The Cubs completed their minor league deal with catcher Jason Jaramillo, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has learned. MLBTR reported in December that the Cubs were nearing a deal with the 29-year-old.
Jaramillo has accumulated 366 big league plate appearances over the last three seasons with the Pirates, hitting .235/.293/.327. A former second-round pick of the Phillies, Jaramillo missed much of this season with an elbow injury. The switch-hitter will be a candidate for the Cubs' backup catcher job behind Geovany Soto, a role filled by Koyie Hill the last several years. Jaramillo is a native of Wisconsin.
MLBTR's Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
Now Garza is expendable.
I know you two were joking, but you do realize he’s a catcher, not a pitcher, right?
That’s what I figured after I read “catcher.”
They know. They’re just part of that sad minority that still think it’s funny to bust out the snark on all small signings for being, well, small signings.
Just be thankful they didn’t go for the world-series-here-we-come tack. That one’s even more annoying.
LoL
Credit to the guy on the MLBTR chat earlier. I am sure his comment led to this post.
He will end up being Soto’s replacement and Castillo will be the starter. I hope they package Soto and Soriano somewhere and get nothing back.
Unlike Soriano, Soto has value. He’s a strong defensive catcher (27% CS rate) and has the potential to be a 280/390/460 hitter. If he is going to get moved, it won’t be until the trade deadline, especially if a contender’s catcher gets injured and/or if Soto’s having a good season.
Soto has less value you then the players the Cubs got from Atlanta for Derek Lee.
I’m happy to see Jason with the Cubs. I hope he gets a legitimate chance with the team this year.
This is the Cubs’ overpaid hitting coach’s son. Ironically, he is bad at the plate. I guess Theo does do family deals.
I don’t believe he is any relation to Rudy. In fact, I can recall Len and Bob making a point of saying Rudy was not any relation to Jason on the Cub broadcasts the last few years…
Agreed – there’s nothing on baseball-reference or wikipedia saying that the two are related.