So, some things happened on the catcher free agency front that directly impacted the Reds last week. After weeks of speculation that the team would try very hard to bring back former draftee Yasmani Grandal, well, they did try, but ultimately they failed. Grandal signed a four year pact with the Chicago White Sox.
One year removed from trying to trade for the other best catcher in baseball, the Reds weren’t willing to pony up the needed capital to ink Grandal and, barring a different, smaller impact transaction, they seemed destined to roll into 2020 with familiar faces at the position.