by signing a one-year deal. I included Yasmani Grandal, who had a horrendous postseason defensively and may have hurt his value in his upcoming free agency. In all honesty, I didn’t actually believe he would sign a one-year deal, especially after he turned down the $17.9 million qualifying offer from the Dodgers. But lo and behold, on Wednesday, Grandal and the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a one-year, $18.25 million deal.

This came as a big surprise to everyone. It was reported that Grandal recently rejected a four year, $60 million deal from the New York Mets, so it was a shock that he ended up taking more than $40 million less in guaranteed money. Even disregarding the offer from the Mets, it is surprising that a player of Grandal’s caliber would receive such a short-term deal. According to Fangraphs WAR, Grandal has been the third-most valuable catcher in baseball in the last three years.

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Teams certainly have been less willing to spend on free agency in recent years. But we already know that Grandal got a longer-term offer from the Mets, and other teams have given long contracts to players who aren’t as good as Grandal. Andrew McCutchen signed with the Phillies for 3 years/$50 million, and even Lance Lynn signed for 3 years/$30 million with the Rangers. Rather, it seems like Grandal is taking a short-term deal as a calculated decision.

One reason to suggest why Grandal may have intentionally taken a short-term deal is the timing of this signing. Neither Manny Machado nor Bryce Harper has signed yet, and if Grandal really was looking for a longer-term deal, it’s likely he would have held out longer, potentially into spring training. It seems unlikely that a similar deal wouldn’t have been on the table later in the offseason. Instead, it seems like he wasn’t happy with the amount of money he was offered on an annual basis, so he chose to take a one-year deal and try again next year.

This is only a theory, and it is possible that the deal he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers was truly the best that Grandal believed he could do. And it doesn’t excuse the actions of MLB teams, who are clearly refusing to spend much on free agents despite record revenues. But it’s also possible that Grandal’s deal is not as bad for players as it seems on the surface.