A Holding Contract

The Brewers get a deal on Yasmani Grandal:

The Brewers found a way Wednesday night by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with free agent catcher Yasmani Grandal, a somewhat surprising move. For one thing, the Brewers will pay Grandal a salary of $18.25 million, making him the highest paid player on the team for 2019.

The Brewers also will surrender their third-highest draft pick as compensation for Grandal, 30, who had turned down a $17.9 million qualifying offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers to hit the free-agent market. The Brewers already had traded a Competitive Balance Round A pick to Texas for reliever Alex Claudio, so their third-highest pick now will be a third-rounder (No. 104 overall). 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinal

Grandal average three fWAR over the last three seasons, 8.2 rWAR. He turned down a $60 million, four-year offer from the Mets. I would estimate a player at his age and ability to be worth about $20 million a year over four years, but I will admit catcher tend to fade faster than other position players. That said, I am quite surprised no one was willing to sign Grandal to a one-year, $25 million contract.

There has been some reporting that general managers are willing to go shorter term for a higher average salary, but that certainly was not the case here.

from baseballmusings.com http://bit.ly/2AFiwqG