Cubs looking to bring in a catcher

[mdwilla]

According to the herald and Lou's pregame comments the Cubs will be brining in another Catcher. Any ideas ? Barrett?

[Rob]

According to the herald and Lou's pregame comments the Cubs will be brining in another Catcher. Any ideas ? Barrett?

 

Paul Phillips maybe?

 

Personally, I'd probably just bring up Chris Robinson as a reward for his work in Iowa.

[CubColtPacer]

Bruce said on his blog that a trade appeared imminent and the name he had heard as a possibility was Chris Coste. That doesn't seem to be a bad match as the Phillies don't seem to have much use for him right now.

[Clem Fandango]

Based on the atrocities I've heard about Jake Fox at 3rd and the little I saw while he was there, would it really be that big a deal to toss Fox behind homeplate and split some time with Hill? There's no place else to play him and that was his natural position... seems kind of obvious. Unless he really is the guy who people say drops routine pitches on the regular

[JeffH]

Chad Moeller?

[Guest]

Bako.

 

Seriously, who? They need to to forget that and just playout the games because there's not a whole lot that they can realistically do to make this team better other than get healthy. They are stuck with everyone except whoever plays second base and even if they bring in a hitting secondbaseman he isn't going to change the dynamics of this team substantially.

[Guest]

Based on the atrocities I've heard about Jake Fox at 3rd and the little I saw while he was there, would it really be that big a deal to toss Fox behind homeplate and split some time with Hill? There's no place else to play him and that was his natural position... seems kind of obvious. Unless he really is the guy who people say drops routine pitches on the regular

I saw him in AA have three or four passed balls in one game. He's that bad.

[JeffH]

Coste? A backup catcher with a .779 career OPS? Hendry will get fleeced.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Chris Robinson?

[Post Count Padder]

I have a feeling it's Coste.

[Sammy Sofa]

Based on the atrocities I've heard about Jake Fox at 3rd and the little I saw while he was there, would it really be that big a deal to toss Fox behind homeplate and split some time with Hill? There's no place else to play him and that was his natural position... seems kind of obvious. Unless he really is the guy who people say drops routine pitches on the regular

I saw him in AA have three or four passed balls in one game. He's that bad.

 

Yeah, catcher is (despite that's what he came up as) by far the worst of the defensive positions he can be put at. It's far too important a position and he has too much trouble with the "catch" part of catching.

[dew1679666265]

I wouldn't be opposed to acquiring Coste, but we shouldn't give up that much. I'm not sure how he is defensively, but he's slugged .505, .419 and .423 his three full ML seasons. He's much below that right now (.382 SLG), but is capable of better, at least. His OBP is higher than it has been since his age 33 season, though, and his IsoD is at .097.

 

If he could slug a little more than he has thus far and continue the patience he's showing this year, he could be helpful lower in the order. He wouldn't be a groundbreaking move, but could be a nice addition while Soto's out.

[B]

Rob Bowen

[Little Slide Rooter]

I wouldn't be opposed to acquiring Coste, but we shouldn't give up that much. I'm not sure how he is defensively, but he's slugged .505, .419 and .423 his three full ML seasons. He's much below that right now (.382 SLG), but is capable of better, at least. His OBP is higher than it has been since his age 33 season, though, and his IsoD is at .097.

 

If he could slug a little more than he has thus far and continue the patience he's showing this year, he could be helpful lower in the order. He wouldn't be a groundbreaking move, but could be a nice addition while Soto's out.

 

Astros just claimed him. For the most part, theres no point going out and aquiring a guy who may or may not be better than Chris Robinson.

[CubColtPacer]

I wouldn't be opposed to acquiring Coste, but we shouldn't give up that much. I'm not sure how he is defensively, but he's slugged .505, .419 and .423 his three full ML seasons. He's much below that right now (.382 SLG), but is capable of better, at least. His OBP is higher than it has been since his age 33 season, though, and his IsoD is at .097.

 

If he could slug a little more than he has thus far and continue the patience he's showing this year, he could be helpful lower in the order. He wouldn't be a groundbreaking move, but could be a nice addition while Soto's out.

 

Astros just claimed him. For the most part, theres no point going out and aquiring a guy who may or may not be better than Chris Robinson.

 

The odds that he's significantly better offensively than Robinson are probably between 95 and 98 percent. There's no comparison between the two. I'm talking at least 100 points of OPS and possibly a decent bit more.

[dew1679666265]

I wouldn't be opposed to acquiring Coste, but we shouldn't give up that much. I'm not sure how he is defensively, but he's slugged .505, .419 and .423 his three full ML seasons. He's much below that right now (.382 SLG), but is capable of better, at least. His OBP is higher than it has been since his age 33 season, though, and his IsoD is at .097.

 

If he could slug a little more than he has thus far and continue the patience he's showing this year, he could be helpful lower in the order. He wouldn't be a groundbreaking move, but could be a nice addition while Soto's out.

 

Astros just claimed him. For the most part, theres no point going out and aquiring a guy who may or may not be better than Chris Robinson.

 

The odds that he's significantly better offensively than Robinson are probably between 95 and 98 percent. There's no comparison between the two. I'm talking at least 100 points of OPS and possibly a decent bit more.

 

Yeah, Coste isn't a stud catcher but he'd be better offensively than any catcher in our organization right now (save, of course, for Soto).

[dew1679666265]

Well, with Coste off the market now, what are some other options the Cubs may look at?

 

Interesting backups:

 

Braves C Dave Ross: .279/.380/.547/.927 101 PA

 

DBacks C Chris Snyder: .224/.354/.381/.734 165 PA (better SLG in recent years, similar to Coste)

 

Royals C John Buck: .226/.313/.452/.765 97 PA

 

Mets C Ramon Castro: .253/.322/.430/.752 87 PA

 

Nationals C Josh Bard: .281/.354/.395/.749 127 PA

 

All are backup catchers and none should be extremely expensive. No idea which ones would be available, though.

[dew1679666265]

Here's the link to Coste being claimed off waivers by the Astros, by the way.

[mdwilla]

Sndyer/Ross/olivo /Zaun/ Are hopefully on the CUbs radar.

[dew1679666265]

Sndyer/Ross/olivo /Zaun/ Are hopefully on the CUbs radar.

 

Olivo is an interesting candidate. He's not getting on base at all, but he's slugging well. I'm not sure what the Royals are doing, though, since they just gave up what looks like pretty good prospects for Yuniesky Betancourt.

[Backtobanks]

You have to bring in another catcher because having Fox as a backup catcher eliminates him as our RH power off the bench. (Managers don't like using their 2nd catcher to pinch hit in case of an injury.) It seems like we've been playing with a 23 or 24 man roster all season with injuries and players not being used (Patton).

[daske17]

Doumit and Sanchez for Patton plz. :beg:

[Little Slide Rooter]

Im surprised nobodys mentioning this, but why are we doing this, unless they think Sotos injury could be more serious than reported. Granted a Koyie Hill/Robinson or Clevenger catching tandum isnt steller, but if Geos out 2-3 weeks, I think we could survive with it, rather than deal for a guy who would be needed for only 2-3 weeks.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I suppose if we looked under enough cardboard boxes in random allys we may come across Paul LoDuca.

[Friendly Confines]

I'm glad we finally decided to address our major problems by bringing in backup catchers. It's a nice change from the below average MI's.