Christian Vazquez headed to Twins on a 3-year contract
The Minnesota Twins made some noise in the world of free agency Monday by bringing in catcher Christian Vazquez. Vazquez was arguably the best catcher remaining on the market after Willson Contreras was signed by the Cardinals and should be a solid addition for a Twins team that is losing Gary Sanchez.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman was the first to report the news.
Vazquez is the kind of player any team would benefit from having. He’s a solid bat for the catcher position, good at getting on base and is solid behind the plate. Perhaps the most important thing Vazquez brings with him though, is his leadership.
Vazquez has two World Series rings and is quite familiar with winning cultures. As a player, he’s no slouch either. He posts a career slash line of .261/.310/.386 and serves as a very reliable bat in this lineup.
While Vazquez is a solid catcher that any team would benefit from having, I still don’t quite see why the Twins took the chance on him. This is a Twins team that is preparing for a bad season, especially with the expected departure of Carlos Correa.
Ultimately, I just don’t really see the thought process in shelling out money for Vazquez unless they plan to use him as trade bait come next season. I thought maybe Vazquez would end up with a contending team who needed some depth behind the plate like the Rays or even Guardians.
Regardless, the Twins are the ones who have ended up with him. While I don’t expect this Twins team to be any good or make any noise come postseason time, I would imagine Vazquez finds himself getting traded to a contender, especially if he has a strong first half of the season.
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