The Angels announced that they have traded catcher Matt Thaiss to the Cubs for cash considerations. The Halos had designated him for assignment last week. The Cubs have designated right-hander Trey Wingenter for assignment to open a roster spot, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X.
Thaiss, 30 in May, leaves the Angels for the first time in his professional career. He was a first-round pick of that club in 2016, getting taken 16th overall. He was a catcher in college but the Angels announced him as a corner infielder when they drafted him, clearly more interested in his bat.
As he worked his way up the minor leagues, he did indeed show that his offense could be an asset. He hit .279/.363/.445 for a 117 wRC+ across multiple minor league levels from 2016 to 2019. However, his major league work hasn’t been nearly as impressive. At this point, he has 771 big league plate appearances with a .208/.313/.342 line and 83 wRC+.
That production would be unacceptable for a corner infielder but not bad by backup catcher standards. The Halos often had a crowded mix of guys vying for playing time as the designated hitter or the corner spots over the years, such as Shohei Ohtani, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, Jared Walsh and others. That prompted them to move Thaiss back behind the plate in 2021. Most metrics view Thaiss as a subpar defender back there, perhaps not surprising for a guy who spent several years away from that spot.
Though he’s been a passable backup to Logan O’Hoppe in recent years, the Angels decided to move on. After Travis d’Arnaud was let go by Atlanta, the Halos quickly swooped in and signed him to a two-year deal. That nudged Thaiss down to #3 on the catching chart. Since he’s out of options, they designated him for assignment, which led to today’s deal.
For the Cubs, he’s a sensible landing spot for now, as they have question marks behind the plate. They released Yan Gomes in June, Tomás Nido in August and then outrighted Christian Bethancourt in November. Prior to acquiring Thaiss, Miguel Amaya was the only catcher on their 40-man roster. It was reported back in August that they would be looking for catching help this winter.
Amaya performed well down the stretch for the Cubs but was subpar for the season overall. He’s out of options and not far removed from being a top prospect, so he probably has a decent grip on a roster spot, but he’s far from established as a big leaguer. He has 170 major league games under his belt with a .227/.300/.357 batting line and 87 wRC+.
Perhaps the Cubs envision a platoon arrangement, since Amaya hits from the right side and Thaiss from the left, though Amaya has reverse splits in his short career so far. It’s also possible that the Cubs will sign a more established catcher and try to pass Thaiss through waivers later in the offseason. Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Carson Kelly are just some of the many backstops available in free agency.
Perhaps Moisés Ballesteros will be a factor as well, as he is considered one of the top 100 prospects in the game and has reached Triple-A. However, he has only 68 games at that level and is still just 21 years old, so keeping him on the farm a little longer is also possible.
Time will tell if the Cubs continue addressing their catching mix throughout the winter, but for now, they’ve taken a flier on a sensible stopgap. For what was surely a small amount of money in baseball terms, they’ve added an experienced catcher with an intriguing past pedigree, without doing anything to block the possibility of other moves down the road.
Wingenter, 31, was just claimed off waivers in August and made five appearances for the Cubs late in the 2024 season. They could have retained him for next season via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $1.4MM salary next year. It seems they didn’t plan on doing that, so they have sent him into DFA limbo today. They will have a few days to see if there’s any trade interest, but he could end up back on waivers or non-tendered later this week. In his 95 1/3 major league innings, he has a 5.66 earned run average, 30.5% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate.
Is there one thing this guy does well? Take walks? I truly hope he never sees the MLB roster
He is fine as minor league depth in case of an injury, as he might clear waivers. But if he is on the Opening Day roster, even as a backup, that will be rather disappointing.
Jed is really cooking. World Series incoming. Now I totally understand why he didn’t go after Soto. LFG!!
Thaiss is versatile but doesn’t do anything particularly well. He is a good filler piece. Maybe some new coaching not employed by the Angels can help him break out.
Thaiss is a 5 tool player
That’s actually slightly funny!
You;re right. His 5 tools include catcher’s mitt, baseball bat, cleats, batting gloves, and a jockstrap.
@Googleme
You are showing your age!
Jockstrap?
Pssst its sliding shorts now. ha ha ha
I heard he hasn’t changed his joccky-strap in 2 years because he thinks flies are lucky.
I hope Hoyer has a way better plan than this for a Catcher. This seems to be an I’m down to my last dollar and owe the IRS 2 million dollars so I’ll buy a lottery ticket move.
I’m sure he will go get another guy slightly better than this but also at a very reasonable price. Because in the end, its all about budget.
Does he have a good jaw? Gotta have that if you’re a five-tool player. Or maybe he’s got an ugly girlfriend…
Good luck Matt! Hope he becomes a super utility guy that catches, and plays 3b and 1b.
This, Matt is a good utility guy, he’ll probably play out his career as one. There’s just no need on the Angels roster, since he’s predominantly a catcher.
I think Thaiss is a little better than they make him out to be, but at worst, he is insurance just n case their other catching targets go elsewhere.
@joe brady. Angels needed a dh, and thaiss sat over calhoun who probably won’t get a major league deal or a roster spot. Thaiss is a catcher but a terrible one that gets called for catcher Interference all the time. He has his detractors for a reason.
I remember that game against the Red Sox when he did it twice in 1 inning!! I miss the Jeff Mathis days…
Now they just need to non-tender Madrigal and all will be right in the world.
And Wisdom .. and Mastrobouni (sp)
Why?
Because neither are very good at baseball.
Thaiss is fortunate to leave such an awful organization for a fresh start.
And the Cubs are the epitome of “well run organizations”? Not knocking the Cubs because I love going to Wrigley, but come on!
Nah, I’m a Cubs fan and you definitely should knock them. Hoyer is out here surfing the bargain bin with his “intelligent spending” so they can hopefully have another 83 win season rather than going out and shopping at the top of the free agent market like they should be. Not to mention Ricketts has also seemingly given the FO a salary cap at the 1st luxury tax. That’s just not acceptable for a supposed “big market” team trying to contend.
You clearly are uniformed about Arte Moreno.
You clearly need to learn to read better.
I did not defend the Angels, I merely pointed out the the Cubs are not at the top of the list when fans talk about well run organizations, either.
Or is it you do not know the meaning of the word epitome.
Epitome meaning:
a person or thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type.
He might just need some better coaching and training to get to that next level.
Gosh if we could have someone pronounce his name backwards that would be great
Patrick wisdom to the mariners
That would not be wise…
Which is why they’ll do it…
Well at least the Angels got *something* for Thaiss. Don’t hate the guy, but he’s a below average player.
@kellin. I guess 5 dollars back and a bucket of balls is better than nothing.
Yeah I was wondering that also. What exactly did they get besides some cash? Even Wingenter would have been something.
Wrong one Jed.
You were supposed to get O’Hoppe.
O’Hoppe ain’t goin’ nowhere. He’s part of the young core of the future.
@kellin. Where’s uncle Mike
Queue the creepy music.
Right here. I’m surely hoping that this isn’t the Cubs ” Big Catching Move” of the off season. Thaiss is even worse than Bethancourt IMO. I’m not even sure he makes the team NOW rather than later.
@unclemike. It could be a move to stash him in the minors. Doesn’t sound like he had many suitors.
All the people complaining here, would you rather they brought Tucker Barnhart back?
We essentially did just bring him back with this trade.
I’ve never full understood cash considerations, only when it’s included with a player to lower the salary.
In this case, how does that work exactly? They just send them a check for $500k? (or however much it is)
@cookmeister. Sucks because I don’t think they have to disclose it. Hopefully it’s international money for sasaki
Yeah, I think we’d all like to know just how much money is going back. I don’t really care about the amount, its more just curiosity to see how much they value these players. Then again, if it was $1, that might feel insulting to the player..
I always imagine the Moneyball scene when he says he wants them to pay for the soda machine lol
@kellin. They must’ve changed the rules, because it wasn’t that long ago where you would see it say 250k,ptbnl or bonus pool money.
@rex I think I remember that.
Kellin—considering he was already into day 6 of his DFA, I’m willing to bet your $1 assessment isn’t too far off. He was getting close to being a free agent and they would have gotten zilch for him—so somewhere in the range under $10,000 is quite possible.
It can be as low as $1. Ryan Spillbourghs was traded from Cleveland to Texas for $1 years ago, he’s brought it up on his radio show.
So the Cubs hopefully, finally move on from Wisdom only to bring on Thaiss. It’s still early in the off season but C’mon man.
Cmon man… for that price, Thaiss is twice, maybe even thrice, as nice…
If Amaya has reverse splits, cubs fans better hope the plan isn’t for a platoon. Because I can tel you right now, it’d be Amaya vs lefties still and Thaiss versus righties.
When the Brewers signed Luke Voit, he was known to have reverse splits. Yet he rarely faced righties and almost never started against them. Yet when they faced lefties, who Voit was known to be junk against, Voit would be in the starting lineup. Counsell doesn’t understand reverse splits.
Cubs are a joke.
Anthony Rendon’s walk up song should be “Money For Nothing”
And rent is free. I want my stds.
Cubs going to act like a large market team this off season?
The final piece!
Sure, it’s the world’s oldest joke, but hey I need to amuse myself at times….
I was happy when Thaiss was selected. His bat profiled well at the MLB level.
It didn’t work out, but we also have crap development. Hope it works for him on the North Side.
Go get a proper coaching and prosper, Mr. Thaiss!
Even money that he doesn’t see Wrigley once this year unless he buys a ticket. He’s a camp arm and maybe they stash him in Iowa to be the third catcher behind Ballesteros and Aliendo.
I’m typically a Hoyer supporter, but I’m worried that Thaiss is seen as a 25 man roster guy.
Now that he’s not an Angel he’ll probably hit 15 bombs as a backup catcher next season.
I always wanted to be so bored, that I have enough time to make a account name, and troll a teams fan base.
You still can. Goals…
It looks like you already have. But since “Hud” played for, or did color for, damn near the entire league, we can’t figure out which fan base you’re trolling. Therefore, you are just a general troll.
@low. He just did commentary for the angels and the royals. As far his playing career. It was definitely alot.
Why
Yo can’t underestimate how cheap Ricketts can be. I really think this is Jed’s value backup catcher unfortunately. Might as well have just tendered Bethancourt if you were just gonna take scraps from one of the worst teams in the league. I am hoping I am wrong but wouldn’t be surprised if the two trades today, a value starter and utility guy and he calls it an off-season. Building the next 83 win team.
They are so afraid of any bad contract. As soon as Darvish showed any of his prior form they immediately traded him for whatever they could get to get out of the money. When all the short stops were available they made sure to get the lowest risk, best priced one, in Swanson. They went out and spent like 40 million on outfielders who are good not great, even though that was an area where they actually had valid prospects. Now we want to trade Bellinger…for what…what we going to ge to replace him.
Personally, I think if he gets some of the 200 plate appearances that Mastrobuoni and Madrigal got combined last year then it’s an upgrade
How much is cash considerations? 10 bucks?
Thaiss the way you do it.
I think he had his chance to prove it with the Angels, but never could get the offensive side going…and those catcher’s interference calls! Maybe with more consistent playing time he’ll turn it around, but I think it was a good call to move on.