The Tampa Bay Rays addressed a glaring weakness from the 2024 season by signing 29-year-old Danny Jansen to a one-year deal worth $8.5 million with a player option in 2026. Robert Murray, FanSided's MLB Insider, reported that Jansen turned down multi-year offers to prove himself after a down 2024 season and become a possible free agent after the 2025 season.
Free-agent catcher Danny Jansen and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a one-year, $8.5 million contract, pending physical, according to sources familiar with the deal.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) December 6, 2024
Jansen had multi-year offers, but chose to bet on himself coming off a down season, and goes to a place…
In 2024, Jansen hit .212 with six home runs and 18 RBIs in 198 at-bats for the Toronto Blue Jays before being traded to the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline, where he struggled, hitting an abysmal .188 with three HRs and 6 RBIs in 89 at-bats.
This past season, the catcher made history by playing for the Rays and Red Sox in a single game. On July 26, the two played, and Jansen was a member of the Blue Jays. The game was suspended due to rain in the second inning, and Jansen was traded the next day. When the teams resumed the game a month later, Jansen entered as a member of the Red Sox, becoming the first player to play for both teams in a single game.
Even with the down season, Jansen is an improvement over Alex Jackson and Ben Rortvedt in Tampa. The two combined to hit .103 with 6 HRs and 43 RBIs. Now that Jansen is signed, the quality of available catcher talent has greatly decreased.
Besides Jansen, Kyle Higashioka (Texas Rangers) and Travis d'Arnaud (Los Angeles Angels) have signed elsewhere in free agency as well. The backstop pickings, which were already slim heading into the offseason, are practically barren at this point.
The three remaining names at the top of the catcher market are not the game-changers teams hope to get when looking to sign a free agent, but they offer enough stability that catcher-needy squads will surely move on them this winter.
Yasmani Grandal
Yasmani Grandal will be entering his 15th season in 2025, and he is far from the productive power threat he was in his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Sox from 2015 to 2021.
In 2024, he hit .228 with only 9 HRs and 27 RBIs over 215 at-bats for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The one thing he does offer on the offensive side is that he is a switch-hitter. In games the 36-year-old does not start in, he presents some extra value as a pinch hitter that always has the handedness advantage.
Behind the plate, Grandal offers experience that benefited the young Pirates pitching staff in 2024, ranking in the 86th percentile in framing.
The veteran backstop has years of wisdom under his belt, and his switch-hitting profile still gives him some glimmer of offensive upside. As a one-year gap-filler, teams could do worse than bringing Grandal aboard to mentor a young catcher.