White Sox: First domino falls with Yasmani Grandal

The Chicago White Sox have got one of their guys in free agency. Yasmani Grandal is coming to the south side and that is fantastic news.

The Chicago White Sox have some spending to do this winter. Well, on Thursday morning it came out that Yasmani Grandal is coming to the south side of Chicago. The All-Star catcher is coming on a four year, 73 million dollar contract. Under the agreement, Grandal will receive 18.25 million per year from 2020-2023. This is a fantastic use of money for Rick Hahn and the Chicago White Sox.

This is major news for the White Sox. The just got a whole lot better because that is another bat in the lineup. He is also a sounds defensive catcher so this is going to be a solid duo of catchers with him and James McCann. Grandal contributes offense from the catcher position as good as any catcher in the league for the most part. He had a slash line of .246/.380/.468 with 28 home runs and 77 RBIs in 2019. He had a 2.5 WAR which are all stout numbers for the 31-year-old catcher. He leads all MLB catchers in fWAR (24.9) since 2015 and his 117 home runs are the most amongst catchers as well.

Grandal spent the first three years of his career with the San Diego Padres, then four with the Los Angeles Dodgers and last year was with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was an all-star catcher in 2015 and 2019 and he received some MVP notes in 2016 and 2019. There is no doubt that he is going to bring some stability to the catcher position on the southside. McCann is already there and they can help each other be good and healthy.

They can use McCann as a DH if they are unable to sign another one and the lineup will be so solid. Grandal could also help the Sox sign other free-agent pitchers over the years. He has had some serious success behind the plate with some of the best pitchers in the world. He also has had some deep playoff runs so he brings experience to this team that nobody else has.

The 2020 White Sox could have a very dangerous lineup by the time May rolls around. Grandal is just the first domino to fall for the White Sox. This team is coming and the rest of the league knows it. The day that Yasmani Grandal chose the White Sox is just the first step.