Astros options with Robinson Chirinos and Martin Maldonado free agents

The one-year contract between Houston and Chirinos was for $5.75 million, which was a little over double what the Rangers paid him the previous season. Looking at his numbers for 2019, I’m not too sure his salary would go up much, if at all. He was pretty much middle of the pack with a 2.3 WAR and an OPS of .790.

When comparing his fielding among other catchers in the league, Chirinos falls even further down the list. His Rdrs (defensive runs saved above average) rating of 3 and his 21% caught stealing ratio are both lower than the majority.

But as stated before, Chirinos has some intangible qualities that can’t be listed on any statistical chart. A lot will depend on the market and demand for catchers this offseason. Of the 20 catchers that are listed as free agents, Chirinos is only second behind Yasmani Grandal, who is sporting a 5.2 WAR compared to the 2.3 of Chirinos.

As far as bringing back Maldonado, I feel this is not as likely, unless he’s willing to take a pay cut. With recent and past contract extensions and several players probably getting raises in their arbitration cases, the Astros are already looking at breaking the Tax Threshold barrier. They’re going to have to cut payroll somewhere and the backup catcher position is a good place to start.

The Astros’ Minor League system is another place to seek options for adding a catcher to the roster. It would most assuredly be the more economical route when considering the aforementioned payroll conundrum.

Max Stassi came up from the Minors at the start of the season to serve as the backup catcher and part-time fill in for Chirinos. He had a disappointing year in his shot to prove he could be a number one catcher on the team someday.

He appeared in 31 games and had 90 at-bats for Houston in 2019. Unfortunately for Stassi, he wasn’t able to take advantage of the opportunity and batted .167 on the year for the Astros with an OPS of .446. That OPS was the lowest on the team among nonpitchers and the BA was the second-lowest, only beating out Jack Mayfield. This made Stassi expendable and thus was traded to the Los Angeles Angels.

The only other catcher that was called up during the season was Garrett Stubbs. He didn’t fare much better than Stassi in his chance to show he’s ready for the big leagues. Stubbs only appeared in 19 games, mostly split between June and then during the September call-ups.

In his 35 at-bats, he didn’t turn a lot of heads with his performance. His batting average sat at .200 and his OPS was .568 with no home runs to his name. Stubbs didn’t have great numbers in his 2019 season at the AAA level either, batting .240 and carrying a .729 OPS.

The only other catcher in Houston’s top 30 prospects is Korey Lee and although he is the #3 prospect for the Astros, he hasn’t played above the A- level. So, as I see it, there isn’t much hope in relying on anyone in the farm system to step up anytime soon.

As I mentioned earlier, there are 20 catchers currently on the free agent market this offseason. That sounds like a big list to choose from, surely there are quite a few top-notch catchers to be had. But is there really?

The catcher at the top and the one that will be the most sought after is Yasmani Grandal. The 2019 All-Star from the Milwaukee Brewers will most likely be a hot commodity. When going down the list of who else is available past Grandal, the quality of catchers remaining starts to drop off significantly.

Grandal and Chirinos are the top two free agents with their 5.2 and 2.3 WAR, respectively. Following them is Tyler Flowers at 2.1 and from that point on there are only four with a WAR between 1.0 and 1.6. The remaining 13 all have a WAR below 1.0 and seven of those are in the negative.

Tyler Flowers was in a one-year $6 million contract with a team option at $6 million for 2020 or a $2 million buyout. At that price, he would most likely be a replacement for Chirinos and they would still be needing a backup. I think keeping Chirinos at the same cost or lower would be the best option in that situation.

Jason Castro and Travis d’Arnaud are next down the list with a 1.6 WAR each. Castro has been bringing in $8 million the last couple of seasons and that seems a tad expensive for the Astros, especially at numbers below what they already have in Chirinos.

Travis d’Arnaud had a decent year once he was traded to the Rays in May. He had a .263 BA in 92 games including 16 home runs. He was in a one-year $555 thousand contract for 2019 and might be available at a bargain.

There is always the trade route, but it’s a little too soon on the offseason to get a good idea of who might be dangled out there for the taking. I’m sure J.T. Realmuto will have his name mentioned in rumors again this season, but again, too expensive unless you’re throwing in someone like a Josh Reddick or Carlos Correa.

So as you can see, there are quite a few different avenues for the Astros to go down, but maybe not as many as you would think. It will be interesting to see what the Astros front office will be considering this offseason. Although, with Jeff Luhnow in the front seat, I have faith they’ll do what’s in the best interest of the team to have another shot at a World Series Trophy in 2020.