The ticking clock in Mitch Garver's Mariners deal is already counting down

The Seattle Mariners pulled off one last hot stove surprise when they re-signed Mitch Garver to a minor league deal on Wednesday. It brought back a familiar face, even if it did add a slightly uncomfortable spin to the backup catcher competition.

You know what every uncomfortable situation needs? A ticking clock, obviously.

As noted by Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, the 35-year-old Garver's status as an MLB veteran made him an “Article CC (b) free agent." Because of that, his minor league deal contains three opt outs for the following dates: March 21, May 1 and June 1.

As he stands to make $2.25 million if he makes the Mariners' 26-man roster, Garver's main goal is to do exactly that by the end of spring training. But that will require making a depth-chart leapfrog over Andrew Knizner, whose $1 million contract is fully guaranteed. To do that, Garver will need to show more signs of life than he did as he posted -0.2 rWAR while collecting $24 million from the Mariners across 2024 and 2025.

Mitch Garver's opt-outs point to a finish line in his race against Andrew Knizner for Mariners' backup catcher gig

Between Garver's recent struggles and Knizner's guaranteed contract, the latter is clearly the safer bet to be Cal Raleigh's right-hand man on the catching depth chart.

The 31-year-old Knizner has other things going for him, too. Daniel Kramer of MLB.com has an article out that shows a defensive edge for the younger Knizner over Garver for the 2025 season. And while Knizner's bat has never played at the MLB level, he did rock a 1.032 OPS in 31 games at the Triple-A level last season.

Garver's main advantage is two years of experience with the Mariners' pitching staff, with another being more power potential than Knizner. Despite a mere .343 slugging percentage in 2025, his average exit velocity of 91.5 mph was his best since 2021.

If Knizner still has the edge for the backup job by March 21, Garver could conceivably forgo his opt-out and agree to stand by at Triple-A Tacoma. But it's hard to imagine him doing that. He's a veteran catcher, and veteran catchers are always needed in the majors somewhere.

What will really be interesting is if Garver outplays Knizner and forces the Mariners' hand. Because Knizner is out of minor league options, he can refuse an outright assignment to Tacoma and still cash in his $1 million. In that case, Garver would effectively cost the Mariners $3.25 million if he's the one who makes the roster.

As it is, why the Mariners didn't simply re-sign Garver after they traded Harry Ford in December is already a fair question. It was the most obvious move they could have made, and you wonder now if the pivot to Knizner was another case of misreading the catching market.

Whatever the case, the two are competing for a less-than-glorious job as serving as the No. 2 behind the best catcher in baseball. But at the end of the day, someone has to do it.