The Angels announced this evening they’ve signed catcher Max Stassi to a three-year, $17.5MM extension. The veteran backstop will earn $3MM in 2022, and $7MM apiece in 2023-24. The deal also contains a $7.5MM club option for the 2025 campaign that comes with a $500K buyout. Stassi is a Wasserman client.
The deal buys out up to three free agent years, as Stassi had been set to hit the open market after this season. He and the team had already agreed to a $3MM salary for the upcoming season. That figure remains in place, with the club tacking on $14.5MM in new money to keep him under club control through 2025.
Stassi has appeared in each of the last nine big league seasons, but he didn’t play in more than 15 games in any of the first five years. The righty-hitting backstop had never even tallied 300 plate appearances in a season until last year, as he’d spent his early days as a depth catcher with the division-rival Astros.
The Angels picked up Stassi in a seemingly minor deadline deal with Houston in 2019. He didn’t do much in 20 games with the Halos down the stretch that season, but he’s enjoyed a late-career breakout over the past two years. Stassi mashed at a .278/.352/.533 clip during the shortened 2020 schedule, rapping nine extra-base hits in 105 plate appearances. There’s little doubt the limited sample inflated his numbers that year, but Stassi continued to perform well over his largest body of work last season.
In 2021, Stassi appeared in 87 games and picked up 319 trips to the plate. He hit .241/.326/.426 with 13 homers, showing solid power and drawing a fair number of walks. Stassi struck out in an alarming 31.7% of his plate appearances, but the combination of pop and patience were more than adequate for a catcher. By measure of wRC+, Stassi’s production lined up exactly with that of a league average hitter. League average offense isn’t easy to find at the most demanding position at the diamond, with catchers overall posting a .229/.305/.391 mark last season.
Stassi pretty clearly wielded an above-average bat for a backstop, and he also rated well in the eyes of Statcast’s pitch framing metrics. Baseball Savant pegged him as six runs above average as a framer last season, his fourth straight year garnering positive marks in that regard. He didn’t do well to control the running game, throwing out only 15.4% of attempted base-stealers (against a 24.3% league average). Stassi had fared a bit better in that regard in years past, however, and the Angels are clearly comfortable in both his receiving ability and ability to handle a pitching staff over the coming seasons.
Because he didn’t establish himself as a regular until nearly a decade into his big league career, Stassi wasn’t going to hit free agency until after his age-31 season. That always figured to cap his long-term market upside, but the two years and $14.5MM in guarantees for his first couple free agent seasons is in line with the recent going rate for capable but not elite #1 catchers. The Braves signed Travis d’Arnaud to a two-year, $16MM extension last August; the Cubs added Yan Gomes for two years and $13MM just before the lockout.
d’Arnaud and Gomes were the top options in a free agent catching class that was short on #1 options this winter. Next year’s crop looks stronger, with Mike Zunino, Willson Contreras, Gary Sánchez and Omar Narváez among a handful of players set to hit the market. Rather than stick in that fairly deep class, Stassi will stick around in Orange County for at least the next couple years.
The Angels re-signed Kurt Suzuki this winter, and he’ll serve as Stassi’s back-up for the upcoming campaign. The extension won’t affect the Angels’ books for the upcoming season, given that it doesn’t change his price tag from the previously agreed upon $3MM arbitration settlement. Los Angeles is still set to open this season with a franchise-record payroll in the $188MM range. The extension brings their 2023 estimated player commitments up to around $119MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Sweet Stassi Molassy!
Pretty generous of Arte , no?
I think so by a little
Next year’s free agent C class is oddly deep (relatively)
Contreras Sanchez Navarez Barnes TuckerB Zunnio Hedges all free agents.
I wouldn’t have felt the immediate urge having already locked up a tidy (22′) pact with him.
But C is a position I’m Ok overpaying a tad if the troops on the ground are sending up smoke signals he’s helping the staff and keeping everything in rhythmic harmony
I can loan you a , if you need some. Sheesh.
Thanks for clearing that up, Winslow. I was wondering how they were gonna fit that guy’s name on the back of his jersey.
Good for the RS, as Vazquez’ contract ends.
Actually, it’s likely not an overpay. Stassi is one of the best all-around C in the major leagues based on a comprehensive statistical review. In fact, based on 16 different offensive and defensive statistical fields, from 2021, Stassi is tied for 6th, ahead of Sean Murphy & Willson Contreras, & Yasmani Grandal, believe it or not.
I’m not arguing whether he is better, that’s a discussion for another time; but his stats certainly put him in the top-10 all-around. So, overpay? Not so sure about that. You decide…
His health is really more of the issue in my eyes
Not sure I completely trust the sample size here
I question the timing more than the raw numbers he signed for, they had him on a 1/3 and the C market next year is a lot better than this year so there were outs/leverage …. I think they could have gotten another half season look and still gotten this same deal (ext) at the AS break
Not bad. Hopefully he can stay reasonably healthy over the next 3 years.
Good decision.
Meh
Most unfortunate name in baseball, IMO. He has both “Stasi” and “SS” in his last name.
I give up. I don’t get it.
Germans who made Putin’s thugs appear almost human.
German references. Stasi was the feared Ministry for State Security in the former East Germany.
Way over my head. Knowledge has been dropped.
The max version no less. Some things you can’t make up.
Yikes. I didnt even see that till you pointed that out. Hopefully the guy hasn’t looked to much into his own name to find that out for himself.
Win win deal.
Catchers of solid value aren’t always so easy to find. Anaheim did the right thing.
Especially since we’re fresh out of Molinas after this year. It was great having Bengi and Jose Molina on the Angels all those years.
not bad. not bad, at all!
I think this is a pretty good deal for the Angels. Stassi has quietly been very solid for the past couple of seasons, and their depth beyond him
is thin. If he can keep hitting, he could make this contract look more than reasonable.
i’m happy with the deal. I was wondering what they were going to do next year.
Nice. Stassi has turned himself into a decent starting catcher over the last two seasons.
Decent? About as close to top-5 as you can get without being top-5 (#6).
Imo, most underrated catcher in baseball.
You will like these articles as a stat guy, MLB1225. Really good work imo, & they’re done every year for each position – I find them to be very accurate & they’re compared with the results from MLB Network’s Shredder in separate articles. Imo these rankings are more accurate than The Shredder rankings… take a look, they have Stassi #6
https://startspreadingthenews.blog/start-spreading-the-news/2022/2/21/determinator-c-10to6
Jacob Stallings.
Stallings is also underrated, but Stassi brings both top-of-the-line defense and is an above average hitter. Stallings is arguably the best defender at his position, but he usually only has an 80-90 wRC+.
@mlb1225 I agree that Stassi is one of the most underrated catchers in baseball. The Angels lucked out with him. He was a defensive catcher that couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. His offensive numbers have clearly improved since joining the Angels.
He already has injuries though. I would like to see him on the field 110-120 games a year, but he hasn’t been able to do that yet.
Dirt cheap deal. Prob should spread the cost more evenly, but for a defensive first catcher, who’s bat is likely in the top half of the league (cause the lack of catchers that can hit is a brutal mess right now and bad for baseball), this is a good deal
His big issue is he can’t stay healthy.
If Stassi could stay healthy it’s a great combination, but Thais as a starter if Stassi goes on the DL, no thanks.
Stassi/Thaiss battery for three years isnt bad at all.
The price of security. We have nobody behind him. Maybe Thaiss develops after years of being moved off the position.
ugh i wanted him badly once molina retires. welp theres always contereas maybe
Christian Vasquez is a free agent next year too.
Signed through his age 34 year and an option on year 35? Seems too long for a catcher that age who has had injuries while he was younger.
Staasi has earned his extension. The Angels have no Catchers close to MLB ready. It has been a long time since they have had the primary catcher come up through the system (Mathis and Napoli) when you finally have a decent Catcher keep him. Continuity is very important to the development of the young pitchers.
Feels like a slight overpay given next year’s crop of FA C’s, but not a massive one. If the staff really likes him and he’s helping them, it’s worth it.
I agree with the comments in general. Good, but not great signing. IMHO, catcher is not something you want to leave to the uncertainty of the markets. A bit like Vazquez, I like him, not crazy about him, but also like the security of knowing the position is covered.
One less things for the Angels to worry about over the next 2-3 years.
Interesting. Good for him!
Glad Max got that. A way better option to stick with him than hold hope for the farm or good trade. If he stays healthy and does his thing to be on the field then it’s a win for both sides.
Pretty good for the Astros old 3rd string catcher.
Anyone who thinks this is a bad deal hasn’t been paying attention to Angels catchers in recent years. Bringing up the molina brothers is practically ancient history now. Stassi may not be a power hitter, but he’s leaps and bounds above Mathis on offense, and as people have said he’s a quality defender. This is a good move.
Love the move but we still need a SS
This is an easy deal for Stassi to take. As an Astro, he failed to distinguish himself. Taking 14M at 31 is the smartest option for ensuring that he’ll never have to work again once his career ends.
As an Astro in 2018, Stassi ranked third in Strike % and Catcher Framing Runs.
According to Maddon, Fletcher is our short stop and Duffy is 2B.
LAA just can’t allow mediocre catchers to get away.
Stassi is among the best pitch framers in the game with one of the highest strike rates. He’s ninth in fWAR since 2018. That’s not a mediocre catcher. The Angels are prioritizing his work behind the plate over his bat.
In Stassi I believe, stay healthy my friend.