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Miguel Amaya was spotted at Wrigley Field ahead of the Chicago Cubs' opening a three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds, but the young catcher is not ready to be activated from the IL. Instead, Amaya is just visiting his teammates, and he likely will be ready this weekend when the Cubs play the St. Louis Cardinals.
Pic I took of Miguel Amaya who just got dropped off at Wrigley Field. Got a chance to talk with him for a minute....he said he was just visiting the boys today, that he had few more days of rehab.
— Sam Bernero (@sambernero) August 4, 2025
I was so happy to see him🫶@bleedcubbieblue @crawlyscubs @BleacherNation pic.twitter.com/bwEraWOKeB
Amaya has been sidelined since the end of May with an oblique injury, and fans may have forgotten the encouraging signs the team was seeing offensively from their young catcher. Splitting time with Carson Kelly this season, Amaya was slashing .280/.313/.505 with a 126 wRC+ through his first 100 plate appearances.
Miguel Amaya’s situation just created a roster headache for Cubs
The Cubs recently moved Amaya to the 60-day IL, so beyond making room for him on the 26-man roster, the Cubs will also have to clear a spot on the 40-man roster once the 26-year-old is activated. Conventional wisdom would point to the Cubs moving on from Reese McGuire, who has served as Kelly's partner at the catching position since Amaya went down.
McGuire has had a career resurgence with the Cubs this season, posting a 103 wRC+ with 6 home runs. McGuire is out of minor-league options, suggesting that the likely move is that he will be designated for assignment once Amaya is back. Ironically, if Amaya had been ready two weeks sooner, McGuire would have been an easy trade candidate.
There has been some speculation that the Cubs could simply elect to carry three catchers between now and the end of the season. Along those lines, it feels like a good time to say that McGuire has a wRC+ of 69 since July 1. In other words, the hot start to his Cubs' tenure is still holding up his overall number on the season.
With that in mind, it doesn't feel like the Cubs will bend over backwards to keep McGuire on the roster. While Jon Berti has diminished value on the Cubs' bench after the addition of Willi Castro, the team likely doesn't want to lose the veteran as a pinch-runner option once postseason games start. All signs point to McGuire's days with the Cubs coming to an end, and that is often how the roster crunch works during a season.