The New York Yankees had a desperate need for catching upgrades as the trade deadline approached, but were unable to make any significant moves to improve offensive production from the catcher spot.
Just because the trade deadline has passed does not mean the Yankees are out of options to add to the team. According to New York Daily News' Gary Phillips, the team has signed catcher Mitch Garver to a minor league deal.
Garver was released by the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday and is not having a good year. He has a .175/.302/.294 slash line through 50 games this season. In three seasons with the Mariners, he had a .626 OPS and was overall a very disappointing addition. Of course, the Mariners did not need him too much since they have Cal Raleigh.
Still, Garver is a decent player for the Yankees to take a chance on. He was part of the Texas Rangers' 2023 World Series team, posting an .870 OPS in the regular season that year. He also has a Silver Slugger Award to his name.
He won a Silver Slugger in 2019 as a member of the Minnesota Twins. His time with the Twins overlapped with Yankees catching director Tanner Swanson. Swanson's final year with the Twins was the year Garver won his Silver Slugger.
Garver is a low-risk signing for the Yankees. Austin Wells has been awful this season, and Ali Sánchez has started to get some more run behind the plate. He has been solid against southpaws so far, but the question is whether he can keep it up. It's not going to hurt the Yankees to give Garver a chance at some point in the regular season, given how bad the production at catcher has been all year.
The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays both made catching upgrades at the deadline. Taking a chance on a player like Garver is the least the Yankees could do.