12:30pm: The Cubs announced that they have indeed signed Wolters to a one-year, Major League contract.
9:00am: Veteran catcher Tony Wolters, who recently opted out of a minor league contract with the Pirates, is now likely to sign with the Cubs, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Bruce Levine of 670TheScore reported last night that the Cubs had interest in the longtime Rockies backstop.
Willson Contreras, of course, is the starting catcher for the Cubs and should be in line for a sizable workload this year. However, the Cubs traded backup Victor Caratini to the Padres alongside Yu Darvish earlier in the winter, and they’ve done little to address the position in the subsequent months. Wolters and fellow veteran Jonathan Lucroy were on the Cubs’ radar, per Levine, but it seems the Cubs will go with the younger and more well-regarded defender of that pairing.
Wolters, 28, has spent the past five seasons as the Rockies’ primary catcher despite a meager .238/.323/.319 career batting line (57 wRC+, 62 OPS+). He had a particularly rough year at the dish in 2020’s shortened schedule, batting just .230/.280/.270 in a limited sample of 109 plate appearances.
On the defensive side of the coin, however, Wolters is considerably more appealing. He went just 3-for-20 in thwarting stolen bases last year, but prior to the 2020 season he carried a lifetime 32.8 percent caught-stealing rate that is well above the league average (around 27 percent). Wolters’ framing marks have dipped since 2019, but he graded as one of the game’s better options in that regard for much of his early career. Beyond that, Baseball Prospectus has graded him as average overall in terms of blocking pitches (and quite a bit above average as recently as ’19).
The Rockies non-tendered Wolters rather than pay him a raise on last year’s $1.9MM salary. He still hasn’t reached five full years of big league service, so if Wolters is able to make the Cubs’ roster and stick through the season, he’d be controllable via arbitration through the 2022 campaign.
CalcetinesBlancos
Is he related to Barbara?
baseballpun
Only by marriage.
bobtillman
No. She’s related to former Senator Ed Brooks….in a biblical way…
bosox2004
LOL
Polish Hammer
No, and she pronounces her name Wawa…
bobtillman
Yep. Imagine, a Massachusetts politician having an extra-marital affair! I’m SHOCKED, just SHOCKED!!!
whatever
In my opinion, 2020 should be forgotten, even in baseball. They were playing in stupid circumstances so the stats don’t even matter to me.
baseballpun
Anyone relying on 2020 stats in an argument has already lost the argument.
rememberthecoop
I agree whatever. It’s also suffers from small sample bias.
stpbaseball
As a Padre fan I have to believe they count for something! lol
Bplast
Ha has I told that to a Dodger fan the other day he got pissed lol!
terry g
I don’t agree with that. If a player was injured or called up late. We would use the 60 game stats. How much value we place on those stats is an individual call in my opinion.
ItsStillMillerPark
Wolters…the light hitting catcher that had the game winning RBI against the Cubs in the wild card game in 2018…now joins the Cubs….
lambeau gang
I was gonna say, I thought Wolters was the guy that knocked the Cubbies out of the playoffs a couple years ago. That’s quite ironic.
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
Not good enough to make the Pirates, so the Cubs sign him…
terry g
Too expensive for the current pirates
KermitJagger
No, he soundly lost the backup job to Michael Perez.
baseballpun
Something something dumpster diving.
golga333
“However, the Cubs traded backup Victor Caratini to the Padres alongside Yu Darvish earlier in the winter, and they’ve done little to address the position in the subsequent months.”
Steve, you should mention they signed Austin Romine to be the backup. He’s injured, which is what necessitated the Wolters signing.
Dogbone
Really not much of a difference between Wolters and Caratini. And I say that, as I was a fan of Victor.
rondon
Caratini is a better hitter.
LordD99
I was combing through the story wondering what happened to Romine.
amk1920
He already ended their season once. Time to join them.
Vanilla Good
Cub Killer
Y2KAK
What about Austin Romine? He is very good in he is backing up a star
Brick House Coffee Tables Inc
Wolters is the guy I wanted instead of Romine in the first place, but I was surprised that he went to camp with the Pirates. He is a classic NL backup catcher who gets some meaningless walks each year in the #8 spot. He will be fine for a month, and if Romine comes back healthy they can split the catching duties should the Cubs trade Contreras in May to whichever AL East team is playing below expectations.
Higgins is not good enough defensively to be the backup personal catcher type, and his ability to play 3B/1B doesn’t matter on this club.
Franco27
He does take walks, which as an 8th hitter with pitcher coming up next, turns the lineup over to the leadoff hitter the next inning. Nothing wrong with that.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
They don’t need another catcher. I think Austin Romine is the the IL but he’s the backup to Contreras.
Franco27
That would be why they need another catcher, because Romine is on the IL. You can’t go with only 1 catcher.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
They have other options in Triple A. Wolters is tbe odd man out. They won’t go with 3 catchers.
Franco27
Wolters just signed major league contract. Not going anywhere until Romine comes back. At that point, they will still probably keep him at Triple A if they need him again. If they are in the race late, don’t be surprised if they go with 3 catchers.
cubbbies15
I don’t know why the cubs didn’t go with Miguel Amaya. Why not your not looking like you want to bring back Rizzo Baez or Bryant. He is supposed to be a stud. Why not service time who cares. All kinds of money come off the books next year. Since they are cheap.
Franco27
MLB experience when it comes to handling pitchers. They also want Amaya to get regular abs in minors rather than a few in the majors.
cbrookhouzen
Beware of a light hitting ex Rockie!
gbs42
Going from the Pirates to the Cubs. So, from the NL Central cellar to fourth place.
(It’s a joke…)
onegame
He hits LH and that seems like the main reason for his signing. Splits are slightly better against RH than LH so he is a decent possibility as the caddie for Contreras. Not as good as Caratini would be at this point but that mistake is already made. Still thought Lucroy offered more offensive upside, but Wolters isn’t a terrible choice. Allows the prospect Amaya more development time. Decent move IMHO.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
I saw the projected every day lineup for the Padres. They predicted Austin Nola over Caratini as the everyday catcher. That’s some BS right there. Obviously Caratini catches for Yu, but he should be catching 4 or 5 times a week.
Polish Hammer
Every time you see Lucroy’s name pop up it makes you wonder what could’ve been…and Tribe fans rejoice in knowing sometimes the best deals are those not consummated.