6:53pm: The Cubs received a few inquiries about Castillo after the Montero trade but the club isn’t actively shopping him, Theo Epstein told reporters (including Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune).
3:39pm: After adding Miguel Montero via trade, the Cubs will shop incumbent starter Welington Castillo, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports on Twitter. Chicago had already participated in exploratory talks earlier in the offseason when the team was pursuing Russell Martin.
Castillo, 27, comes with three years of control. MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz project him to earn $2.1MM this year, a modest sum for a starting-caliber backstop.
The right-handed-hitting catcher posted two straight above-average years of offensive production before stepping back slightly in 2014. He slashed .237/.296/.389 last year, with a career-best 13 home runs in 417 plate appearances. StatCorner was down on his pitch framing work, though Baseball Prospectus had a more optimistic overall outlook on his defensive value.
