Brewers Rumors: Crew Staying Involved In Very Active Catcher Market

The Brewers certainly could use an upgrade behind the plate this offseason. Omar Narvaez struggled in 2022 and is a free agent while Victor Caratini also struggled badly down the stretch. Brewers GM Matt Arnold does indeed want to upgrade the position.

Throughout the offseason so far, Matt Arnold hasn't really gone into specific positional needs beyond just "pitching depth", but that has changed with his comments to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The avenue of acquisition is wide open, but the plan is to upgrade according to Arnold.

The latest Brewers rumors have them searching for a catching upgrade in a market that has been very active and could move quickly.

So far, the only name that has been taken completely off the market for catchers is WIllson Contreras, who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on a five year deal. But there have been rumors flying all over the place about a number of players on the market.

The Oakland A's were thought to be close to a trade of catcher Sean Murphy earlier in the week, but he's still available. The Blue Jays also have their trio of catchers; Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, and Gabriel Moreno on the market. They'll only move one of them but teams can choose whichever one they want. However, both those teams, the Jays especially, are reportedly willing to wait until the top free agents sign and then work with the teams that miss out.

With Contreras now off the market, that takes the Cardinals out of the catching market and will move the rest of the group forward. There are several other teams looking for catcher upgrades this offseason. Christian Vazquez is now the top catcher on the free agent market and the teams that missed on Contreras will now turn to him.

The Brewers should be in on Vazquez but there hasn't been any publicly reported interest from Milwaukee just yet. From Arnold's comments, it sounds like they're at least staying involved in the market for Vazquez.

Once Vazquez signs somewhere, then we'll see the trade offers for Toronto's trio and Murphy heat up because there isn't much for quality starting catcher options on the free agent market after Vazquez goes.

It sounds like Arnold hasn't quite given up on the Vazquez market despite widespread interest from at least eight other known teams. That could be a good sign. The trade market will be competitive as well, so they're not necessarily better suited for a trade pursuit over free agency. However, they do have the prospects to acquire the catcher they want if they are simply willing to part with them.

With the Contreras domino falling, expect to see some more dominos falling soon and hopefully the Brewers are able to grab themselves one of those top dominos. Arnold will have to be aggressive though to get the guy and the upgrade he wants.