While it wasn’t the marquee move that the Chicago Cubs are still hoping to pull off, the Windy City’s club from the North Side did pull off a rather significant move at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday. The team acquired catcher Miguel Montero from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for a pair of low level minor league arms.
Montero fills an area of need for the Cubs, who were looking to upgrade their situation behind the plate. They were one of the teams in heavy on Russell Martin, but were unwilling to meet his asking price (not that anyone could blame them). In Montero, they get a slightly younger player (by months) at a cheaper cost, as he’s owed another $40 million on his contract across three years. Of course, he doesn’t bring the type of upside that Martin may have, though he could still pan out to be a very strong addition.
In Montero, the Cubs get a player who represents a slight offensive upgrade over Welington Castillo behind the plate, as well as an improvement on defense, where Castillo had been improving. Montero’s last two seasons have been a pretty large disappointment, as he’s accounted for a fWAR of just 2.1 combined in 2013-14. That comes after a pair of seasons in which he recorded a fWAR over four in each. Now, those fWAR figures are quite low compared to that of Castillo, but consider that Montero dealt with injury problems in 2013 and fought the BABIP monster last season. There’s more upside there than we’ve seen in the last couple of years.
As a result, there are still benefits to the Cubs’ acquisition of Montero. He gets on base, with a .342 career on-base percentage, and he does bring some power as a lefty, with 15 homers recorded during three different seasons, as well as 13 last year. The Cubs wanted a left-handed hitter who had the ability to get on base, and they were able to acquire a player that does just that for them. His offensive numbers should see a nice boost playing at Wrigley as well, though Chase Field isn’t exactly a nightmare for hitters.
But where does he stand as a defensive player?
There have been some small questions over Montero’s handling of a younger staff, after his very public issues with Trevor Bauer shaking him off a few years ago. However, he doesn’t appear to have had those issues consistently while in Arizona. Castillo has come a long way in his receiving and blocking ability, but where Montero really provides the upgrade for the Cubs is in the framing department, which has been the star of the offseason, seemingly more than any other player.
Montero was eighth in the league in extra strikes last year, according to Baseball Prospectus, at just over 138 on the year. By comparison, Castillo was 95th in the league and deep into the negative. Also according to Baseball Prospectus, Montero was also ranked eighth in the league last year, at 16.6 framing runs added. Castillo was 95th, coming in with -10 for the year. So the difference in framing gives a clear picture as to why the Cubs had such an interest in Miguel Montero.
Of course, there’s the possibility that the Cubs could hold on for both. After all, a platoon situation in which Montero would match up against righties and Castillo against left-handers would present a chance for each to maximize their offensive potential, based off of their splits alone. Teams are also going to show interest in Welington Castillo, who is still relatively young, has offensive upside, and has come a long way as a defender. However, there have been mixed reports as to what the Cubs actually intend to do. The initial assumption was that they could deploy both of them, but more recent reports indicate that Castillo could be on his way out.
If that’s the way things shake out, the Cubs could look at someone like David Ross as a backup. That would represent a complete overhaul behind the plate and would get some leadership into the clubhouse as well. Now that the trade for Miguel Montero is official, this situation becomes even more intriguing for the Cubs, who should continue to be quite busy as the Winter Meetings, and the offseason, wear on.
