The White Sox sign Yasmani Grandal to a four year contract worth $73 million:

“Unlike last year around this time, where the market was kind of completely nonexistent, this year was just slightly different,” Grandal said. “It seemed like there were several teams that were working hard within their limits to be able to compete. There were several teams that were really interested. The one thing that kind of stood out the most for me is the White Sox. I love their professionalism, their preparation and the direction of the program.”

ESPN.com

The White appear to have gotten a deal. Grandal averaged 4.7 WAR over the last three seasons. Projecting him to a 4.7 WAR in 2020, with a 10% decrease each of the next three seasons puts him at 16 WAR for the contract, or about $4.5 million per WAR. I thought the going rate was somewhere between $8 million and $10 million per WAR.

Of course, Grandal is a catcher, and catchers over the age of 30 can decline rapidly. If $9 million is the going rate, then the White Sox might be expecting him to come in closer to eight WAR.

Grandal should be a good catcher for the pitching staff, as well as providing a nice bat at what is usually a low offense position. American League catchers in 2019 posted a .230/.296/.403 slash line. Grandal posted a .380 OBP in 2019.

This deal could work out extremely well for the White Sox, as Grandal’s relatively low salary gives the team plenty of room to maneuver.