January 10th, 2019 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Martha Barnette said it best on her public radio show A Way with Words?:
“I’d like to buy him for what he’s worth and sell him for what he thinks he’s worth.”
…or perhaps it was Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars movie:
“Who’s more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?”
Regardless of which of these two quotes you prefer, both appear to fit the the announcement late Wednesday night that former Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal had agreed to a one-year / $18.25 deal with the Milwaukee Brewers
What makes this deal a real head-scratcher is that it was against these same Milwaukee Brewers that Grandal committed two passed balls and an error – in the same inning – during Game-1 of the 2018 National League Championship Series, and then another passed ball and a wild pitch that he should have blocked three nights later in Game-3 at Dodger Stadium. As a result, Grandal was banished to the Dodgers bench for the remainder of the postseason in lieu of back-up catcher Austin Barnes, who finished the 2018 postseason with a team-low .069 batting average.
To be fair, Grandal wasn’t that bad for most of the 2018 regular season. In fact, he posted a slash-line of .241 / .349 / .466 / for a decent .815 OPS. He also slugged 24 home runs and drove in 68 – fourth most on the team in both categories – so there’s that. He also has a reputation of being among the best pitch framers in the game, although his combined nine passed balls, seven errors, 31 wild pitches allowed and 52 stolen basses allowed tended to overshadow that rather ambiguous pitch-framing thing.
With less than six weeks before pitchers and catchers report for spring training, the Dodgers have yet to make any major off-season moves, aside from acquiring right-handed reliever and Southern California native Joe Kelly that is; especially at the catching position. As such, and in spite of that less-than-six-weeks thing, it’s now beginning to look as though Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman may be having second thoughts about not giving 20-year-old Dodgers top catching prospect Keibert Ruiz and/or 23-year-old fellow top catching prospect Will Smith a legitimate shot at making the Dodgers Opening Day roster behind Barnes.
Stay tuned…
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Posted in 
I may have to eat crow, but I am ecstatic that Grandal has moved on. His incessant communication problems with pitchers that often resulted in being “crossed-up,” allowing balls to be knocked out of his glove on tag plays, misjudging balls thrown from OF and infield, poor blocking mechanics, etc., etc. drove me nuts. I believe the Dodgers will find another catcher, whether it is someone to pair with Barnes, or reaching agreement with the Marlins on a fair return for Realmuto that could include Barnes in the package.
I might add that to be honest, I don’t believe, after what took place as far as fan reaction goes with his play, that Grandal had any intentions of wanting to come back to a team who’s fans booed him off the field at the end of 2018
I say go with the kids! It’s dangerous, yeah, to put untested kids in the most important position on the field, but if the NFL can put kids in the QB position, why not try? Hitting-wise, no one can be worse than Barnes and defense-wise… you get the idea.
If it fails –and I don’t think it will– the worse is the kids know now what to expect at the big-league level, and the Dodgers know they need one or more years of further development. It would be like when the Nats brought up Juan Soto just because they needed bodies; they found out the kid can play.
This is – and has been – my take all along. I was fortunate to have seen both Smith and Ruiz play at Rancho and am 100 percent convinced that both are MLB-caliber catchers.
I fully get Friedman’s reluctance to hand the mask to two kinds, one of which can’t even buy a beer yet. But the bottom line, and I’m a bottom line kind of guy, is that it’s sink or swim time for one – or both- of these kids.
Pull the trigger, Andrew!
Friedman should be reminded that Bellinger was called up before they had anticipated and now he’s one of the core players on the team. Like Belli, “everyone” can see that Smith and Ruiz have the talent. Just unleash ’em!
Something my fellow old guys likely will remember:
Long ago, on a football field being used for MLB, our beloved Dodgers were in need of a shortstop. They kept trying guys with some degree of success and failure.
Meanwhile, in Spokane, the Dodgers AAA manager is calling them daily telling them he had just the guy. It took to mid-season to get them to give his guy a shot.
The year was 1959, the manager was Bobby Bragan (yes, the same guy portrayed in “42”) and the shortstop was Maury Wills.
I dare say that one worked out rather well.
I’m glad to see this. Now I don’t have to worry about F&Z-Z signing him.
IMHO pitch framing is highly overrated. It’s only a benefit because there are so many discrepancies with calling pitches.
That’s not intended as a criticism of umpires. Calling balls and strikes is probably the hardest thing umpires do. I really don’t see how anybody can consistently get those pitches at the edges of the zone right. We often compare today’s umpires those of the past, such as the great Jocko Conlan. Truth is we really don’t have any reference to how accurate Jocko was. We didn’t have the technology then to really see how often he was right.
This is why I’ve recently started supporting electronic pitch calling, but that’s another topic.
The only thing I could add at this time to the result of ‘Granny’ signing with the Brewers is so be it. We now do get a draft pick from them but it doesn’t help this year’s team. Other than that, as Ron Cervenka says “Stay tuned”.
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I can’t believe Grandal took less than a million more from the Brewers. Maybe he sees a brighter future there.
Read the very first quote again, Joe. Grandal clearly thought much higher of himself that ANYONE else did. He didn’t have a choice and the Brewers knew it. NOBODY was going to give him what he thought he was worth.
What I absolutely cannot believe is that he turned down four years / SIXTY million from the Mets. This guy is delusional if he thinks he is worth more than this.
Unless he has an insane MVP-type 2019 season, he will NEVER be offered that kind of money again. He is 30 years old right now and will be 31 next off-season.
This reminds me of something that Dirty Harry once said:
Dirty Harry also said, “Do you feel lucky?”
Can’t believe not one of you guys mentioned Grandal’s agent.
If Grandal really did have a 4 yr $60M contract on the table, why would he turn it down? Bad advice from his agent? None of us are privy to the contacts teams would have with his agent and the perceived interest in him. Maybe not even Grandal. Could be a really bad agent. I haven’t done any research on his agent and what other clients he has. Has anyone?
As Ron states, maybe Grandal thinks much higher of himself than ANYONE else did. Yeah, maybe he does, but right now, TODAY, he is $350,000 better off in 2019 than where he would have been if he accepted the QO. And as Ron states, he may NEVER be offered that kind of money again. I’m inclined to agree with Ron, but Grandal doesn’t. He is betting on himself and I can admire that.
Milwaukee is a better situation for Grandal than LA in 2019. In LA Grandal would be competing with Barnes for playing time. In Milwaukee he’s the undisputed catcher on a World Series contender. Milwaukee obviously also thought a lot of Grandal to pay $18M+ accompanied by the loss of a draft pick for a one year contract. I’d think they would have wanted a 2-3 yr contract at a lower AAV. They didn’t get it.
This saga has yet to play out. I wish Grandal the best (except against the Dodgers). Thanks for the 9.0 WAR while on a cheap contract with the Dodgers and the draft pick.