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

Cubs Rumors: Could the Cubs carry three backstops again this year?

Now take those endorsements and picture what he could bring to the Cubs pitching staff.

From one-to-five, the Cubs already have a staunch starting rotation on paper and, with Leon working with them, they are capable of maximizing their potential, observing mechanical flags, providing them notes with his meticulously studied player reports, and, perhaps most of all, motivating them.

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Leon is set to make $2.4M this year if he makes the Red Sox opening day roster.  With Boston trying to shave off some money, probably due to Chris Sale’s extension on Friday and a plethora of free agents on the horizon in the years to come.

This should be a no-brainer move for the Chicago Cubs.  While not a flashy transaction, move like this can really be a difference maker.  Bringing a player with his resume with handling pitchers really rounds out so many facets of the game for the better.

Contreras especially would benefit from his hypothetical acquisition.  It would allow him to take allotted days off and help him further develop from his tutorage in framing and overall handling of a pitching staff.  He is an elite catcher defensively and a wizard at framing pitches.  The latter of which the Cubs desperately need to improve at as they had four pitchers rank in the bottom eleven in pitch-framing in last year.

The team may not be too keen on carrying three catchers on their active 25-man roster but, like the World Champion Red Sox of last season and the 2016 Cubs did during their 2016 championship run, adding more depth to compensate inevitable fatigue and injuries is always a wise move and can result in gold.

Like David Ross, who was once himself the Cubs third rostered catcher, Leon is an ultimate team player, unselfish and only concerned about his team and making his teammates better.

It’s time for the Cubs to just spend a little of that money that they were oh-so unwilling to part with this offseason because, while they’ll pay a small price now for a guy like Leon and what he can silently morph this team into, the move may turn out to be priceless.