Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki cleared revocable trade waivers and is free to be traded to any team, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (on Twitter).
Suzuki is earning $6MM in 2016 and has a vesting option for the same amount in 2017 — though that is highly unlikely to be triggered since Suzuki is not on pace to reach 485 plate appearances. Teams weighing an addition, then, will be looking at a tab of about $1.54MM through the end of the season.
Even with that fairly modest payroll obligation, no contender placed a claim on the 32-year-old Suzuki. That would suggest that Minnesota will need to keep some of the cash on its books in order to strike a deal.
It is somewhat surprising that Suzuki wasn’t snagged on the wire. Though he never seemed to draw significant interest before the trade deadline, Suzuki has been quite productive for a backstop this year. He’s running out a .283/.323/.435 batting line with six long balls over 289 plate appearances.
Of course, Suzuki has never been very highly regarded with the glove, and Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets that defensive limitations played a role in the lack of market development. Still, contenders in need of an upgrade or even just additional depth behind the plate will surely need to consider a move on Suzuki.
All told, then, there’s still time for interest to grow. With rosters expanding in two weeks’ time, it would be easy to carry three catchers. Suzuki’s remaining salary will continue to dwindle. Other market factors — such as the still-unknown fate of Derek Norris on the waiver wire — may intervene. And an injury or two could change the calculus quite a bit.
I am sure the Twins” FO are scratching their heads on why he didn’t draw a claim.
I’d look for the Mets, Mariners or Astros to be after him.
Why the hell would the Mariners want him
Because Iannetta sucks?
Zunino will still start. We just will have Suzuki as a backup
Whoa. Cleveland did not pick him up in the waivers? Amazing!
Cleveland is probably like $1.5MM is too rich for our tastes, that’s why we didn’t want to run the risk of putting a claim in on Suzuki.
I think Cleveland may be more concerned about Suzuki’s glove than his salary. They paid for Miller, after all. In July, I read that the only catcher that really interested the Indians was LuCroy. They were rumored to have some interest in Norris, earlier in the season. I, personally, would love for them to pick up Suzuki, but I don’t think it is going to happen.
Curious if Cleveland calls with an offer, but I’m guessing they’re content with what they have.
Could have been a good RH-hitting pickup for MIA at the expense of NYM if either Suzuki or Realmuto had any significant experience playing OF or 1B.
I completely understand why a player like Chris Davis or David Price would clear revocable trade waivers — they carry outrageous contracts. But Kurt Suzuki? Is every contender happy with their backup catcher? I find it very hard to believe Cleveland, Detroit or Boston wouldn’t be interested in upgrading catcher for almost no cost.
Granted Suzuki would definitely be an upgrade over Holladay or Hannigan, but the Red Sox already have a logjam at the position. My question with Boston is why they chose to bring in Holladay instead of recalling Vazquez. They knew Vaz couldn’t hit last spring and it was okay then, so ????
And the Cardinals