Chicago Cubs: These free agent targets make most sense for team this winter

A familiar face comes back

The Chicago Cubs don’t need another big-name catcher. Willson Conteras broke out in a big way this season. If not for an injury that cost him significant time, he likely would have received some MVP consideration.

The 25-year-old backstop batted .276/.356/.499 with a career-high 21 home runs and 74 runs batted in across 117 games. You can’t ask for much more – at least in terms of offense – from a catcher in his first full big-league season. As the season drew on, Contreras only improved, posting an OPS north of 1.000 in both July and August before suffering an injury that cost him most of the final month.

A more-than-capable backup

Meanwhile, Alex Avila and Rene Rivera picked up the slack for Chicago behind the dish. Rivera, long known as a defensive catcher, was outstanding with the lumber, with a 155 OPS+ after coming over to the Cubs. Suggesting he’ll put up numbers like that again is unwise, but he clearly found himself comfortable with his new team.

He’s a good pitch receiver, rating as a roughly league-average defender behind the plate. His arm spoke for itself, though. He caught 38 percent of base-stealers with the Cubs – a full 10 points higher than the league average. In his career, he averages a 36 percent caught-stealing rate, so this was no anomaly.

Rene Rivera isn’t the sexy free agent deal that gets fans’ blood pumping. But he’s one of the guys who helps you win games down the stretch – and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.