Counsell has been asked who the emergency catcher is. He wouldn’t say who, just that “This person would not be happy with me if I asked him to do it in an emergency.”
It wouldn’t be the first time that a team who feels somewhat indebted to a player moves him where he wants to go. With that said, they did go to arbitration last offseason.
The Cubs are a very good baseball team right now and more help should be coming in the next week or so. They look like a team that can compete for the pennant.