Cubs bring in Pirates cast-off Tony Wolters as the backup catcher

The Chicago Cubs and an offseason of puzzling moves continued Wednesday, and the cherry on top of this was was the signing of Tony Wolters as Willson Contreras’ backup behind the plate.

This one is baffling for many reasons. For one, as we’ve mentioned here before on Cubbies Crib, PJ Higgins did enough to earn the opportunity. Austin Romine will miss the beginning of the season and there is no reason the Cubs shouldn’t see what Higgins has. This organization has become so scared of just trusting their own players.

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Wolters is flat-out bad offensively. His career wRC+ of 57 is not even playable in the Major Leagues. He has spent his entire career in Coors Field, which makes his offense production, or lack thereof, even worse. There is no way the Cubs can convince fans Higgins is worse than that.

Even if Higgins is a bad hitter, he still has to be better than a 57 wRC+. Albert Almora, who was one of the worst hitters on the Cubs for a long time, even has an 86 wRC+ for his career. In fact, since 2010, Wolters is the fourth-worst hitter to put on a Major League uniform. The only three that are worse? Bobby Wilson, Drew Butera and Jeff Mathis, also all back-up catchers.

Cubs: There’s a benefit here defensively

However on the defensive side, Wolters is very good and for a backup catcher that needs to be their main skill. Wolters throws out 31 percent of baserunners, which is the same number as Contreras, and the league average is about 27 percent. He’s netted 25 career DRS behind the plate. Contreras is only at four DRS – according to Fangraphs.

Wolters has also seen a little time at various spots around the infield, so he may be a little more versatile than expected. There is no saying how long Wolters will be in Chicago, once Romine comes back. The latter has a knee injury and a catcher’s knees are sort of important to do their job.

The fact that Wolters may not be around long once Romine gets back, or Romine may not even come back, makes it all the more baffling why Higgins isn’t getting the nod to back-up Contreras. See how he does, and see how Romine comes back, then go sign a catcher if need be.

It doesn’t hurt to experiment with players at certain positions, and the Cubs need to trust their own guys. After all, who knows more about the organization than internal options? Wolters couldn’t even make the Pirates’ or Rockies’ roster this season.

The Cubs are doing Higgins a disservice, and it makes you feel for the guy who has more than earned his chance. There may have been a better internal option than Wolters, but now we’ll never know.