In any other year, the first free agent signing of the offseason by the Houston Astros of a journeyman catcher would be met with stifled yawns and maybe a cursory search of his career stats.

But, in 2019, with a massive MLB investigation of three years of alleged electronic-assisted sign-stealing by Houston underway, the Dustin Garneau signing carries with it enough baggage to cripple O’Hare’s conveyor belt on a Tuesday in April.

The signing of the 32-year-old Garneau may or may not signal the direction of the team going forward: Will they still sign either of Martin Maldonado or Robinson Chirinos, free agents at season’s end? Would either even want to return to what they may now see as a sinking ship?

Will any of the several available free agent catchers shake their heads “no” when his agent calls with Houston’s offer? How easily will a trade be consummated by a besmirched front office?

Does coming to Houston before MLB renders what could be tremor-inducing sanctions now make the Astros as attractive a prospective suitor as a headless leper?

Houston has been able to attract top-drawer talent like Justin Verlander, Michael Brantley, and Gerrit Cole due to the franchise’s recent winning ways and their highly-respected and copied advancements in player development and data-driven stats.

But, until Commissioner Rob Manfred lands his punitive hammer (and maybe for years to come), Minute Maid Park may take on the glowing neon hue of a radioactive swamp to any new players the Astros may want to acquire.

The Rorschach Test

The Challenger

Garneau, with all due respect, doesn’t have the time to ponder such deep ramifications. He can’t afford to take the time. Signing for $650,000 (about a dime above the major league minimum), the right-handed native of southern California even has a $75,000 incentive bonus added to his contract. That piddly bonus isn’t enough to motivate a rookie to pick up his towel off the locker room floor.

Garneau has turned in a sheepish .207/.290/.343 slash line over 381 lifetime plate appearances. He spent his 2019 with both the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A’s. He even hit one of his three home runs off Cole in July while with the Angels.

Known more for his defense, even his pitch-framing and throwing won’t be raising eyebrows.

“He does a real nice job defensively,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told MLB.com in late August 2017. “Works well with the pitchers, calls a good game. Just listening to him when we have our catchers meetings, just listening to the input he has.

“First and foremost for him is catching the game and being on the same page as his pitchers, so you see him in between innings constantly talking to the pitcher about what happened the inning before. He’s all about the catching end of it. Overall, we’ve been really impressed with his body of work.”

Designated for assignment three times in 2019, Garneau was thrilled a team wanted his services… even a team whose future is as riddled with doubt as the Broadway premiere of “Impeachment! The Musical.”

The Team

Did the Astros take a leap for the cheap? Knowing (or suspecting) Chirinos and/or Maldonado wouldn’t want to return to a leaking ship, did they take an easy route to acquire some veteran depth at that position? Does 123 career games in five years even qualify as “veteran”?

Is it possible the only other catcher on the Astros’ 40-man roster, Garrett Stubbs, can teach Garneau a thing or two? Making his MLB debut in 2019, Stubbs has 19 games under his belt, with a career batting average almost equal to the 2009 Colorado Rockies’ 19th round draft pick (Garneau .207, Stubbs .200).

The Incumbent

Stubbs, for his part, is in a stunningly bizarre situation: At the moment, he’s slated to be in the Spring Training lead for a possible starting catching assignment. While some pundits say the acquisition of Garneau points clearly away from that notion, others can argue with little trouble that the 6’2″, 205-pounder isn’t the slam dunk answer, either.

As fans and players await any other actions the team may make in the backstop arena (and there will be one or some), Stubbs, a USC grad, now has the motivation to grab this opportunity by the horns and yank the gig from the former Cal State-Fullerton Titan.

They’ll likely only be competing for the back-up job, anyway, but Stubbs should play with a fire in his belly, regardless.

It’ll be a tough road, inasmuch as Garneau is out of minor league options (Stubbs isn’t), and the team just made the investment.

The Cloudy Crystal Ball

Unwelcome as it may be to all involved, the Garneau acquisition shines a garish klieg light onto the field of the Astros’ front office operations… for now and for the foreseeable future.