Garver perfect addition?

[Scooterfletcher]

Mitch Garver seems like the perfect FA for us.  We have capable aaa depth but also a catcher we want to play a lot.  Garver has the bat to DH though and I’m guessing 1b wouldn’t be that tough for him in addition as well as catch once a week.

3x45 makes sense to me.  Thoughts?

[nate82]

Close but I think you need to go at least 4 years maybe 5 to outbid other teams.  The $/year is right.  

[sveumrules]

FanGraphs had 2/26, MLBTR said 3/39 in their predictions.

Will be interesting to see where he ends up as a 33 year old not really catcher whose career high in PAs was 359 five years ago, though he almost topped it this year at 344.

He’s also done the every other year thing since his 2019 breakout with seasonal wRC+ marks of 159, 43 (ok, it was 2020 whatever), 139, 98 and 138.

But I guess your line will be extra volatile when you’re only getting a couple two tree hundred PAs a year.

I’d maybe go 2/30, but wouldn’t want to give someone with that spotty of a track record on multiple fronts a three year deal to mostly DH.

[wntrtxn21]

Way too much money for a guy like Garver who has never seen even 320 ABs in a season and is a DH.  I would much rather see them put that money into Hoskins. 

[Redd Vencher]

Garver makes sense, but that is overestimating what it will take to sign him. I suggested a deal similar to Omar Narvaez' last offseason. (2 year $17 M) Maybe go up to Christian Vazquez's 3 year $30 M deal.

[jay87shot]

Garver would be nice if we did havr other holes fixed however 1B, 3B, 2B are bigger problems.

[Redd Vencher]

15 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

Garver would be nice if we did havr other holes fixed however 1B, 3B, 2B are bigger problems.

Youbwould be signing Garver to play 1B/DH and maybe serve as a 3rd catcher.

[Scooterfletcher]

Fellas Garver makes all the sense in the world for Mark As free agent addition of the year right?

[DR28]

7 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

Fellas Garver makes all the sense in the world for Mark As free agent addition of the year right?

To be our 1B?

[TrackCoach]

To me both Garver and Hoskins fit the bill for exactly what I would like to see.  Both have the injury warts and limited position flexibility, however, with the depth of position flexibility that the Brewers had, and was built upon this offseason, the focus on the bat production needs to be the focus.  Both Garver and Hoskins would fill that role and hopefully the tires have been kicked on both.   

[TrackCoach]

The main reason I would like Hoskin is because the Cubs want him.

[Brock Beauchamp]

13 minutes ago, TrackCoach said:

To me both Garver and Hoskins fit the bill for exactly what I would like to see.  Both have the injury warts and limited position flexibility, however, with the depth of position flexibility that the Brewers had, and was built upon this offseason, the focus on the bat production needs to be the focus.  Both Garver and Hoskins would fill that role and hopefully the tires have been kicked on both.   

Welcome to the site! Garver is an interesting fit for this team. He fills the backup catcher role but is a good enough hitter to play first or DH.

[wallus]

Garver would be okay if the amount of years is 2 or less. He has been a good hitter so I would prefer him to be mostly a DH and a very occasional backup catcher.

He grades out poorly defensively but our PD system seems to do magic there so maybe we could get him to be better.

[Redd Vencher]

25 minutes ago, wallus said:

Garver would be okay if the amount of years is 2 or less. He has been a good hitter so I would prefer him to be mostly a DH and a very occasional backup catcher.

He grades out poorly defensively but our PD system seems to do magic there so maybe we could get him to be better.

Signing Garver would be for 1B/DH and maybe some 3rd catcher work.

[wallus]

1 hour ago, Redd Vencher said:

Signing Garver would be for 1B/DH and maybe some 3rd catcher work.

I mean he was catching last season so I don't know why that would be assumed. WC is a young guy that can catch a lot so a backup catcher wouldn't even get that many games. 

If we had a great backup catcher in the system, I would agree that he would be the 3rd catcher but we don't. I would prefer to not have Henry or Navarreto on the OD roster.

[sveumrules]

22 minutes ago, wallus said:

I mean he was catching last season so I don't know why that would be assumed. WC is a young guy that can catch a lot so a backup catcher wouldn't even get that many games. 

If we had a great backup catcher in the system, I would agree that he would be the 3rd catcher but we don't. I would prefer to not have Henry or Navarreto on the OD roster.

Garver games caught by month in 2023...

April (3 games, only played 6 total)
May (0 games, hurt)
June (5 games)
July (6 games)
August (12 games)
September (1 game)

Caratini started 54 games at catcher last year, not sure Garver could be counted on for that kind of workload. Last time he clocked that many games behind the dish was back in 2021. He only started 41 games combined at catcher over 2022/23.

[Redd Vencher]

2 hours ago, wallus said:

I mean he was catching last season so I don't know why that would be assumed. WC is a young guy that can catch a lot so a backup catcher wouldn't even get that many games. 

If we had a great backup catcher in the system, I would agree that he would be the 3rd catcher but we don't. I would prefer to not have Henry or Navarreto on the OD roster.

Quero should be ready by some point in 2024. If it were me, I'd sign Garver for the 1B/DH/3rd C, and sign someone like Pina as the stop gap backup until Quero is ready.

[LouisEly]

Garver has played exactly one inning at 1B over the last two seasons, and a grand total of 14 innings over the last five seasons.

He's not a 1B.

That, and Yelich and Contreras combined for 53 games at DH last season and that number's not decreasing.  Garver would be a waste of resources for either sitting on the bench or being a bad defender at 1B.

[Brewcrew82]

32 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Garver has played exactly one inning at 1B over the last two seasons, and a grand total of 14 innings over the last five seasons.

He's not a 1B.

That, and Yelich and Contreras combined for 53 games at DH last season and that number's not decreasing.  Garver would be a waste of resources for either sitting on the bench or being a bad defender at 1B.

That’s not really a barrier considering Garver hasn’t even played in 100 games since 2018.

[wallus]

4 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Garver games caught by month in 2023...

April (3 games, only played 6 total)
May (0 games, hurt)
June (5 games)
July (6 games)
August (12 games)
September (1 game)

Caratini started 54 games at catcher last year, not sure Garver could be counted on for that kind of workload. Last time he clocked that many games behind the dish was back in 2021. He only started 41 games combined at catcher over 2022/23.

Caratini started that many games because our DH production was awful and he was having a nice season with the bat. Garver only appeared in 87 games all of last season and was backing up a young all-star catcher. (sounds familiar) 

When Garver likely hits the IL, then you call up a catcher.