3 positions the Chicago Cubs need to significantly upgrade soon

2. Catcher

The Cubs recently cleaned out their catcher's room when they designated Yan Gomes for assignment on June 19. It was a tough decision given Gomes' leadership qualities and decade-plus of experience. But the team recognized that the catching position has been dreadfully bad for them this year and they needed a change.

Tomas Nido, who was recently designated for assignment himself by the New York Mets, was brought in to catch alongside Miguel Amaya. But Nido is not the long-term answer and he will be a free agent at the end of the year so the Cubs need to consider other options given Amaya and Gomes' performance so far.

At the plate, the Cubs currently have the second-worst wRC+ (40), OPS (.492) and batting average (.180) in the league from the catching position this year. Behind the plate, Gomes and Amaya are also near the bottom in pitch-framing metrics as well as throwing out base-stealers. Runners have attempted to steal 44 times on Gomes and Amaya this year, and they have thrown out just three of them combined.

There are not a lot of high-end catchers hitting free agency this year, but there aren't really many elite catchers in the league to begin with. Detroit Tigers catcher Carson Kelly would figure to be an upgrade on defense but wouldn't help much more at the plate than Gomes did. Danny Jansen from Toronto is another option in a similar bucket as Kelly as both will be approaching 30 years old at free agency.

A trade would likely bear more preferable results, with Oakland Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers a great option. The 26-year-old is a great power hitter - with 36 home runs in 2023-24 combined - who can also keep runners more humble on the base paths than the Cubs' current backstops. Langeliers is under team control through the 2028 season though so he will cost a decent prospect haul in return.