Milwaukee Brewers needed a new catcher. After Yasmani Grandal left for the Chicago White Sox, they needed to add a replacement. Brewers found one. Omar Narvaez comes to Milwaukee from Seattle for a minor leaguer. Is Narvaez going to be as good as Grandal? No. But will he fill in nicely at the catcher position? Absolutely. This is a savvy move by David Stearns with a tight catcher market, but there is still work to be done with this Brewers roster.

Narvaez is a good hitting catcher with limited defensive skills. You see that often with catchers. It is one thing or the other. Either they’re awesome on offense and putrid on defense or vice versa. It is to be assumed that Narvaez will platoon with Manny Pina this season. He had a breakout year in Seattle with 22 home runs and a .278 batting average. Those are great power numbers for playing in a pitcher-friendly home ballpark. Narvaez is also a left-hander which gives him an advantage at Miller Park.

The defense is a real issue for him. He is considered one of the worst framing pitchers in baseball. Narvaez does not do the same thing as Grandal defensively. Unknown to me and many other Brewers fans, Milwaukee does have a great catching instructor, Charlie Greene, who might be able to help with these issues. My assumption is the Brewers thought whatever issues Narvaez had as a defensive catcher were fixable. He is still a young guy at 27 and only three years in the major leagues.

This is a nice move to get a qualified replacement for Grandal. Is he going to be as good as Yasmani? Probably not. I know they had similar WAR’s last season, but that is one statistic. You cannot compare these two catches based off one stat. I know some people are trying to do that, but if you are, you look like a schill. The job isn’t done for David Stearns. He still needs to land a big fish somewhere whether it’s on the pitching staff or on the diamond. This is a small move that will aid a bigger move later in the offseason. If Brewers make only moves like this one all offseason, it should be deemed a disappointment.

At least the Brewers have done something to appease us all who were worried they would stay on the sidelines all winter. Glad to know the phones still work at Miller Park Way.

Charlie.