Chicago Cubs’ 25-man roster to feature three catchers?

With Spring Training slowly coming to a close and Opening Night against the St. Louis Cardinals rapidly approaching, the Chicago Cubs still haven’t dealt veteran catcher Welington Castillo.

Most figured Castillo was on his way out after the team acquired Miguel Montero from the Arizona Diamondbacks and David Ross via free agency. But a deal featuring ‘Beef Castle’ has yet to be submitted. There were several teams rumored to be interested in Castillo, such as the D’backs themselves, San Diego Padres, and the Philadelphia Phillies.

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According to ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers, Cubs’ president Theo Epstein is ‘leaning towards’ having three catchers on the 25-man roster heading into the start of the 2015 regular season.

The idea of having three options behind the dish sounds great, but what’s going to happen when a guy such as Kris Bryant is ready to be called up after the first two weeks of the year?

While a trade hasn’t happened just yet, there’s a possibility Welington could be dealt either early on in the year or right before the trade deadline in July. So far this spring, the odd-man out (Castillo) has appeared to be the better hitter of the three with three doubles, nine hits, two home runs, seven RBI with a batting line of .375/.444/.750 and OPS of 1.194.

“Joe (Maddon) is the one pounding the table for three catchers. He wants it more than anybody.” – Epstein.

Both Montero and Ross have struggled while in the batters box with only eight days left, combining for nine hits, two doubles, two home runs and three runs batted in behind 44 at-bats.

“The quickest way to sabotage a season is to have one of your starting catchers go down and you have to call-up a minor league free agent or someone who’s not ready. It sabotages the whole pitching staff.” – Epstein.

So with the Cubs preparing themselves to carry three catchers into the new campaign, we’d more than likely expect Miguel Montero to split games with Castillo while Ross comes off the bench.

That is until a deal – whenever it happens – is good enough for Epstein and company to part ways with Welington and whoever is included. They also have Taylor Teagarden as a call-up option if they choose to keep him on board.

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