Christian Vazquez, Twins reach three-year deal for former Red Sox, Astros catcher

The Twins' plans to acquire a backup catcher this winter hit a snag Monday. They signed a starter instead.

At least, that's been the role that Christian Vazquez, who agreed to a three-year contract with Minnesota, has played for the past six seasons. Vazquez, the longtime Red Sox starter who was dealt to the Astros at the trade deadline last August, has started 519 of his teams' 870 games behind the plate since 2017, seventh-most in baseball.

Now the 32-year-old Puerto Rican figures to at least split time with Ryan Jeffers, the third-year catcher and until now the projected starter. ESPN reported that Vazquez will earn $30 million through 2025; Jeffers, with only two years of service time, is likely to receive the MLB minimum of $720,000 next season.

Vazquez was considered the second-best catcher in free agency behind Willson Contreras, who got a five-year, $87.5 million contract from St. Louis last week.

The addition of Vazquez further cements the Twins' commitment to defense behind the plate, because like Jeffers, Vazquez is a defensive specialist known for his pitch-framing skills in particular. FanGraphs.com credited Vazquez with 11 defensive runs saved last season, fourth-most in MLB; no Twins catcher has recorded that many since Jason Castro also had 11 in 2017. Jeffers collected four DRS last year, and Gary Sanchez one.

Sanchez entered free agency last month, leaving Jeffers the presumed starter, given the shortage of worthy catchers in the trade and free-agent market — and despite Jeffers missing more than two months last year because of a fractured thumb. But the Twins, with a payroll that, at the moment, is nearly $50 million lower than last season's, obviously decided to invest in shoring up that position, especially with so many young pitchers projected to have a role on the 2023 Twins.

Whether Vazquez shores up the offense — which shouldn't be difficult to do, given that Twins catchers combined to hit .197 last season — is less certain, but certainly possible. The veteran showed some power in 2019, hitting 23 home runs for the Red Sox in a high-home run environment, and has batted at least .258 in five of the past six seasons. But Vazquez, a right-handed hitter, has posted an OPS above .800 only once in that time, and it's just .685 over the past two seasons.

Vazquez won a World Series championship with the Red Sox in 2018, splitting catching duties with Sandy Leon, who by coincidence replaced Jeffers on the Twins last August while Jeffers' thumb healed. He also earned a ring with the Astros in October, going 2-for-7 in three World Series appearances. He also caught the combined no-hitter in Game 4.

Signing Vazquez is the Twins' first major acquisition of the offseason, one that has been focused up to now, at least publicly, on the team's efforts to convince shortstop Carlos Correa to return to Minnesota on a long-term commitment. Like Vazquez, Correa attended the Puerto Rican Baseball Academy in Gurabo. The team has met with the shortstop and his agent, Scott Boras, to discuss several proposals, but there have been few signs that Correa is near a decision.