The Mariners traded catcher Harry Ford to the Nationals earlier today as part of a deal for lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer. In the wake of that move, the club is open to a reunion with free agent Mitch Garver, according to Adam Jude of the Seattle Times.
Garver, who turns 35 in January, just played out the final season of a two-year, $24MM deal originally signed in December 2023. At the time, the Mariners envisioned him as a primary DH and a backup to Cal Raleigh behind the plate. Garver did not live up to those expectations on offense, however, as he posted an 88 wRC+ in 720 plate appearances across 2024-25. His contract contained a $12MM mutual option for 2026, though the club unsurprisingly declined their end of the option last month, instead paying Garver a $1MM buyout and making him a free agent.
In 2025, Garver batted .209/.297/.343 with an 86 wRC+ in 290 plate appearances across 87 games. He shaved a few points off his strikeout rate, going from 30.9% last year to 27.6% this year, while his walk rate declined slightly from 12.3% to a still-above-average 10.3%. His offensive output was more or less a repeat of 2024, when he posted an 89 wRC+ in 430 plate appearances. That kind of production is not unreasonable for a backup catcher, although it’s not what the Mariners expected from Garver, who was considered a bat-first player at the time of his signing and was coming off a 2023 season with the Rangers in which he posted a 142 wRC+ with 19 home runs.
Defensively, Garver started 42 games behind the plate this year, covering 376 2/3 innings. While Raleigh was worth 2 Defensive Runs Saved this year and graded out as the third-best pitch framer among qualified catchers, Garver was worth -6 DRS and was considered a below-average framer. He also drew negative marks from Statcast on his blocking and caught stealing rates, while his average pop time was in just the 4th percentile. In truth, Garver has never been a strong defender. He last graded out positively by DRS in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. It’s unlikely that his defense will improve as he plays into his mid-30s.
At this point, any signing team would have to hope for an offensive rebound. That said, there are some encouraging signs in Garver’s offensive profile. He posted a hard-hit rate of 46.9% in 2025, a full six points above the league average of 40.9%. He also brought up his average exit velocity to 91.5 mph after sitting at 89.9 mph in 2024. For Garver, the key will be boosting his performance against four-seam fastballs. He posted a 163 wRC+ against the pitch in 2024 but just a 77 wRC+ against four-seamers this year. Some decline is natural for a player of his age, though it’s also fair to expect positive regression given his track record.
A reunion with Garver could make sense for the Mariners. With Ford now traded to the Nationals and catching prospects Luke Stevenson and Josh Caron only at Single-A, there is no clear backup to Raleigh on the roster. With the $12MM mutual option having been declined, he could be had for a one-year deal at a much lower salary. RosterResource currently pegs the Mariners for a $151MM payroll in 2026, with about $15MM to go before they match their 2025 spending.
Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton, Imagn Images
No no no oh no.. The guy is toast, stick a fork in him.. trash
He is an ok backup catcher and would deserve a salary of $1.5 to $2 million based upon recent contracts for light hitting backup veteran catchers.
Could’ve kept Harry Ford for the league minimum.
You can do better
There are so many options for back up catcher, Every team will have 3 non roster catchers in camp. No reason to pay much more than minimum.
You’re going to spend $6 million to get Garver when you could have had Ford for the minimum?
But then they wouldn’t have the reliever they got in the trade, who they clearly wanted.
We could’ve (should’ve) done different prospects if we were in love with ferrer that much
Fords opportunity doesn’t align with the Ms window.
Eldoo- its seems to line up pretty well to me. Especially when I’d think the M’s would want to give the dumper more DH time. They need to keep him healthy and catching outside of maybe pitching catching is the hardest position to do that.
Perhaps as some others have suggested the M’s don’t like Ford as a catcher very much. In that case then trading him now makes some sense. Hai timeframe on the other hand seems pretty good.
Sure it does. You think Cal is gonna keep catching every game, like he already has been, forever?
And that’s why teams trade top prospects? Not to get better, but because their windows don’t align?
Problem is they are not going to spend that much on a Back up catcher. Garver is good with the staff and has some hitting ability left. So a smaller contract Garver is not a bad thing.
6 to 8 million for a backup catcher who proved he cannot hit in Seattle and is a poor defender seems ludicrous.
Mariners have budget constraints and more pressing needs.
Garver isn’t getting $6MM.
He definitely isn’t getting 8m. Probably a 2-4m range.
Jonah Heim is a better veteran option than Garver, especially if you could draw him to Seattle with a one-year deal for $5MM or less.
How is Heim a better option than Garver? He’s been worse than useless for a year and a half now.
Makes too much sense
You are assuming that Heim would want to come to the hardest park to hit in. IMHO, you have to overpay a player to get them to look past the park. Heim, who struggled in one of the better hitting parks in MLB, would be a nightmare at T-Mobile.
Garver, may not be the best catcher available, but he will come cheap and has experience with the pitching staff. Don’t discount that fact!
Most teams would welcome 2023 versions of Jonah Heim and Mitch Garver, who as teammates on the World Series champion Texas Rangers posted 4.0 fWAR in 131 games and 2.2 fWAR in 87 games, respectively.
Since 2023, Heim has posted a negative 0.6 fWAR in 255 games while Garver has posted a negative 0.4 fWAR in 201 games.
Danny Jensen put up a 2.8 WAR last year. with 288 AB’s.
Why, why, why and why? And could I get whatever drugs Hollander and DiPoto are on? It would be nice to be completely absolutely out of my mind for a bit. Justin’s wife and daughter come and eat at the country club I work at often. If they resign Garver, I’ll be waiting for him to show up. I’ll have some questions
Sounds like you may not be employed by said country club for much longer
So you’re saying they will need a new bus boy?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
You took the word right out of my mouth.
I can’t see him getting anything other than a million or two. A 35-year old catcher with poor defense and a below average bat isn’t in demand. The only way the Mariners should even consider this is if our pitchers like throwing to him.
While I don’t have a problem with bringing Garver back, it’s ludicrous to suggest $6-8M for a back up catcher that is coming off a horrible season offensive and defensively. The M’s would be out of their minds. Garver caught 43 games last year. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s his 39 games at DH that I do have a particular issue with however.
Polanco is and SHOULD be their main focus.
Actually Murakami or Okamoto should be their main focus. Polanco probably comes back regardless unless there is a team willing to over pay for him
No they shouldn’t. I’ll take the proven vet that can switch hit and play defense up the middle. There’s been zero to no interest or rumors from Seattle on either of these players. The signing of Naylor all but shut them to Seattle down. Williamson and Colt Emerson will have an opportunity to win the 3B job outright and Ben plays Gold Glove defense already. Colt could have an opportunity to make the team out of Spring. He’s that special.
Please no more Garver!
There are 18 other free agent catchers. You can do better jerry
.Love Garver, good club hs guy, brings intangibles, due for a rebound
This is what I was wondering. Sometimes there’s more to winning than stats.
Thanks for the softball lob…
– From all reports, Garver is a great clubhouse guy.
– Garver’s experience with the pitching staff is of great value..
If Jerry is serious about bringing Garver back, I’m going to switch allegiance to a new team.
Later
Ack I can’t do it. I’m too attached the M’s.
Once you are on this pain train there’s no getting off!
I’ve been saying that since 1982.
If your allegiance is that fragile, then maybe you should go elsewhere.
Odd line to draw. I know you’re full of it but you aren’t a fan if you’d jump ship based on the backup catcher they sign.
Notice it says Mariners. Not one word about Mariner fans. I think the popcorn vendor in section 107 would do a better job!!
Notice how the job of general manager says Justin Hollander… not one word about fans. There’s a reason they get paid to do the job and you don’t. If they bring back Garver, there’s a good reason they are doing it… despite the fact that you apparently think you know better.
I think I’d have rather had Ford as a back up and taught him a secondary position. You also don’t have minor league catching options and will now have to fill that as well. M’s already Aced the off-season with resigning Naylor. Garver back should be at a very very steep discount.
Something tells me they have a vet all but finalized at C.
I don’t want to see Mitch “below mendoza line” garver for another year
Jonah heim is a much better option
Heim is going to want to go somewhere where can get at least semi-regular playing time. Not Sure Seattle is that place
FWIW FanGraphs projects Jonah Heim with a 2026 WAR of 0.7 in 68 games and Mitch Garver with a WAR of 0.6 in 58 games.
What if the Seattle pitching staff wants Garver back?
Thanks for doing the research, muskie73!
Heim has been worse at the plate the last two years and equally as bad behind it this year. How is that a “much better option”? I don’t honestly care who the backup catcher is as long as they can handle the staff on Cal DH days.
With Raleigh the backup Catcher is basically the 26th man on the roster. Why spend $6-8 million on Garver when you could spend significantly less on Matt Thaiss, Reese McGuire, or Austin Wynns?
Because they are going to give Cal a decent amount of DH time this season. Your backup catcher is going to play possibly twice a week. He is far more than the 26th man on the roster.
Why spend $6-8 MM on Garver when you can likely get him for $2-3MM. There won’t be a lot of competition for him after his last 2 years.
Really depends how they view him. If Seattle signs him for $3–4M as a pure backup catcher/DH, it’s an acceptable move, not great but not harmful. He is not unplayable, and his batted-ball quality suggests he’s not washed.
The thing is, the animal you know isn’t the animal THEY know. Familiarity is a big key to re-signings. Was he a great lockeroom guy? Does his experience help in some other way? Because those things have value beyond stats.
I really, really hope Jerry and Justin know what they’re doing.
A back up catcher has little to no effect on the season as a whole. This shouldn’t be an issue for us to find a legit back up. And no self respecting full time free agent catcher will be willing to sign here either with Cal on the roster and the season he just had, regardless if you only want him to catch half the total games next year, which is stupidly insane by the way. Yeah, would love to see that conversation in the skippers clubhouse this Spring btw. The M’s have approximately $15M left to spend in free agency. There is mutual interest between Polanco and the Mariners. This is Dipoto we are talking about here. There’s been zero rumors or interest from Seattle on any of the Japanese International players. A contract for Polanco is the next chess piece move.
Say it ain’t so, Joe! Sweet Jesus, no. So tired of him not coming through for two years!
Salary aside, and not to sound like a broken record, but they can’t just roll it back out.
Naylor fit better than I would have imagined and I have no problem with that signing. But bringing back Polanco, Garver, and possibly Geno….
They have to mix things up. They shouldn’t expect Polanco (if they bring him back) to produce in high-leverage situations the way he did last season. Some regression should be anticipated. Garver’s going to be 35, He was Horrific (capital H here is appropriate) in high-leverage situations, and the temptation to DH him should be off the table. He had nearly a 100 PAs DHing last season.
There’s more to it than just numbers. Garver worked well with the pitching staff. I get the interest in a reunion. But it feels like Seattle is aiming to replicate 2025 when they should be striving for better. They can’t do that by banking on the same group of position players and expecting better results because of a reliever change or two.
They need to tighten up everywhere possible. Backup catcher is one of the needs. At least get someone with a high upside, like Valencia in the Tigers’ organization.
The offense performed last year like a championship team. The pitching didn’t.
We are all happy to roll the pitching back out there. We ought to be satisfied to do the same on the other side of the ball.
The bats did not perform like a championship team. They didn’t win, did they?
Toronto outhit us like crazy, and that wasnt just our pitching they were really that much better from top to bottom.
If Jerry wants to win, we shouldnt run the whole thing back. And for the record I dont think we should run the pitching back either, we need to continue improving the middle of the pen and the back or the rotation just in case.
Was it good enough in the postseason? Do you think it’s realistic to expect Raleigh & Polanco to produce at the same level?
I’m not happy to roll the same pitching back out there. I’ve been advocating for half the bullpen to be upgraded since the deadline.
At the very least, they need impact at DH and a stronger bench to boot, IMO.
Agree 1000% Stevil (with your original comment, as well)
I think Polanco could have a similar year but Cal will likely be closer to his previous norms. Flip side, I could see Arozarena and Robles improve from last season. I could also see better production at 2B from one of the young guys. I wouldn’t bring Geno back at what he’s expected to get. I do think Williamson may surprise with the swing change but he’d just be league averageish at the plate while hitting end of the order
It’s looking more and more like a Cardinals/Mariners trade is in the works. Cards have an abundance of catchers, & the Mariners want Donavon and JoJo Romero. The only question is what pitcher(s) the Cards will be getting.
Doubt this is accurate. Maybe they make a Donovan trade but I doubt Romero would be part of it.
I would prefer Danny Jansen. Jansen is a hit first catchers. His defense is a little weak. Still better to have a right handed, pitch hitter that comes off the bench. But either Garver or Jansen ought to come cheaper than $12M this season.
Wow, J&J really want to run it back! Guys, let’s dream a little bigger, please.
Gabe Speier for backup catcher Harry Ford
Love the catcher youth and athletism!
Who says no?
Why would the Mariners double down on a mistake? This would be weird and if they do it, Garver has to pay the M’s to play for them
In 2026. He didn’t exactly earn his 2 year and $24 million deal. Seriously he would not get more than $2 million to come back…..but they should not bring him back. Garver contract has finally ran out and the Mariners have chance to start again and amend a mistake at the back up catcher position. Too many other options out there.
Stop
If Cal misses any time, the season is toast.
I think the Mariners could/should do better than Mitch Garver
Garver was brought in previously as a primary DH who also had the ability to catch 60-80 games a year. That contract put him in a category with guys like Salvy Perez and Shea Langeliers. He massively underperformed those expectations. If he is brought back, the Mariners would also be adding a primary DH level bat elsewhere. He is absolutely the kind of guy who can catch 40-50 games and hit .200-.230 with a little pop as you would ask a backup catcher to do.
Have a competition with guys that they can sign to minor league contracts and winner get the job.
I’m not a Mitch hater, but based on the numbers… why?
WHY GOD WHYYYYYY