Cubs Rumors: Is Sandy Leon on the team’s radar as a backup catcher?

Acquiring a veteran backup catcher isn’t among the most exciting Cubs rumors we’ve heard, but it could be a critical upgrade for the team this season.

If you doubt what a backup catcher can mean to a team, look at last year’s Boston Red Sox – or the 2016 Chicago Cubs. All winter, we’ve heard Cubs rumors connecting to the team to potential backup catcher options. And once again, those rumors are surfacing.

Last season, the Red Sox blazed through the 2018 season with ease.  They won a franchise record 108 games en route to their ninth World Series championship, needing just five games to defeat the stacked Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic.

Of course, they are, themselves, loaded with a menacing array of tremendous talent.  Slugger J.D. Martinez, 23-year old throwback outfielder Andrew Benintendi, and, of course, reigning American League Most Valuable Player Mookie Betts, arguably the game’s most exciting player today.

It’s not all the sluggers benefiting Boston’s success.  The Red Sox core pitching staff accommodates some of the best in the game.  Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello all deserve their fair share of the club’s prosperity.

With so many star-studded players, it’s easy to overlook players that contribute to elevating those aforementioned star’s opulence of productivity.

One of those unacclaimed but crucial players during the Red Sox historic 2018 campaign was backup catcher Sandy Leon.

With the Cubs in need of backstop depth and rumors of Boston shopping one of their catchers, it is a move that the Cubs must make and could possibly be the difference maker in the team winning the division and beyond.