The Cubs’ rotating cadre of backup catchers turns again today, as Jose Lobaton lands on the 60-day injured list after spraining his shoulder at the end of last night’s ballgame. Taylor Gushue has been recalled to take his roster spot, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma (via Twitter).
Backing up Willson Contreras has proved to be one of the game’s more dangerous professions this year, with Lobaton joining P.J. Higgins and Austin Romine on the 60-day injured list. Tony Wolters actually opened the season as the backup, but he was designated for assignment. Lobaton managed to make it into just six games without recording a hit in 13 plate appearances.
Gushue now steps into the opportunity, prepared to make his Major League debut. The Cubs are Gushue’s third organization after Pittsburgh and Washington. The switch-hitting catcher has played well in his first bit of action with the Cubs, slashing .272/.328/.440 in 137 plate appearances as the primary catcher for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
Just call up Miguel Amaya
Injured.
Damn. Day to day? Or is it serious?
and he’s hitting all of .215 in AA.
Lobaton was hitting zero. So .215 is much better.
You seem like a smart baseball guy – forget BA. That doesn’t matter. What is his OBP? The object is to get on base. Doesn’t have to be a base hit.
Actually, the goal is to win games, and to do that you need to score more runs than the opposition. Often, a hit is more important than a walk in such a situation. A walk is not always as good as a hit.
I understand batting average can be a bit misleading, but let’s not disregard it entirely. As a Rays fan who has seen Yandy Diaz, for example, take a walk when a hit was needed…I can assure you, the two are not equal.
All this debate over a walk or a hit being better, all stemming from a guy who has 13 ab’s. Literally a 2 for 4 night would have swung his average up to near 500.
But on the case of a walk or a hit being better, it’s good at bats that matter most. You’d like a hit primarily, but you don’t want to just swing at everything. So in the case of Diaz, he did the right thing because he walked instead of possibly whiffing from swinging outside the zone. The batter/batters after him are the ones who had bad at bats if they failed to score.
Putting the ball in play instead of striking out is good too.
A walk has always been as good as a hit…always will be…
Can you knock in 2 runs with a walk…?
Robert – What a stupid question. The discussion here, examines what might happen before the batter leaves the box. Your question refers to the result. Anyone and everyone would choose a hit over a walk. The point is both a walk and a hit are offensive positives. In your example, supposing that there are two runners on, a walk would load the bases. Wouldn’t you rather have a grand slam than a two run single?
Yes. Two bases loaded walks.
Yes BillyBaggins. Two bases loaded walks or a couple of hit batsmen or a bases loaded passed ball or wild pitch….or a home run knocks in four….bwahaaa!
Ross will activate himself as the backup catcher, Never should have traded Caratini.
Caratini (as well as Darvish) were traded because the owner decided that he’d scrap the entire 2021 season- so the owner could save some money.
No, they needed to cut payroll due to revenue losses caused by the pandemic, just like many other teams. If they had kept Darvish, they wouldn’t have been able to sign anyone significant including Pederson (while still needing to non-tender Schwarber) last offseason, and they’d have no money available for mid-season trading.
They had plenty of money to sign pederson or or even Jackie Bradley Jr or Michael Brantley. The Ricketts are just cheap. There’s not much else to say about it. When they trade Bryant, Rizzo and Baez they’ll still say they’re broke and again won’t spend money to improve the team. The way the season is going. They absolutely love it. If they wanted to they could’ve signed a premier starter. They signed 3 players to a ML contract. This past winter. Some minor league deals have worked out like Patrick Wisdom. Now he’s hurt. The Ricketts are so cheap they’ll call up Kevin Orie and Jose Hernandez before letting Hoyer spend money on a ML player.
Don’t be surprised if they get nothing for the big three on purpose.
2 of the 3 caught on camera laughing on the bench today as their team was being slaughtered!!
KB and “Anthony”. Such losers!
I heard about that on a local sports talk radio show.
It’s like they know their time is limited so why worry.
Doubt they were laughing. If they were it had nothing to do with the result of the game.
“Backing up Willson Contreras has proved to be one of the game’s more dangerous professions this year”
LOL that’s fantastic.
Sounds like you’re happy Lobaton got hurt. That’s messed up.
lol overreaction much?
Nope. You’re a white sox fan. So don’t care either way.
Not at all. I just think it’s a funny way of putting it. I’m a Cubs fan, by the way.
An all too rare case where T C’s tendency towards hyperbole was actually funny.
Loboton could have easily ended Josh Haders season instead. He hurt himself avoiding Hader at 1st base. Much appreciated
He was nowhere near Hader.
he sure was. Hader was on the ground behind 1st after missing the base with his foot.
If he runs through Hader, he would have slammed his knee into his face. Instead, he did a leap over Josh and screwed up his shoulder.
Brewer fans everywhere are grateful. Maybe watch the play and then edit your comment.
I watched the play and I completely agree! Hader will never win a Humanitarian Award after a complete lack of respect for another human being who could have pummeled him but did everything in his power to avoid him and he separates his shoulder and goes on the 60 day IL.
I saw the play live. He was nowhere near hitting Hader. Hader was on the ground for maybe 30 secs.
You’re 100% wrong
Watched it live through closed eyes maybe
Why comment when you have no idea what you’re talking about. He separated his shoulder while avoiding a collision with Hader
Yes I know he completely avoided him. But it really wasn’t that close.
? Nowhere near? If you didn’t see the play, it is okay not to opine.
Lobaton now draws a ML paycheck for 60 days or more. Going 0-13, he was likely in the bubble.
Phillies have Andrew Knapp avaiable for trade we just need a relief pitcher with an era under 5.00 and a bag of balls with sticky substance on them
You can have Trevor Megill and a 2016 world series poster autographed by the entire Ricketts family.
the way this team treats Knapp i dunno if they’d let him go for prime Trevor Hoffman.
Is it that bad?
As a Brewers fan, I’d like to request the Cubs keep Trevor Megill
Can’t use emojis here but insert *5 laughing emojis here*
I wonder why they wouldn’t bring Wolters back up. Anybody know anything to that end?
He just went on the 60 day IL yesterday
Wolters was outrighted to TripleA in May. He’s not on the IL.
Billy, you spout more mis-information than any other poster.
@IACub I imagine it’s because of Wolters not having options. If they bring him up, and have to send him back to Iowa, another team could claim him. The Cubs are hurting for depth, with all the injuries to catchers.
I am sorry your catcher got hurt. He got hurt trying to avoid Hader! If Hader has stayed flat, he could have
jumped over him! I hope this is not the way LOBO ends his career! If it is,He went out with class!
what was up with Josh Hader? Lobaton did everything to avoid stepping on Hader and injuring him. Hader didn’t even care about Lobaton at all. At least see how he was. He could have just stepped on his hand or arm to avoid himself from getting injured and nothing from Hader. As a human being, I definitely lost some respect for Hader!
That’s just the brewers for you. 99% of the league would’ve checked on him. Maybe it was because the game was over but that doesn’t excuse him from at least checking on him.
Time to activate…David Ross!
The final play last night was messed up big time. Lobaton didn’t run hard and if he had he would have probably best out the play. Since he hesitated, Hadar had time to get back to the bag with put Hadar in Lobaton’s path and necessitated an alteration to avoid a collision and hence a season (career) ending injury. Hadar not checking on him after the play is pretty bad especially when a collision with Lobaton could have been season ending for Hadar. Overall bad play, failure to hustle and poor sportsmanship.
Activate Schwarber!
Oh, wait!
Wilson Ramos?
Loboton is not a good catcher.
Too bad they threw in Victor Caratini for no added value while they were getting fleeced for Darvish. I guess switch hitting catchers who are good at both sides of the dish aren’t that valuable when your only goal is maximizing profit.
Shockingly, someone on this board oversimplifies and is misleading!
1-the deal probably doesn’t get done without Caratini; whether or not you think the cubs should have traded Yu, there was no guarantee he would be as great as he was last year
2-Victor Caratini is hardly some offensive juggernaut–one season of ops+ over 100 in his career. He is solid defensively, and can get a hit periodically–but he is no better than a backup, so calm down.
3-“your only goal is maximizing profit”…which is why the Cubs did not go to arbitration with Bryant or anyone else, and traded Baez and Rizzo before the season started. Oh, wait, they did not do that. And of course, one can always look at how much the Cubs FO spent in the previous few years with no real reward.
Yes, the Cubs FO has made mistakes (as all have), and I am sure they would like Caratini as a backup option right now. But calm down with your claims–at least provide an inkling of the truth when spouting your opinion.
Caratini was Darvish’s personal catcher. No matter what he was going with him. Caratini is not the everyday starter. When the Padres got him. He immediately became their best catcher.
KenRudolph and Randy Hundley may be available
Gushue??
GESUNDHEIT !!
How about Realmuto for Kris Bryant even up
Lol. No. Phillies have no prospects. Knowing the Ricketts they’ll tell Jed to ask for Rookie Ball players. And a case of big league chew. Strawberry
How about Contreras for Bryant? You already have a catcher that doesn’t need to be replaced for a few years. Realmuto for 1 is tied up in an albatross of a contract for a catcher and getting older. Trade for his brother from the ATL. Pache and Contreras for Bryant. Your saving money, and gaining 2 pieces you need for the mor so distant future.
Long term Cubs fan here. All our team needs are a leadoff hitter, three front line starting pitchers, two middle innings guys, one centerfielder and a secondbaseman. This since 2017.