Goodbye, Grandal: Catcher had forgettable four-year run with White Sox
Chris Getz has some difficult decisions to make as he navigates his first off-season as White Sox general manager.
Yasmani Grandal is not one of them.
When the season ended on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to the Padres in 11 innings, Grandal's four-year, $73 million contract expired.
The Sox need catching help, but there's zero chance Grandal comes back on a new deal.
"I wish this team nothing but the best," Grandal said. "If I were to look back, I would have hoped I would have been able to have done more to help the organization move forward."
When the White Sox signed the free agent in November 2019, Grandal's contract was the largest in franchise history. Left fielder Andrew Benintendi surpassed that with a $75 million deal over five years last winter.
In his four seasons with the Sox, Grandal hit .226/.343/.375 with 44 home runs and 149 RBI. It was one injury after another for the 34-year-old veteran, and Grandal's left knee was particularly bothersome.
Even though he was a nonfactor this season, Grandal managed to play in 118 games. That was his career high with the White Sox.
The switch-hitter slashed .234/.309/.339 with 8 homers and 33 RBI.
"Quite frankly, aside from '19 I guess, this is the first full year I've been able to actually stay healthy," Grandal said. "Usually when I have a healthy year, the next year is actually pretty good. I've found a routine and a workout regimen that really fits what I'm trying to do."
Grandal is heading back to the free-agent market. Given his age - he'll be 35 in early November - and health history, finding a new job could be a challenge.
"It's seeing where I'm at in the off-season and going from there," Grandal said. "I'm going to test the market and see what's out there. I've got two young boys that love baseball, love sports but don't really like to be away from dad too much. I've got to take that into consideration as well.
"I'll sit down and really go through it and think about it and see if it fits. I'll guess we'll go from there."
As for the Sox, they went with Korey Lee at catcher for the final five weeks of the season.
Acquired in the July 28 trade that sent veteran relief pitcher Kendall Graveman to the Astros, Lee didn't do much with the bat.
In 24 games, the 25-year-old Lee hit .077/.143/.139 with 1 home run and 3 RBI. As a catcher, White Sox pitchers had a 5.69 ERA throwing to Lee.
Grandal said he did what he could to help Lee break in with the Sox.
"The first two or three weeks, I just kind of showed him the routine," Grandal said. "You work a ton, whether it was defensively or looking at hitters or understanding what it was that we needed to do at a certain point, understanding the situation, the scoreboard.
"We felt like he improved. The last two weeks, I kind of just sat back and watched. Go ahead and do what you are going to do and let's see what happens."