Brewers pick up catcher Manny Piña’s option

The Milwaukee Brewers have picked up catcher Manny Piña’s $1.85 million option according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

Piña had a very slow 2019 with Milwaukee, taking the role of backup catcher for the first time since 2017. With Yasmani Grandal playing an absurd number of games for Milwaukee, Piña got some down time. He still managed to catch 353.2 innings last season, about half of what he caught compared to the last two.

Piña has been worth 4 WAR over the last three seasons. While his offensive production has dipped ( a 95 wRC+ in 2017 and an 85 in 2019) he still is phenomenal as a defender. He racked up 6.3 FRM (Framing runs above average) and a 6 DRS in his minimal time with the mask on last season.

While Piña doesn’t provide the production Grandal does, he’s still league average as a catcher at worst. While the Brewers would still like to improve at the position, he’d be a fine starter at a low contract for the Crew in 2020. At $1.85 million, any other team would be picking up that option.