MLB Trade Rumors: Mariners Catcher Omar Narvaez Drawing Significant Trade Interest

Yasmani Grandal signed a big contract with the Chicago White Sox last week. Then, this week, the Atlanta Braves announced the signing of Travis D’Arnaud to a three-year contract. Those two were the best free agent catchers available on the market, meaning that teams may have to look to the trade market should they need help in that position.

One team that is blessed with catchers is the Seattle Mariners who have both Tom Murphy and Omar Narvaez at their disposal. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the M’s are getting a lot of phone calls from other teams about the latter player.

Since his debut in 2016, Narvaez has garnered a reputation for his bat, not so much his glove. His career strike out rate is at 17.8 percent compared to his 11.3 percent walk rate, making the catcher a veritable walk machine. His career on base percentage of .361 reflects this fact.

In his MLB tenure, Narvaez has also hit for a .276 average and in 2019 he slugged 22 home runs, by far a career-high. In fact, his power has increased year on year since his debut, the Mariner hit just one in 2016 and two in 2017 before slamming nine in 2018.

Despite being a plus hitter, however, Narvaez is definitely a minus defender. He has thrown out just 21 percent of runners attempting to steal, well south of the league average of 28 percent. He is also known to allow too many passed balls.

In 2018, he allowed 12 in 653 1/3 innings. That mark did improve in 2019 to just three in 815 2/3 innings but his history of allowing passed balls is still something for potential suitors to look out for. In his 2,386 1/3 innings behind the plate at the major league level, Narvaez has posted -41 defensive runs saved statistics. That is one of the worst in MLB for catchers.

Along with his bat, Narvaez’s contract is also appealing to other teams. He has three years of club control left on his deal, although he is eligible for salary arbitration this winter.

As Narvaez has a solid bat but not such a solid glove, a trade to an American League team would make sense as he could slot into the DH spot if necessary. Likely AL trade candidates are the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels.

NL clubs who could make a move include the Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers. The only question for the Mariners is just who is willing to part with the most to add Narvaez.