12:59pm: The Athletics will obtain catcher Blake Lalli from the Cubs in the deal, Slusser reports (on Twitter). Chicago designated the catcher for assignment last week and recently outrighted him to Triple-A Iowa. Lalli, who made his MLB debut this year, has a .257/.292/.392 line in 319 plate appearances at Iowa.
12:29pm: The Cubs will acquire Anthony Recker from the Athletics, the catcher's agent confirmed to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). Oakland had designated Recker for assignment exactly one week ago to create 40-man roster space for Brett Anderson.
Recker appeared in 13 early-season games for the Athletics, but he hasn't played at the MLB level since May. The 28-year-old has a .265/.358/.435 batting line in 229 plate appearances at Triple-A this year.
I bet this guy is an upgrade over Soto…
how much you willing to bet?
I’d lost patience with Soto, too. But I’d probably put my hopes on Castillo or Clevenger. This guy’s likely just here to to be a better third catcher than Lalli during expanded rosters in September.
i’ll take that bet
I’m confused. Why trade a 29yr old career minors catcher for a 28yr old (turning 29 in 2 days) career minors catcher?
Because they’re actually different people, with different skills. The Cubs feel Recker has a better chance of helping them. The A’s prefer Lalli.
Recker Quote from Spring training: “PHOENIX — On the verge of Minor League free agency last year, Anthony
Recker made a deal with a buddy back home that, if things didn’t work
out with baseball, they’d team up for an attempt to land a job with the
FBI.”
Recker has been pretty down about never getting much of a shot with the big league club, and the signing of Kottaras after Suzuki left probably pissed him off pretty bad.
I think it’s just a case where, to be fair to Recker, they’re trading him to somebody who might use him. He’s just been perpetually third in the depth chart, and never got a real shot in Oakland.
Could this be a precursor to a much larger deal? hehe just kidding…
This was a steal for the Cubs. Nice.
Absolutely makes no sense at all.
Now all we need is a starting pitcher with the last name of Home. Our battery would be Home-Recker, lol