The Cubs avoided arbitration with catcher Geovany Soto by agreeing to a $4.3MM deal, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. MLBTR had projected the Wasserman Media Group client for $4MM. The Cubs still have a slew of unsettled cases.
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Despite his inconsistency, that is still a bargain.
Goes up guess hitting every at bat. Can’t we try devoolping Wellington Castillo or Michael Brenly instead of this one year wonder?!
Thank you!!!! I agree completely.
Nice try, Michael Brenly!
Michael Brenly is never going to play for the Cubs. A 25 year old who is still in A ball and has a minor league career line of .256/.309/.332.
i think he is completely undervalued….his 2010 season was actually better than his 2008 season, he is one of the top catchers in the game still, power catchers are hard to come by
A catcher who provides above average offense and average to slightly above average defense is a valuable commodity. Everyone expects him to play to the level of his ROY hype year in and year out.
Soto is worse on defense then the worst backup is. And he will hit below .230 every year yet the Cubs think he is a God Send.
Best case scenario, he performs above-average at catcher, and Theo and Jed can trade him for a prospect or two at the deadline. Worst case, he continues to regress (hitting for average) and they have the option of playing Castillo and Clevinger more this season.
It’s HUGE that Koyie Hill is gone. Now the team actually has the chance to have a serviceable backup.
Soto seems to flourish in even years (see 2008, 2010), kind of like Josh Beckett only pitches well in odd years.
2008 – .285/.364/.504 23 HR 86 RBI
2009 – .218/.321/.381 11 HR 47 RBI
2010 – .280/.393/.497 17 HR 53 RBI
2011 – .228/.310/.411 17 HR 54 RBI
His OBP skills are pretty strong (fluctuating between .8 and 1.13 above his average, depending on the year). His defense has been consistently average to above average – he blocks balls well and has a 27% career caught stealing rate, dragged down when he posted a 22% in 2009.
If he can pick his average back up while maintaining the same level of power, I think Soto could be one of the top 5 or 6 best catchers in baseball – I’m not sure why everyone rags on him so much.
well stated
lifetime .806 OPS and all Cubs fans hate him.
you guys are fools. Soto is a good catcher, and even when he has a down year AVG-wise, his secondary stats are very respectable (for a catcher) thanks to his plate discipline. Something Welington Castillo doesn’t have and who’s entire production would be dependent on his AVG.
also as far as him being a ‘one-year wonder’ He’s had two great seasons, and his 2011 was respectable, so he’s far from a one and done type of player.
So is Geovany Soto going to bat clean-up this season?
The power production could be that low.
At best he will be coming off the bench with a rare start from time to time. I can’t wait for Michael Brenely to come up through the system in 4 or 5 yrs by that time Geo will be in Mexico selling drugs.
First bad move for Theo and Jed here, should have let him sign a minor league contract elsewhere.