The Major League Baseball free agent market offers a lot of desirable names looking for a team, and Christian Vázquez is among them.
Vázquez was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Houston Astros at the 2022 trade deadline while the two teams were playing one another at Minute Maid Park.
There are a number of teams in need of a catcher and Vázquez brings veteran experience, a catcher who certainly knows how to call a game, has a strong arm who can throw players out on the base path and, of course, two World Series championships.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal on Monday published an article about the latest news from the winter meetings in San Diego and he reported five teams interested in Vázquez.
Here’s the latest from Rosenthal:
The market for free-agent catcher Christian Vázquez includes the Cubs, Cardinals, Padres, Guardians and Twins. The Astros also have interest in retaining Vázquez, but in more of a job share with Martín Maldonado.
Vázquez, 32, seems likely to land a three-year deal. During the postseason, opponents scored only one run in the 33 innings he caught for the Astros, on J.T. Realmuto’s 10th-inning homer off Luis Garcia in Game 1 of the World Series.
While the Astros’ pitching staff deserves much of the credit, Vázquez was behind the plate for the final 12 innings of the Division Series clincher against the Mariners, the combined nine-inning shutout of the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS and the combined no-hitter in Game 4 of the World Series.
The 32-year-old would be a good fit for any of the above teams mentioned, but it’s unclear if Vázquez would want to return to the 2022 World Series champion Astros in a platoon role or look for more of a starting catcher role.
