Padres should rethink interest in Silver Slugger catcher after abysmal Mariners run

Though their trade deadline haul was defined by the blockbuster for Mason Miller, the San Diego Padres made another crucial move in acquiring Freddy Fermín to be the long-term starting catcher.

The 30-year-old wasn't perfect, but he was a huge breath of fresh air behind the plate. An average framer with elite pop time, Fermin provided strong defense while hitting .244/.278/.339 in 42 games with San Diego, good for a 75 wRC+. He was also arguably the team's best postseason hitter in the Wild Card Round against the Chicago Cubs, posting a 155 wRC+ in 11 plate appearances.

Still, despite his solid production, the Padres' group of backstops — Fermin, Elias Díaz, and Martín Maldonado — ranked only 28th in the league with 0.1 fWAR collectively in 2025. There is a clear and obvious need for A.J. Preller to find a competent and reliable backup to Fermin this offseason.

Lo and behold, a former free-agent target in Mitch Garver is once again available, and Cal Raleigh's understudy makes sense on paper as a bat-first catcher behind the defensively apt Fermin. However, a deeper dive reveals that Garver is hardly the same player who once won a Silver Slugger award in 2019, meaning the Padres would be wise to stay away over the offseason.

Mitch Garver isn't the right backup catcher for Padres

When the Padres were originally linked to Garver in 2023, the backstop was coming off a World Series championship with the Texas Rangers and a season in which he hit 19 home runs and posted a 142 wRC+.

That's a fundamentally different player than the one Garver is today. His strikeout rate has ballooned past 29% over the past two years with the Seattle Mariners, and his wRC+ has been below average in both seasons (89 in 2024; 86 in 2025).

Garver has long been a poor defensive catcher, and 2025 was no different. Splitting his time evenly between catcher and designated hitter, the 34-year-old ranked in the 33rd percentile for framing and the 28th percentile for blocking while behind the plate this season.

For what it's worth, he had some clutch moments in the playoffs for the Mariners this year and has a career .698 OPS in the postseason, but he hasn't been effective over a long stretch of time in more than two years.

Ultimately, Garver now looks like a bat-first catcher who can't really hit all that well anymore. Seeing as he'll turn 35 before Opening Day, there shouldn't be much hope that he can revert his downward contract trends and restore his once-prodigious power.

If the Padres truly want to upgrade the lineup, they'd be smart to start Fermin on a regular basis, get a backup catcher renowned for his run-prevention skills, and invest serious money into a slugging first baseman, rather than cutting corners and trying to kill multiple birds with one stone by signing Garver.