Mariners ink Mitch Garver to 2-year deal

The free agent market’s best offensive catcher has signed, but he’s probably not going to catch much.

Mitch Garver agreed to a two-year, $24 million deal with the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, according to multiple reports.

Garver, who turns 33 in January, has plenty of right-handed power. He hit 19 home runs in 87 games for the World Series champion Texas Rangers last season and has a .483 slugging percentage for his career. His bat was enough for Garver to rank 22nd on The Athletic’s Big Board of free agents, and he was the only catcher to make the top 40.

But Garver caught only 28 games last season, and he caught only 14 the year before (injuries have long been a factor). With Cal Raleigh behind the dish in Seattle, Garver seems likely to get the majority of his playing time next season at designated hitter. Garver should join Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Ty France somewhere in the middle of the Seattle lineup. He could help make up for the loss of left fielder Teoscar Hernández to free agency and should also be an upgrade on last season’s primary DH, Mike Ford, who was non-tendered in November.

As for the rest of the free agent market, it never had much catching to begin with, and teams looking for help behind the plate are still looking at limited options. Longtime Mariners backup Tom Murphy — whom Garvey is at least partially replacing in Seattle — already signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Giants, and that might stand as the second-biggest catcher signing of the winter. Free agents Gary Sanchez, Mike Zunino, Yasmani Grandal, Jacob Stallings, Tucker Barnhart and Martín Maldonado have been All-Stars and Gold Glove winners in the past, but they’re probably backups at this point.

Garver was the most reliable source of offense among the free agent catchers, and he’s off the board to a team that doesn’t really need him behind the plate.

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(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)