The Brewers have signed catcher Pedro Severino to a one-year, $1.9MM deal, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). Another $400K in incentives are available to the 28-year-old backstop, who is represented by Republik Sports. The contract will become official when Severino passes a physical.
After Manny Pina signed with the Braves earlier this week, Severino will now step directly into Pina’s role as the right-handed hitting complement to the lefty-swinging Omar Narvaez behind the plate in Milwaukee. Narvaez struggles badly against left-handed pitching and he struggled in general in the second half of the 2021 season, so there should be a fair amount of playing time available to Severino with his new club.
Severino, for his part, has a very solid .262/.324/.441 career slash line against left-handed pitching, with particularly good numbers in both 2019 (.812 OPS in 155 PA) and 2021 (.818 OPS in 161 PA). Severino didn’t do much against righties, however, and between his projected $3.1MM arbitration salary and Adley Rutschman looming as the Orioles’ catcher of the future, Baltimore chose to outright Severino off its 40-man roster earlier this month. Severino then opted to become a free agent for the first time in his career.
Severino has a third and final year of arbitration eligibility next winter, so this extra year of control gives the Brewers some flexibility in future catching decisions since Narvaez is himself a free agent after the 2022 campaign. Prospect Mario Feliciano made his MLB debut last year, so if the Brew Crew is optimistic about his future, Milwaukee could potentially roll with a Feliciano/Severino combination in 2023 if the club decided to let Narvaez walk.
Defensively, Severino has been a below-average framer and he has -19 Defensive Runs Saved over his career. As noted by Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, however, there is some cause for optimism that the Brewers can get Severino turned around in the same way that Narvaez went from being a subpar defender to a very strong pitch-framer in his two seasons with the Brew Crew.
Not a bad pickup for a backup catcher.
Perfect compliment to Narvaez. Severino hits LHP very well. I bet with some of the same fixes they made with Narvaez defensively, he could be a great platoon partner.
Is Pina actually that much better than this guy? I don’t really understand why a team like the Braves who already have Travis d’Arnaud, Williams Contreras and Shea Langeliers felt the need to pay Pina $8M when they could’ve had this guy for less than $2M.
Different skill sets. Braves really wanted a strong defensive backup. Langeliers and Contreras shouldn’t impact their need for a vet on the roster.
Is Severino bad defensively? I don’t know much about him. I get why the Braves signed Pina. TD can’t throw out base runners but Pina can. It’s just the $8M that surprises me when he wasn’t even ranked a top 50 free agent. Players above him were expected to top out a $6M on multi-year deals. It just seems like a reach for a team that has more catching depth than most other teams. Maybe it works out. It kind of reminds me of when the Braves overpaid for Sean Rodriguez or Drew Smyly. People started saying the Braves saw something that meant the player would be worth more than others expected. They were wrong though. Those guys pretty much sucked. Maybe I’m just nitpicking but I don’t like reaches. Giving a guy who wasn’t even expected to make $6M total that kind of money seems like a reach to me. Maybe I’m wrong. Ian Anderson was considered a reach when the Braves drafted him over AJ Puk and that has worked out nicely.
It’s fair to think its an overpay, but if the Braves really like the guy, then sometimes that’s what you gotta do. Severino isn’t horrible defensively, but Pina is one of the best defenders at the position. We’ll see how it works out. As long as it doesn’t hurt their ability to retain Freeman and hopefully one of Rosario/Soler then it shouldn’t be an issue.
Orioles fan here, Severino is pretty bad defensively. His plate blocking is brutal at times, and although many are scored as wild pitches (and thus don’t show up in the stats), he has a tendency to dog it when it comes to blocking the plate. Doesn’t grade out well (bottom 5 catcher in the league) at framing as well. Arm is solid though.
He’s totally worth a $2m flier on, because at least his bat has a solid enough floor due to his contact skills, but he’s a weird fit for the Brewers.
Yes, unlike the Yankees, the Brewers find players to complement their existing roster, not emphasize its strengths…. And weaknesses.
This will probably work out well for the Brew Crew. I wonder if Stearns is available? Lolmets.
Very similar to Manny Pina, except for the part where Pina is very good defensively and Severino definitely isn’t.
The Brewers under Stearns have been excellent at developing Catchers on playing D, working with Pitchers, and calling/running a game. When they got Narvaez he was an offensive Catcher that is now good all around.
Figured they had someone in mind when they let Pina go.
working behind a good defense catcher will definitely boost severinos career. dude is a great contact hitter and definitely still has starter potential
Love this signing, keep them coming Milwaukee
Brewers fans gotta be feeling good about their chances now.
I would say we are.
This is one of my favorite teams to watch in the offseason as well as making in-season moves. Smart.
They usually don’t make big splashes. They just do a lot of little things that add up, along with one or two unexpected moves……then they field a contending team on a small market budget.
Signing a backup catcher doesn’t do much to fix the one dimensional offense.
Gee…..
Are we at the 2022 trading deadline?
Yes. Stearns is completely finished putting together roster for 2022. In November.
Correction, it’s no longer a one dimensional offense, it’s a no dimensional offense. Unless the one dimension is strikeouts. This isn’t even a team that hits a lot of bombs and strikes out a lot anymore. I moved to Milwaukee in 2009 and became a quick Brewers fan with Fielder, Hart, Braun etc hitting the ball out of the park. This group doesn’t hit for average or power. Some of them walk a lot, but despite the love for OBP a walk never scores a guy from second nor moves a guy from first to third. It’s a shame they are wasting amazing pitching talent with a pathetic offense
Those teams had atrocious pitching. Braden Looper, Doug Davis, Jeff Suppan etc. Even the 2018 team had mediocre pitching. Offense is easier to fix than pitching. Trust the process
95-100 win team with 3 aces before even making a move.
The Yankees should have signed him to catch Luis.
Baltimore was ok letting him go. That should tell you something. He’s not an improvement over Sanchez or Higgy.
Severino is definitely better than Higgy.
Is Baltimore really known for making smart decisions though?
Good point Manny, but in this instance they didn’t hurt themselves by letting him go. His defense, especially his arm, is not good.
Perhaps as was mentioned the Brews can fix some of his issues. They’ve had some luck with that in the past. Not just with Narvy.
And I admit, it was an unnecessary shot at the O’s but I couldn’t resist.
He was blocking the #1 prospect in baseball and had a $3m arb…
Baltimore is letting him going to pave the way for potentially the league’s best Catcher for the next decade. That should probably be a clue that you just may be undervaluing him as a player.
He wouldn’t be blocking the prospect. It’s normal for a prospect to back up a veteran catcher his first year.
It was more about the $3.3M he was going to make in Arbitration that led to theOrioles releasing Severino.
Sad to see Severino go. Though his defense was not so great his bat is decent. Was hoping the Orioles would resign him to be Adley backup.
Swiss cheese catcher. Have fun with all those passed balls in 2020 Brew-crew.
Same was said about Narvaez’s defense, until he worked with Charlie Greene & co and after just one offseason of work became the best pitch framing C two years running, also better at receiving as well. The Brewers have a proven track record of coaching up their catchers.
@ Bud Selig Fan;
You are one of my favorite posters. Spot on. Informative.
Please keep them coming.
If they improve Sevi, they will get a reputation as Miracle Workers.
Sevi will show immediate improvement simply by WHO he is catching. Hard to frame a outside pitch for a strike if you are set up inside 17 inches away. Brewers pitchers have much command of their pitches, thus easier to present their pitches as strikes.
More pf a provolone catcher.
Good thing all those passed balls in 2020 won’t hurt the 2022 Brewers
Smart signing by the Brewers. He does have some flaws defensively but he will be catching a vastly better staff now than he did with Baltimore. He strikes me as a solid clubhouse presence which always helps.
If Severino is worth almost 2 million on the market, one of Jansen or Kirk need to be traded this offseason. It’s crazy how void the market is of quality catchers. Could probably cash in for more than what they otherwise would be worth.
There is – and has been for the past few years – a shortage of quality Catchers and CF’s. These things are cyclical.
The problem is: none of this has been cyclical. Catching has been progressing downward for two decades. Look at the catching in the 90s compared with today. Realmuto is the best catcher now and there were at least three catchers better than him then.
His defense is appalling. Brewers fans will be very frustrated. However, we wish him well and all best to him with the Brew Crew.
The Brewers ground crew will have their work cut out for them in keeping the grass between home plate and the backstop from wearing out.
Now that’s funny!!
Crew fans are all spoiled with having Jonathan Lucroy for so long. Manny Pineapple is a close second as backstop but all others give the grounds-crew extra work like you said…
LOL
Good indicated of where the price of C is going. I can see a bidding war on Perez and Gomez coming.
Pudge could probably come back and land 10/100 right now.
Adley is going to get a massive deal in a few years…
Well, the Brewers have shown they can coach up certain players; as someone noted, Navarez was just an ugly catcher when he got there, and they really elevated his defense. If they can do the same with Severino (and get him to run out a ground ball every so often, which I expect he will have to for Counsel) he can be at least average, since there is some pop in the bat.
Meh.
Off topic but kind of odd there is nothing on the site about the Phillies pursuing Mychal Givens. They seem to be making headway on a contract.
That wouldn’t be a bad signing for Philly. Sometimes mlbtr is a few minutes late on signings
The Phillies trying to improve their bullpen AGAIN…..it’s a Gyven.
That’s a solid signing. Givens still has some upside, and they need warm bodies.
Brewers get a decent back up to replace Pina.
Even though Severino was going to cost $3 mil in arbitration I’m a little surprised the Orioles didn’t keep him as they have no Catchers on the 40 man roster and will likely have to sign two just to bridge the gap to Rutschman
This, signals something very big. You don’t sign 2 catchers with major league experience, like they have without something booming on the horizon. Especially with Contreras having as much playing and bench as he got this season. Pushing him back past Shea at that point it seems. Unless you trade one of the 2.
Pedro Severino is a DH 3rd C.
Narvaez was terrible defensively and the brewers turned him into a solid backstop
They are clearly aware of his defensive woes and feel that they can work with him the same way they did with Omar.
Jonathan Lucroy will be standard at C (most important defensive position) for years to come. If this guy comes anywhere close to him it will be a good thing.
He is the best C in Brewers history and should be be on Wall of Honor already.