The Chicago Cubs traded for backup catcher Matt Thaiss earlier this week and while he could end up being an option on the major league roster it would be prudent of the organization to continue their pursuit at improving the catcher position. Luckily, we don’t have to guess if that’s what they will do and while there’s never a guarantee that they’ll accomplish their goal the Cubs are reportedly still focused on upgrading at catcher following the Thaiss trade.
Thaiss, 29, was DFA’d by the Los Angeles Angels last week and then the Cubs sent over some cash to LA to acquire the backstop. Despite a decent 0.6 bWAR in less than 200 plate appearances in 2024, Thaiss should only be viewed as a depth option and according to The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, the Cubs won’t stop their pursuit to upgrade the catcher position with him.
Via The Athletic.
The same should be said about the Cubs’ catching situation after they acquired Matt Thaiss from the Los Angeles Angels for cash Wednesday. The Cubs saw an opportunity to grab Thaiss — the Angels have Logan O’Hoppe as their starter and just signed Travis d’Arnaud — at a low cost and pounced. But they will continue to look to upgrade the spot.
Miguel Amaya, who did bounce back in a big way during the second half of the 2024 season, is the other catcher on the current 40-man roster. Top catching prospect Moises Ballesteros made it up to Triple-A this past season, but question marks surrounding the young player’s skills behind the plate remain, so the Cubs probably aren’t in a rush to promote Ballesteros early in 2025.
So, let’s take a look at the catchers who are still available in free agency and the catchers who have already been signed.
Travis d’Arnaud: 2 years, $12 million – signed with Angels
Austin Hedges: 1 year, $4 million – re-signed with Guardians
Jacob Stalling: 1 year, $2.5 million (2026 option) re-signed with Rockies
Out of the three prominent catchers that have signed early on in the offseason the biggest missed target by the Cubs appears to be 35-year-old Travis d’Arnaud. Seemed like an ideal fit to pair up with Miguel Amaya, but now he’ll be the mentor for Logan O’Hoppe with the Angels. The Cubs had previously been connected to d’Arnaud in free agent rumors.
Danny Jansen
Carson Kelly
Kyle Higashioka
Gary Sánchez
Yasmani Grandal
Elias Díaz
James McCann
There are more free agent catchers available, but the list above only includes the ones who had a positive WAR during the 2024 season. Yeah, not exactly a strong market this offseason at catcher.
It’s crazy how a few months can completely change the perception of a player because back in May and June Cubs fans, myself included, were pounding the table and demanding a trade for Elias Diaz. The Colorado Rockies ended up holding onto him through the trade deadline and then released him in the middle of August.
Diaz had an .800 OPS entering July, but then fell off the face of the Earth in the next six weeks leading to his release. He was eventually picked up by the San Diego Padres, but only got 21 at-bats in September and now the 34-year-old isn’t getting much buzz from the Cubs or any other catcher-needy team in free agency.
Danny Jansen and Carson Kelly have been linked to the Cubs this offseason and frankly both seem like they could fit in nicely with the club. Out of the two, Jansen has the better track record offensively, despite coming off a down year at the plate for him, and Kelly has generally graded out as the better defender, although not by a big margin.
Jansen is seen as a top-50 free agent this offseason with a contract projection of 2 years for $20 million on MLBTR and 2 years for $16 million over at Fangraphs.
Out of the two, Jansen obviously provides the higher upside offensively, but if the Cubs are looking for value, then Kyle Higashioka might end up being a viable option.
Pure speculation here, but if the Cubs don’t want to extend themselves financially for a catcher who will most likely be in a time-share with Amaya in 2025, then a one-year deal for the 34-year-old veteran could be right down their alley. Higashioka hit 17 home runs in 2024 for the San Diego Padres, posting a 105 wRC+ in 263 plate appearances. He has excellent framing skills and double-digit home runs in each of the last four years during his time with the New York Yankees and Padres.
From 2021-24, Higashioka has a combined 5.2 fWAR. During that same time period Kelly’s at 4.2 fWAR. For reference, Jansen, despite a low 0.5 fWAR in 2024, has a 6.6 fWAR in the past four seasons.
Long story short, the Cubs need to keep exploring their options at catcher and whether it’s one of those guys in free agency or via trade, they still need to improve the position this offseason. Let’s hope they do.
