The New York Yankees failed to upgrade at catcher during the trade deadline, so now they are going for the next best thing.
New York has signed catcher Mitch Garver in free agency, according to multiple reports on Friday. Garver is reportedly getting a minor-league deal from the Yankees with an opt-out for later this month.
The righty-hitting Garver, 35, spent the last two-and-a-half years with the Seattle Mariners. But he was released by Seattle earlier this month after batting a horrible .175 with a .596 OPS over 50 total games for them this season.
Still, Garver has the resume. He produced a 30-homer season for the Minnesota Twins in 2019 (also winning the Silver Slugger Award that year) and was later a useful member of the Texas Rangers team that won the World Series in 2023 (hitting .270 with 19 homers and 50 RBIs that season).
Meanwhile, the Yankees’ need at catcher has been well-covered. They were looking to trade for a quality backstop to improve over their current duo of Austin Wells and Ali Sanchez but ultimately failed in that pursuit despite being linked to some well-known catchers.
Garver will obviously start off in the minors and is very much on the back-nine of his career anyway. But he could be a serviceable power bat down the stretch of the season for the 64-51 Yankees, particularly as a situational option against left-handed pitching.
