He put up 2.9 WAR in 2016 and is projected for 2 next year. The cost per WAR isn't good, but it could be a lot worse. His salary decreasing for the last year and option year if desired is also very fortunate.
I have to think we'll now look to pick up a cheap 5th starter, and could sign a reliever or two. Oh, Siegrist, and/or Romo would look like really nice targets, with an Anderson or Liriano as the SP. A backup catcher like Ruiz could be interesting too.
Yeah, this would make the most sense to me. Really though, there ARE other ways they can handle it (the glove swipe to change the sign for example). I'm sure we'll see the pitchers and catchers get creative.
What happened last year with our backup catchers can't be allowed to happen again, but crappy is crappy. From 2015 to 2016, Thole put up -0.8 WAR in 68 games and had a wRC+ of just over 30. The difference is you can't really replace Thole if you have Dickey, but you can replace the tire fires we went through last year.
No, people have their panties in a twist over what happens to the ball once he lets it go.
Seriously though, it's not just him, but the impact of also rostering someone who can catch him. Those little bits add up over the course of a season.
We could also trade someone like Pearce to free some up, who with another signing probably wouldn't be worth the $7M to us (but should to someone who could offer him more than the butt side of a platoon).