Christian Vázquez was the only impending free agent the Twins didn’t deal away at the trade deadline.

That decision surprised him.

There were, of course, some additional considerations. He wasn’t hitting well at all. He was still owed $3.33 million over the final two months, a hefty salary for a team to pick up on a backup catcher. Contending teams rarely trade for catchers anyway, because of the difficulty learning a new pitching staff during a playoff race.

It still, surely, led to some awkwardness. The Twins traded 11 players at the trade deadline, including six who will be free agents after the World Series concludes.

“It was tough seeing everybody leave from here,” Vázquez said. “A lot of good friends left. I thought we had a great team to win the World Series here. It was a disaster on that day. But that’s part of the game. That’s part of the business. Nothing we can control, but it was hard to swallow.”

Vázquez, 35, says he is looking forward to free agency. He won’t command the same type of contract he did beforehand — the Twins signed him to a three-year, $30 million deal in 2022 — because of his poor offensive production over the past three seasons (.215 batting average, .577 OPS), but he maintains a good defensive reputation.

The Guardians re-signed Austin Hedges, an elite defender and one of the league’s worst statistical hitters, to a $4 million contract last week.

Are there any fears a catcher’s defense will lose some value when Major League Baseball implements a strike zone challenge system next year?