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Martin Maldonado

Padres Release Martín Maldonado, Outright Tyler Wade

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The Padres announced that catcher Martín Maldonado has been released and infielder/outfielder Tyler Wade has been sent outright to Triple-A El Paso. Both players were designated for assignment last week in the wake of the Friars making multiple additions ahead of the trade deadline.

Maldonado has carved out a big league career longer than a decade as a glove-first backstop. However, his previously-excellent glovework has declined as he has pushed into his late 30s. Given his poor offense, his value to a big league club has mostly been reduced to intangibles, such as his clubhouse presence and handling of a pitching staff.

The Padres needed help behind the plate coming into 2025 but had a tight budget. They signed a couple of veterans to cheap deals, adding Elias Díaz for $3.5MM and Maldonado on a minor league deal. Maldonado made the Opening Day roster to form the catching duo with Díaz, but those two have been rough this year. Maldonado hit .204/.245/.327 while Díaz slashed .201/.266/.304.

The Friars have clearly needed help behind the plate and addressed that need at the deadline by acquiring Freddy Fermin from the Royals, which pushed Maldonado off the roster. Maldonado has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. The Padres have skipped that formality and simply released him. He could perhaps come back on a minor league deal or find one with another organization. He also turns 39 years old in a few days, so it’s possible he considers retirement, though that’s entirely speculative.

Wade, 30, is a glove-first utility guy. He has hit just .206/.309/.252 this year and .216/.294/.284 in his career but can be a useful bench player since he can steal bases and provide defensive versatility. He has played every position on the diamond except for catcher and first base.

This is the second time he’s been outrighted by the Padres this year. The first came after he didn’t break camp with the club out of spring training. He could have elected free agency while retaining his $900K salary but decided to stick with the organization. He was selected back to the roster just over a week later and stuck on the roster until last week.

He now has the right to elect free agency again. Since he stuck with the Padres last time, he might do so again. On the other hand, the position player group is far stronger now. The Padres added Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Laureano and Fermin ahead of the deadline. They also grabbed Will Wagner from the Blue Jays and have him on optional assignment, alongside Mason McCoy and Tirso Ornelas. Perhaps the path back to the big leagues has become too steep and Wade will elect free agency to look for opportunities elsewhere.

Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images

Padres Designate Martin Maldonado, Trenton Brooks

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The Padres have designated catcher Martín Maldonado and infielder Trenton Brooks for assignment, per an announcement from the team. San Diego also optioned newly acquired infielder Will Wagner to Triple-A El Paso. Among the numerous trades the Padres pulled off before the deadline were a deal for catcher Freddy Fermin (link) and one for first baseman/DH Ryan O’Hearn and outfielder Ramón Laureano (link). That influx of position player talent to the roster meant cuts were unavoidable, and Maldonado and Brooks were (two of) the odd men out.

Maldonado’s reputation as a strong game-caller has kept him employed long after most statistics suggested he should hang up his gear. From 2012-20, he caught more than 700 games and produced 13.2 FanGraphs WAR, the 14th most among primary catchers. While his bat was a liability, his glove was valuable enough to compensate. According to FanGraphs, only five players racked up more defensive value than Maldonado in that span: Yasmani Grandal, Buster Posey, Yadier Molina, Andrelton Simmons, and Russell Martin. Yet, Maldonado’s offense has only gotten worse, and his defense has dropped off too – at least according to stats like Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), Fielding Run Value (FRV), and Deserved Runs Prevented (DRP). Over the past five seasons, no player who has taken as many or more plate appearances has a lower OPS or wRC+, and without Gold Glove-caliber defense to make up for his feeble bat, he ranks among the league’s 10 worst players in fWAR since 2021. With the Padres seeking every possible edge as they look to hold onto their postseason position, it’s no surprise they wanted to improve behind the dish. Fermin isn’t a star, but he’s an upgrade in almost every quantifiable way.

Maldonado will most likely clear waivers, reject an outright assignment, and return to the open market as a free agent. On the one hand, it might seem unlikely that he’ll find another major league job, especially with his 39th birthday fast approaching. On the other hand, one could have said the same thing before he signed with the White Sox in 2024 and the Padres this season. Perhaps it would be foolish to count out Maldonado just yet.

Brooks spent time in the minors with the Guardians and Athletics organizations from 2016-23 before he finally made his MLB debut with the Giants in May of 2024. The lefty batter went 3-for-25 over 12 games, playing first base and DH, before he was DFA’d in June. He spent the rest of the season with San Francisco’s Triple-A affiliate, where he hit well; he finished the minor league season with a .302 batting average and a 132 wRC+ in 94 games. Brooks then inked a minor league pact with the Padres and continued mashing Triple-A pitching in the early part of 2025. He batted .311 with a 133 wRC+ in 60 games before he had his contract selected in mid-June. Unfortunately, he did not have anywhere close to the same kind of success at the MLB level, as he hit .146 with a 26 wRC+ in 25 contests. If Maldonado’s DFA was unsurprising, Brooks’s may well have been inevitable.

Now 30 years old, and with a .136/.208/.212 career slash line to show for his two brief stints in the majors, Brooks is hardly a prospect. Still, his impressive numbers at Triple-A over the past two years (.306/.410/.508, 24 HR, 38 2B, 104 BB, 104 K) might convince a team in need of some left-handed depth to claim him off waivers in the coming days.

Padres Seeking Upgrades At Catcher

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The Padres are hoping to upgrade their offensive production behind the plate as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes. It’ll likely be a thin market for available catchers, which complicates their search.

San Diego has leaned exclusively on Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado behind the plate this year and received virtually no production on the offensive side of things. That veteran duo has combined for a feeble .205/.268/.328 batting line in 296 plate appearances. The resulting 70 wRC+, which indicates they’ve been 30% worse than average at the plate, ranks 27th in the majors.

Unfortunately for the Friars, few of the clear sellers around the game have catching help for sale. The White Sox (Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero), Marlins (Agustin Ramirez) and Rockies (Hunter Goodman) all have young catchers enjoying good seasons — and all are controllable at least five years beyond the current campaign. Pittsburgh’s Joey Bart makes some sense on paper, but he hasn’t been able to replicate last year’s breakout. The A’s would make another good speculative fit, but Rosenthal reports that they have no intention of trading Shea Langeliers. He adds that even even with Drake Baldwin ascending in Atlanta, a Sean Murphy trade over the next four weeks isn’t likely.

There are some bubble teams who could eventually have catching depth to spare, but it’s not yet clear whether any of those teams will sell. The Reds only control Tyler Stephenson through the 2026 campaign, and fellow catcher Jose Trevino’s recent three-year extension (plus a club option) gives them a bit more stability long-term. Similarly, the Twins and Rangers only have Ryan Jeffers and Jonah Heim under club control through 2026, although the latter is having a particularly down season at the plate. If the Orioles wind up selling, old friend Gary Sanchez would be a logical trade chip, as an impending free agent whose bat is heating up in recent weeks.

On top of the likely lack of supply, the Padres will presumably have financial limitations. San Diego was known to be low on spending power late in the offseason, hence the creative structure of Nick Pivetta’s four-year deal and the bargain-bin additions at catcher (Diaz, Maldonado), in left field (Jason Heyward, Connor Joe, Gavin Sheets) and for the pitching staff (Kyle Hart). The Padres are well into luxury tax territory — an estimated $263MM worth of obligations, per RosterResource, puts them in the second tier of penalty — so any additions would come with an additional 30% tax on top of their remaining annual salary.

The Padres also have needs in the outfield corners — neither Joe nor Heyward is still with the club — and could use some additional rotation help with Michael King on the shelf and Yu Darvish yet to make his season debut. Juggling all those needs, with potentially limited financial flexibility and a farm system that has been thinned by years of aggressive win-now trades, could prove a tall order.

The fact that San Diego is both reported to covet catching help and using Diaz and Maldonado exclusively also speaks to the manner in which former top prospect Luis Campusano has fallen out of favor in the organization. The 26-year-old is hitting .315/.432/.613 in 224 Triple-A plate appearances but hasn’t gotten much of a look in the majors this year. He’s struggled on both sides of the ball in the past, hitting .241/.295/.374 in 589 major league plate appearances while posting sub-par defensive grades. Campusano feels like a change-of-scenery candidate who could be on the move between now and the end of the month.

Padres To Select Jose Iglesias, Yuli Gurriel, Martin Maldonado

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The Padres have told three veteran non-roster invitees that they have made the Opening Day roster.  First baseman Yuli Gurriel (as per reporter Francys Romero), infielder Jose Iglesias (as per Jon Heyman of the New York Post) and catcher Martin Maldonado (as per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune) will officially have their minor league contracts selected once the Padres clear three spots on their 40-man roster.  Acee also reports that Gavin Sheets will be part of the active roster, after Sheets’ contract was selected earlier this week.

Iglesias and Gurriel are both Article XX(b) free agents, and thus yesterday was the first opt-out date on their minor league deals.  It isn’t known if Iglesias or Gurriel actually enacted their opt-out clauses to force the Padres’ hand, but regardless, the two infielders will now be part of San Diego’s roster when the season begins on Thursday.

Iglesias only signed with the Padres on March 5, and the $3MM salary attached to his minors deal if he made the roster seemingly hinted that the team was always aiming to include him in a backup infield role.  Making the team officially locks in that salary, as Iglesias looks to have an encore to possibly the most remarkable season of his 12 years in the Show.

Signed to a minors deal by the Mets last winter, Iglesias was called up to the team in late May and proceeded to hit .337/.381/.448 over 291 plate appearances — far outpacing the career .277/.319/.382 slash line he’d produced in his previous 4043 PA.  A .382 BABIP played a hefty role in Iglesias’ career year, yet BABIP wasn’t as important an acronym as OMG, Iglesias’ song that became an instant hit with New York fans and became symbolic of the Mets’ turn-around season.

Gurriel will earn a $1.35MM salary for making the team as the 40-year-old prepares for his 10th big league season.  A winner of two World Series rings during his time in Houston, Gurriel has hit only .243/.297/.356 in 978 PA for the Astros, Marlins, and Royals over the last three seasons.  He hit well enough in the Padres’ camp, however, to work his way into the bench mix.

Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenworth, and Luis Arraez are lined up San Diego’s starting infielders, and the latter two players are left-handed hitters.  That could provide an opening for the right-handed hitting Iglesias and Gurriel to grab some at-bats when a southpaw is on the mound, plus Gurriel could also split some DH time with Sheets (another lefty swinger).

The 38-year-old Maldonado also had an opt-out in his deal, and he’ll forego exercising that clause now that he has been tabbed as the Padres’ backup catcher behind Elias Diaz.  Maldonado has long been highly regarded for his defense and ability to work with pitchers, even as his offense has rarely even been average over his 14-year career.  Maldonado has a .203/.278/.344 slash line over 3449 career PA, and last season saw him crater out by hitting .119/.174/.230 in 147 PA with the White Sox.

Obviously San Diego is prioritizing glovework over anything Maldonado can or can’t produce at the plate.  It might also be a sign of how Luis Campusano’s stock has fallen, as the former top prospect struggled through a rough 2024 season and now looks to be starting 2025 in the minors.

Padres To Sign Martín Maldonado To Minor League Deal

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The Padres and catcher Martín Maldonado have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The backstop is a client of MVP Sports Group.

Maldonado, 38, has carved out a lengthy career as a glove-first catcher. Teams have generally been willing to tolerate his subpar offense in exchange for his strong glovework and reputation as a guy who can work well with pitchers and provide leadership in the clubhouse.

However, the 2024 season saw him push that to new extremes. He secured a $4.25MM deal with the White Sox but hit just .119/.174/.230 in 48 games. Even by his own low standards for offense, that was a dismal showing. He was released by July and didn’t sign with another club over the final few months of the season.

Despite his age and that awful season, it was reported in December that he wanted to keep his career going in 2025. He has recently been playing winter ball, perhaps due to the long layoff he just had, but without improved results. He slashed .114/.184/.314 in 10 games for Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League and then .135/.195/.216 in 12 games for Indios de Mayaguez of Puerto Rico’s Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente.

Though the numbers have been rough lately, there’s little harm for the Padres to take a flier on a minor league deal. Maldonado’s career batting line of .203/.278/.344 only amounts to a wRC+ of 70, indicating he’s been 30% below league average, but is far better than his recent results.

Even with that tepid offense, he’s been able to be a useful player thanks to his contributions on the other side of the ball. He has 59 Defensive Runs Saved in his career, with that tally being one of the ten best in baseball from 2012 to the present. Outlets like Statcast and Baseball Prospectus have also given him strong marks for his work while donning the tools of ignorance.

The Padres have a fairly wide open catching situation and little money to address it. Reporting throughout the winter has suggested they need to lower their commitments in 2025, which has led to guys like Dylan Cease, Luis Arráez and Robert Suarez appearing in trade rumors.

Last year, Luis Campusano opened the year as the club’s primary catcher but he gradually ceded time to Kyle Higashioka as the year wore on. Campusano had long been a top prospect and hit .319/.356/.491 in 49 games in 2023, his age-24 season. The Padres were surely hoping that he could keep some of that going in 2024 but he went on to hit .227/.281/.361 for a wRC+ of 83. Thanks to some poor grades for his defense, he was considered to be below replacement level.

He only got three starts in the final month of the season as the Friars leaned on Higashioka and Elias Díaz. That duo carried onto the postseason, with Campusano not cracking the roster, though both became free agents at season’s end. Higashioka went on to sign with the Rangers.

The only two backstops on San Diego’s 40-man roster at present are Campusano and Brett Sullivan. The former is a former top prospect with some flashes of brilliance, though he’s coming off an awful season, as mentioned. The latter is about to turn 31 years old and has a .206/.243/.299 batting line in just 40 games at the major league level.

In short, it’s a sensible matchup for several reasons. Maldonado lands in a spot with perhaps his best chance of getting back to the big leagues. The Padres get a skilled veteran without having to give up a roster spot. It hasn’t been reported what salary Maldonado would make if he cracks the roster but it surely won’t be a huge number.

Martín Maldonado Hoping To Play in 2025

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Catcher Martín Maldonado was released by the White Sox in July and didn’t sign with another club in the final months of the 2024 season. But that doesn’t mean he’s walking away, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (X link) relays that the backstop is hoping to play one more season.

Maldonado, now 38, has a long track record as a glove-first catcher. In almost 4,000 career plate appearances at the major league level, he has produced a batting line of .203/.278/.344. That translates to a wRC+ of 70, indicating he’s been 30% below league average at the plate in his career.

But behind the plate is where he has created his value. He has a career tally of 59 Defensive Runs Saved, one of the top ten marks in the majors from 2012 to the present. Outlets like FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have given him strong grades for his framing, blocking and throwing in his career. On top of those quantifiable elements, he’s been lauded for intangibles like working with pitchers and providing clubhouse leadership.

Despite the lack of offense, he has signed four different contracts in the past six years, each with annual values between $2MM and $5MM. Teams have generally been willing to tolerate his lineup presence in exchange for his other contributions.

He tested the limits of that tolerance in 2024, however, and found a breaking point. He signed a one-year, $4.3MM deal with the White Sox going into the most recent season. But he hit just .119/.174/.230 in his 147 plate appearances, striking out in 34.7% of them while only drawing a walk 5.4% of the time. Though the Sox surely knew they weren’t going to be getting an elite bat, that was poor even by Maldonado’s low standards, so he was released in July.

It appears that Maldonado would prefer a better final act as a major leaguer, so he’ll try to get back in action in 2025. After missing the past few months of the season, he recently suited up for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. He hit two home runs in his ten games there but slashed .114/.184/.314 in that small sample, for what it’s worth.

Maldonado won’t have huge earning power with the way his 2024 season went, but what could work in his favor is that the catching market isn’t strong overall. Guys like Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Carson Kelly represent the top of the free agent market. Clubs like the Nationals, Padres, Marlins, Rays and others could be on the lookout for catching upgrades this offseason, so perhaps Maldonado will be able to find some interest, though he’d likely be looking at minor league offers.

White Sox Release Martín Maldonado

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Today: Maldonado has cleared waivers, and the White Sox have granted the catcher his unconditional release (per the White Sox via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).

July 17, 7:11pm: Chicago will recall Robinson from Charlotte for his first MLB work since 2022, reports Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

July 17, 6:10pm: The White Sox have designated catcher Martín Maldonado for assignment, per Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome of The Athletic on X. The Sox don’t play again until Friday, so the corresponding move or moves may not be immediately known.

Maldonado, 37, signed a one-year deal with the Sox in the offseason. The veteran backstop secured a $4.25MM guarantee in the form of a $4MM salary with a $250K buyout on a $4MM club/vesting option for 2025. The option would have vested with Maldonado making 90 appearances at catcher but he’s only at 48 this year.

He’s never been much of a hitter but has long received praise for his defense and his leadership abilities in working with a pitching staff. Teams have generally been willing to take that tradeoff over his career but he has declined on both sides of the ball to the point that it pushed him off his roster spot with the Sox.

Coming into this year, Maldonado had a career batting line of .207/.282/.349. That production translated to a wRC+ of 72, indicating he had been 28% below the league average hitter overall. Catchers tend to be roughly 10% below par, so that kind of hitting isn’t disastrous if there are defensive contributions to go with it. But his bat has been even less effective that unusual this season, as he has a dismal line of .119/.174/.230. His wRC+ of 11 is dead last in the majors among batters with at least 140 plate appearances this year.

On top of that, the marks on his glovework have also declined. He has 58 Defensive Runs Saved in his career but was at -10 last year and is at -8 already here in 2024 despite limited playing time. FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered him to be a positive pitch framer in his career but he’s been in negative territory in 2024. The subpar bat was once palatable with strong defense, but declines in both departments have made him harder to stomach, so the Sox will apparently be moving on.

The Sox will need to call up another catcher to share time with Korey Lee and they have a couple of options. Chuckie Robinson was added to their 40-man about a month ago but kept on optional assignment. He’s hitting .246/.292/.382 in Triple-A this year for a wRC+ of 70 but the Sox presumably like him as they gave him that roster spot to prevent him from triggering an opt-out clause.

There’s also prospect Edgar Quero, who came over in last year’s trade that sent Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Angels. He’s having a great year, with a batting line of .274/.362/.462 and 141 wRC+ between Double-A and Triple-A so far. He’s a consensus top 100 prospect and arguably the club’s catcher of the future. He has just six games above the Double-A level on his track record and isn’t yet on the 40-man roster, but perhaps the Sox want to use the second half to have him get acquainted with some of their staff and/or face major league pitching.

The Sox will technically have a week from when the move becomes official to either trade or pass Maldonado through waivers, though the he’s likely to end up released in the coming days. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and no club will want to take on what’s left of his salary. If any team really believes in his game-calling abilities, he could perhaps garner interest after he’s released, when the Sox will be on the hook for the majority of the money he’s still owed. Another team could sign him at that point and only pay him the prorated version of the $740K league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay.

White Sox Sign Martin Maldonado

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JAN. 5: The Sox have officially announced the deal, announcing it as a $4.25MM pact with a club option for 2025. Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, it”ll be a $4MM salary in 2024 with a $250K buyout on a $4MM option for 2025. Maldonado’s option vests with 90 appearances at catcher, per Robert Murray of FanSided.

DEC. 27: Maldonado will earn $4MM in 2024, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via X).  The 2025 option is a vesting option that, if triggered, would pay Maldonado another $4MM for a second season of the deal.

DEC. 26: The White Sox are in agreement with catcher Martín Maldonado on a one-year contract with an option for 2025, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (on X). Robert Murray of FanSided (X link) first reported the sides were near a deal. Financial terms for the MVP Sports Group client are still unreported.

Maldonado’s move to Chicago’s South Side officially ends a four-and-a-half-year run in Houston. It was clear the Astros were moving on from the 37-year-old when they inked Víctor Caratini to a two-year deal during the Winter Meetings. With Caratini on hand as an experienced option behind Yainer Diaz, Maldonado was left to look elsewhere.

A veteran of 13 big league campaigns, he’ll now join the sixth team of his MLB career. He reunites with former Houston teammate Korey Lee, whom the Astros traded to the Sox for reliever Kendall Graveman at this past summer’s deadline. The 25-year-old Lee hasn’t produced offensively in parts of two big league campaigns. He’s a highly-regarded defensive catcher, which is also Maldonado’s calling card.

Outside of the shortened 2020 campaign, Maldonado has never hit at an average level in the big leagues. He is one of the sport’s least impactful hitters overall. In more than 3700 career plate appearances, the right-handed batter owns a .207/.282/.349 line. He hasn’t approached the Mendoza line in three years, running a .183/.260/.333 slash going back to the start of 2021.

Among 226 hitters with at least 1000 plate appearances over that stretch, only Joey Gallo has a lower batting average. Maldonado has the worst on-base mark of the group, while he’s fifth from the bottom in slugging. That the Astros nevertheless relied on him as their #1 catcher on some of the best rosters in MLB speaks to how highly the coaches and pitching staff felt about his presence behind the plate.

For most of his career, Maldonado has indeed rated as an excellent defensive catcher. That was not the case last season. Statcast graded him as the worst pitch framer among qualified backstops. He only threw out 14% of attempted basestealers, roughly six percentage points below the league mark. That’s perhaps more a reflection of the Houston pitching staff than Maldonado, as Statcast ranked him 23rd among 81 catchers (minimum 10 throws) in average pop time to second base.

In any case, the greater appeal for Chicago’s front office and coaching staff is in Maldonado’s game-calling ability and work with a pitching staff. The White Sox are likely to cycle through a number of inexperienced pitchers in 2024. Dylan Cease is the staff ace, though it’s no sure thing he won’t be traded before Opening Day.

KBO returnee Erick Fedde is a lock for the season-opening rotation, while Michael Kopech is likely to get a rebound opportunity. Michael Soroka and Jared Shuster — each of whom was acquired from the Braves in the Aaron Bummer trade — could vie for spots. Rule 5 pick Shane Drohan will have to remain on the MLB roster or be waived and subsequently offered back to the Red Sox, while prospects Cristian Mena and Jake Eder could reach the big leagues at some point.

Maldonado will work with that pitching group. He can serve as a short-term bridge to catching prospect Edgar Quero, the headliner of last summer’s Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo López deal. The 20-year-old spent all of last season at Double-A. He could reach the majors late in the ’24 season while taking over as the primary option in 2025.

In the interim, it’s possible the Maldonado signing displaces one of the organization’s other catchers. Once the contract is finalized, the White Sox will have four catchers on the 40-man roster. It’s unlikely Chicago will move from Lee, leaving Carlos Pérez and Max Stassi potentially on the bubble. Pérez didn’t hit well in the majors or Triple-A last season. The White Sox just acquired Stassi from the Braves a couple weeks ago, but they’re not on the hook for money beyond the league minimum salary and didn’t surrender much (a player to be named later) to bring him in.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Red Sox Interested In Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Michael A. Taylor, Martin Maldonado

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The Red Sox are considering a number of position player targets, including a pair of outfielders.  MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports that the Sox are interested in Lourdes Gurriel Jr., KPRC’s Ari Alexander reports that Michael A. Taylor is another player of interest, and Boston is also looking at help behind the plate in Martin Maldonado, according to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome.  (All links to X).

Even after the trade of Alex Verdugo to the Yankees earlier tonight, the Red Sox technically still have a set starting outfield in Jarred Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu, with Masataka Yoshida available for part-time duty in left field when he isn’t a designated hitter, and utilitymen Rob Refsnyder and Pablo Reyes in the mix.  That said, the projected starting outfield doesn’t carry much MLB experience, making a veteran addition like Gurriel (for left field) or Taylor (for center) very sensible.

Gurriel will be the priciest of the group, as MLBTR predicted a four-year, $54MM contract for the 30-year-old while ranking Gurriel 14th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents.  Over his six Major League seasons with the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks, Gurriel has been a streaky but generally productive bat, hitting .279/.324/.446 for a career 113 wRC+ over 2456 plate appearances.  Settling in as a regular left fielder after some poor defensive showings as an infielder at the start of his career, Gurriel’s glovework has been somewhat mixed, yet public metrics were very impressed across the board with his fielding in 2023.  It could be that the move to Chase Field from Rogers Centre helped Gurriel’s defense, though dealing with the Green Monster in Fenway Park could be a trickier endeavor.

The Red Sox got a first-hand look at Gurriel during his days in Toronto, and Gurriel has a solid .811 OPS over 180 career PA at Fenway.  Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow also crossed paths with Gurriel on a personal level, as Breslow’s last pro season (2018) was spent in the Blue Jays organization when Gurriel spent time at Double-A and Triple-A before making his MLB debut that season.

Since defensive improvements are a stated goal of the Red Sox offseason, signing a former Gold Glover like Taylor would provide immediate help.  Taylor’s +5 Defensive Runs Saved, +8 Outs Above Average, and +4.3 UZR/150 over 960 1/3 center field innings with the Twins last season were actually down from some of his elite totals earlier in his career, yet obviously Taylor is still among the best defensive center fielders in the sport.  He added to that glovework with one of his better offensive seasons, hitting .220/.278/.442 with 21 home runs in 388 PA for Minnesota in 2023 for a 96 wRC+.

With Byron Buxton unable to play center field due to recurring knee problems, Taylor ended up being very valuable in solidifying Minnesota’s center field situation.  The same could be true in Boston, as having Taylor up the middle on even a part-time basis would allow Rafaela to perhaps contribute at second base — another known target area for the Red Sox this winter.

Taylor and Maldonado could come at much lower price tags than Gurriel, and could be had at one-year contracts despite quite a bit of interest in their service.  For instance, Maldonado has drawn interest from at least four other teams besides the Red Sox, though a reunion with the Astros now looks to be scuttled given Houston’s signing of Victor Caratini.

Though Maldonado has never contributed much as a hitter, his ability to handle pitchers and call games has been widely praised throughout his career.  This allowed Maldonado to continue getting regular at-bats in Houston, and his work with the Astros’ pitchers was seen as a major reason for their development and the peak that was the 2022 World Series title.  However, as Yainer Diaz started to break out as a catcher of the future, the Astros ultimately decided to move on from Maldonado, leaving the veteran in search of a new home.

Connor Wong and Reese McGuire already form a catching platoon, so there would seem to be less immediate opportunity for playing time in Boston than Maldonado might find on another team.  Signing Maldonado might open the door for the Sox to make a trade, as Kyle Teel could make his MLB debut in 2024 and is seen as Boston’s catcher of the future.  If Wong and McGuire are seen as shorter-term placeholders anyway, Maldonado could then become a veteran mentor to Teel as the top prospect gets acclimated to the majors.

Angels, Padres, Marlins, White Sox Have Shown Interest In Martin Maldonado

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TODAY: The Angels are also interested in Maldonado, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.  The Halos already have Logan O’Hoppe, Max Stassi, and Matt Thaiss lined up behind the plate, though O’Hoppe and missed most of the year due to injury and Stassi didn’t play at all due to a hip strain and time off for a family situation.  Conceivably, L.A. could look to trade from this catching surplus if they brought Maldonado into the fold.  Maldonado previously played for the Angels in 2017-18, making him a known quantity to the organization.

DECEMBER 1: The Astros have interest in a reunion with catcher Martin Maldonado, but they’re not alone in showing interest. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported last month that four or five clubs had shown interest in the 37-year-old, and Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports today that in addition to the Astros, Maldonado has received some level of interest from the Padres, Marlins and White Sox.

All three clubs are in need of some catching help, to varying extents. The Padres received a breakout performance from former top prospect Luis Campusano in 2023, as the 25-year-old turned in a stout .319/.356/.491 batting line in 174 plate appearances. That showing likely puts him atop the team’s depth chart, particularly following the Friars’ decision to non-tender veteran backstop Austin Nola, who’d been their primary catcher since his acquisition in 2020. Maldonado would represent a backup option — one whose acumen in terms of game-calling and game-planning would be particularly beneficial in a mentorship role for a young catcher like Campusano.

The ChiSox have a young catcher of their own, one who’s quite familiar with Maldonado: former Astros first-round pick Korey Lee. Chicago acquired Lee from Houston in the deadline trade sending Kendall Graveman back to Houston. Lee’s initial stint with the Sox went poorly, as he hit just .077/.143/.138 — albeit in a tiny sample of 70 plate appearances. Lee hit .278/.325/.386 in 82 contests at the Triple-A level last year, and the Sox will hope for something closer to that level of output in the Majors this season.

The Sox are also hoping for continued development from prospect Edgar Quero, acquired from the Angels in the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo Lopez trade. Quero is just 20 years old and not yet on the 40-man roster, but he hit .255/.380/.351 in 101 games against far older competition at the Double-A level last year. He could be up in the big leagues at some point in 2024 or 2025. And even if his big league debut doesn’t come next season, he’d surely be in spring training with the Sox, where Maldonado could take both Quero and Lee under his wing.

Things are far more open in Miami, where the only catcher on the 40-man roster is defensive standout Nick Fortes. The Marlins non-tendered Jacob Stallings in November, and newly installed president of baseball operations Peter Bendix has already made clear that he could add multiple catchers this offseason. A pairing of Fortes and Maldonado wouldn’t do much for the Marlins offensively; Fortes hit just .204/.263/.299 last year, but he also has minor league options remaining. If the Fish were to add both Maldonado and another more seasoned catcher with superior offensive capabilities, they could option Fortes and relegate him to No. 3 on the organization’s catching depth chart.

Of course, it remains eminently possible — if not likely — that Maldonado stays put in Houston. The Astros organization has routinely extolled the veteran backstop’s intangible value to the team’s pitching staff, even as his framing grades and throwing numbers have deteriorated. The ’Stros love Maldonado’s work with their pitchers, his ability to help plan for games, and his actual game-calling skills. He still rates as an above-average catcher in terms of blocking pitches in the dirt, as well. Houston has already gone out of its way to anoint young Yainer Diaz as the primary catcher in 2024, but Maldonado could occupy a similar mentor role to the highly touted Diaz that he could offer any of his other suitors and their young catchers.

In parts of six seasons with Houston, Maldonado carries just a .191/.273/.350 batting line. That lack of offensive production makes a backup role seem likely wherever he eventually lands but also speaks to the extent to which the Astros have valued him. He’s received nearly 1600 plate appearances and twice re-signed in Houston despite that dearth of offensive output, which only underscores how much Houston loves his work with their staff.

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