Willson Contreras

While it would seem surprising to see the Cubs put young backstop Willson Contreras up for trade, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link) that it’s a possibility. “Multiple teams” around the game believe the Chicago organization will take offers for the 27-year-old, per the report.

Let’s stop here to make clear: the expectations of rival executives does not a trade make. But it’s notable nevertheless that such a potential outcome has sprung up at this earlier stage of the offseason; after all, teams have been talking already. The negotiating partners of Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein will want to know whether there’s any realistic possibility of landing Contreras, or whether instead they should simply look elsewhere.

There’s no denying the major value Contreras would have on the open market. He dealt with some leg injuries, but was excellent when healthy. Over 409 plate appearances, Contreras slashed .272/.355/.533 with 24 home runs. He’s a lifetime 117 wRC+ hitter who is perhaps on the upswing (or at least not in decline) with the bat.

Behind the plate? The tools all seem to be there. He has generally been quite successful at cutting down the running game and at blocking stray pitches. There’s an argument that Contreras has been on the upswing in the framing department; he ended the year ranked as a positive in that regard — at least by one tabulation. Framing metrics have varied.

MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian looked at this question recently, noting that there are multiple ways to look at the matter. It seems clear the team feels that Contreras isn’t a fully finished product, though in some respects that only makes him more intriguing.

Bastian quotes Epstein:

“We’ve won a lot of games with Willson Contreras behind the plate. We’ve had a lot of success pitching with Willson Contreras behind the plate. There are certainly areas he can continue to improve upon, but shame on us if we can’t continue his development at the big league level, because this is like the most tooled-out, athletic catcher who has a huge heart and cares and wants his pitcher to succeed as well.”

Contreras won’t turn 28 until next May. He’s projected to earn a relatively stout $4.5MM in his first trip through arbitration, but that’s a plenty manageable figure for a regular backstop. The three years of contract control remaining are quite enticing, all things considered.

All of those factors also make Contreras exceptionally valuable to the Cubs — a team that isn’t exactly in position to pack it in for a rebuild. True, they have Victor Caratini on hand to perhaps take a bigger piece of the action if paired with a veteran. But you’d think that new manager David Ross would be well-positioned to help Contreras reach his monster ceiling. And there’s a reason that clubs prize the few, rare catchers in the game that contribute both with the glove and with the bat on a near-everyday basis.

Teams are already considering just how much to pay the older but also excellent Yasmani Grandal in free agency. They may have a more affordable alternative in Contreras, though it’ll surely cost a small fortune in trade value. (Last year’s J.T. Realmuto swap provides some conceptual help, though he was a year closer to free agency at the time he was dealt.) Just what the Cubs would be looking for in return isn’t known, though it would presumably not be an entirely future-oriented bargain for the Chicago organization. It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether talks gain any traction and, if so, what direction they take.

The Cubs will activate catcher Willson Contreras and install him in tonight’s lineup, skipper Joe Maddon (h/t Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, via Twitter). Veteran Ben Zobrist is also set to return to action for the first time since early May.

Contreras has been sidelined for about a month, leaving the team without a key regular. Jonathan Lucroy was added to partner with Victor Caratini and hold down the fort, but the club is well shy of full strength without its first-choice receiver.

The Cubs obviously feel that Contreras has recovered fully from the hamstring strain that forced him to the sideline. Otherwise, he’d presumably remain on ice. The club can ill-afford an aggravation of the malady, which might risk Contreras’s postseason availability. At the same time, he’s certainly needed to help the club as it attempts to chase down the Cardinals and hold off Wild Card contenders over the final month of the season.

The Cubs have been without Willson Contreras for three-plus weeks after he suffered a right hamstring strain, but the star catcher is closing in on a return. Contreras will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa on Friday, and if all goes well in the minors, he could rejoin the Cubs within a week, manager Joe Maddon told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune and other reporters.

Contreras went down during the Cubs’ game Aug. 3, which was especially unfortunate just a few days after the July 31 trade deadline passed. With Contreras and Victor Caratini healthy at the deadline, the Cubs decided veteran Martin Maldonado was inessential, as they sent him to the Astros for utilityman Tony Kemp. Of course, the Cubs only acquired Maldonado from the Royals in mid-July because Contreras landed on the IL with a different injury – a right foot strain.

Even with the deadline out of the way and Maldonado out of the picture, Chicago was able to pull in an experienced catcher earlier this month. The team signed former standout Jonathan Lucroy on Aug. 7, which came shortly after the Angels released him. Lucroy’s multiyear decline has continued as a Cub, though he has at least given the team OK offensive production for a backup. The 33-year-old entered Thursday with a .276/.344/.345 line in 29 plate appearances since he joined the Cubs.

Unlike Lucroy, Caratini has been quite valuable this season, which has made the blow of losing Contreras easier to absorb. Caratini swatted a pair of home runs in the Cubs’ win over the Mets on Thursday, giving him nine HRs and a robust .274/.363/.480 line across 201 trips to the plate. Not only that, but Caratini has graded as one of Baseball Prospectus’ top defensive catchers this year.

When the Cubs’ top two catchers are healthy, few teams are in better shape behind the plate. Injuries aside, Contreras has enjoyed a fourth straight highly productive campaign – at least with the bat – as he has posted a .275/.365/.525 slash and 19 homers in 340 PA. The big-armed Contreras’ overall defensive numbers pale in comparison to Caratini’s, but the former is nonetheless among Chicago’s most valuable players and a key reason why it’s in playoff position at the moment.

The Cubs, who are 2 1/2 games up on a wild-card spot, will be thrilled to welcome back Contreras as they continue attempting to chase down the Cardinals for an NL Central crown. While the Redbirds are a game and a half ahead, the two teams still have to square off seven times in late September, when Contreras should again be a prominent part of the Cubs’ lineup.

The Cubs are making do without top backstop Willson Contreras, but it largely goes without saying that the club anxiously awaits his return. There’s optimism within the organization about his health status, manager Joe Maddon told reporters including Tony Andracki of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link).

Contreras has been sidelined since early August with a hamstring strain. At the time, the expectation was that he’d miss about a month of action, and it’s clear he’ll be sidelined at least that long — if not a bit longer. But it’s relieving to hear that things have progressed well to this point.

At present, Contreras has yet to resume baseball activities. Instead, he’s still building up strength in the region of the strain. Both club and player have every intention of exercising ample caution. In addition to the fact that Contreras has previously experienced issues in that area of the body, he’s facing a tight timeline within which to return. A setback would potentially be disastrous with just five weeks remaining in the regular season.

It’s not clear precisely how soon Contreras could be back. The timeline will obviously depend upon the particulars of his recovery. But Maddon noted that his first-choice backstop could begin picking up baseball activities as soon as next week.