The Tampa Bay Rays announced Monday afternoon that they have come to terms with catcher Mike Zunino on a one-year contract. Zunino will be paid $4.5 million in 2020 in what would have been his final year of salary arbitration eligibility. Tampa also holds a club option for 2021 at the same $4.5 million price.

It’s not the sexiest signing, but it’s one where both parties “settle” for something. Zunino struggled offensively in 2019, hitting .165/.232/.312, first splitting time with Michael Perez and then with Travis d’Arnaud. d’Arnaud’s healthy comeback season featured a healthier .263/.323/.459 in Tampa, resulting in him seizing the majority of the catching job from Zunino, with 80 starts in the 125 games the Rays played after acquiring him. Zunino remains a more-than-competent defensive catcher, but continuing a career-long streak of above-average framing runs isn’t quite enough when your wRC+ at the plate is 45.

With d’Arnaud having already departed for Atlanta in free agency, non-tendering or trading Zunino would have left them very thin behind the plate. Internally, the team’s top catching prospect, Ronaldo Hernandez, is a few years away and there’s little available organizationally between Perez and Hernandez. Given that the team only had to give Zunino a small raise over the $4.4 million he made in 2019, it would have been riskier for the contending Rays to let him go.

Zunino loses a year of free agency without a significant raise, but he’s a very difficult player to put a value on. While he’s always been a solid defensive catcher, his seasonal wRC+ has ranged from 45 to 126, with no seasons in between 87 and 117. He’s not a player you can trust as a full-time backstop without a Plan B, leaving his market primarily as teams who need a caretaker catcher better than Jeff Mathis.

With Yasmani Grandal, d’Arnaud, and Tyler Flowers already off the market, Robinson Chirinos became the clear best catcher available, but he is unlikely to sign for the same contract as Zunino. Martín Maldonado isn’t young. After that, you’re looking at a lot of catchers who aren’t obviously superior to Zunino. The Rays also are a good home for Zunino; they needed him more than most teams would and are more likely to forgive his offensive shortcomings. I wouldn’t put it past the Rays to go after a veteran reclamation project such as Francisco Cervelli on the cheap to share time with Zunino.