Mariners' Mitch Garver decision takes successful offseason down a notch

The Seattle Mariners could have simply re-signed Mitch Garver at the outset of the offseason. They instead chose chaos in their quest for a backup catcher, only to arrive the exact same endpoint.

It's official as of Sunday afternoon: Garver is back in as Cal Raleigh's right-hand man, which functionally leaves Andrew Knizner out. The Mariners are expected to designate Knizner for assignment, which will almost certainly mean eating his $1 million salary.

Granted, it's not quite the same as saying goodbye to Mitch Haniger and then choking down $15.5 million. And if even that didn't ultimately keep the Mariners from pursuing midseason upgrades en route to their run to Game 7 of the ALCS, then $1 million in dead money shouldn't derail any plans the club has for 2026.

Mariners put a strange twist on their offseason with ending of Mitch Garver saga

Even so, the Mariners' calculations for their backup catcher gig clearly changed over the last month. When Knizner was the favorite for the job, it was set to be a $1 million expense. Now that he's out and Garver is locked in at $2.25 million, it's going to end up being a $3.25 million expense.

It brings back a question we were asking in January: Did the Mariners misread this winter's catching market?

Even setting aside whether they should have aimed higher in trading Harry Ford, there's the matter of whether the Mariners had the wrong projections for Garver's market. Their $1 million deal with Knizner in December came off as an assumption that Garver would get better offers elsewhere. FanGraphs was notably in the same boat, pegging Garver for a one-year, $5 million deal.

In actuality, Garver himself spoke of not getting any formal offers before Raleigh dialed him up in February and suggested he call the Mariners. Less than 24 hours later, he was back aboard on a minor league deal.

Nobody got excited about the Garver signing at the time, and his re-ascension to the backup job is more so fodder for fascination than excitement. It is, after all, just a part-time gig for a guy who posted -0.2 rWAR for the Mariners across 2024 and 2025.

Garver's familiarity with Seattle's pitching staff was surely the deciding factor in Sunday's decision. And it is a nice feather in his cap, particularly to the extent that he's perfectly suited for weekly action as George Kirby's personal catcher.

All's well that ends well, we suppose, but this still feels like the Mariners having to pay a $1 million penalty for a bad read on the offseason market. Some might see that as reason to lower their offseason grade from an A+ to a mere A.