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When the Pirates signed Yasmani Grandal as a backup catcher on a one-year, $2.5 million contract last offseason, it was hard for fans to expect much out of him in the way of production at the plate after he batted .219 with a .611 OPS over his last two seasons with the White Sox, and Chicago acquired former first-round draft pick Korey Lee at the trade deadline to take over at the backstop.
There was a time when Grandal was picking up All-Star nods and MVP votes, but he hadn't put up a truly good offensive season at the plate since 2021. He started the 2024 season with the Pirates on the IL and didn't return until May, but went on to play 118 games in Pittsburgh as Paul Skenes' personal catcher and batted .228 with a .704 OPS. It was far from his worst season, but it was far from good enough for the Pirates to re-sign him.
Grandal lingered on the free agent market throughout the offseason and until Thursday, when he reportedly signed a minor-league deal with the Red Sox.
Free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a minor-league contract, sources say. Grandal was with the Pittsburgh Pirates last season.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) April 10, 2025
Former Pirates catcher Yasmani Grandal signs a minor league deal with the Red Sox
The Red Sox had catcher Connor Wong as their primary backstop to start the season, but he hit the IL on Tuesday and Boston called up former Giants catcher Blake Sabol, who was DFA'ed by San Francisco during the offseason, to in turn backup Carlos Narváez.
Grandal could be a decent interim backup-backup catcher for Boston if they become unsatisfied with Sabol, who has so far only gotten one eighth inning at-bat for the Red Sox, but it's hard to believe that he's going to make the Pirates regret not re-signing him anytime soon. A minor league deal was pretty much always the best he was going to get.
Grandal reportedly turned down an offer from the Braves a month before the season started and was considering retirement. It's unclear if Atlanta's deal was for a minor or major league contract, but if it was the former, Grandal clearly realized that settling for a minor league deal was the best he was going to get this season and wasn't ready to put his career behind him. If it was the latter, then he probably should've taken that deal from the Braves.