Thanks to a long shadow cast by multi-offseason trade rumors for Kris Bryant, the deal concluded for Yu Darvish, the many (many) farewells in the field, at the reception and in the broadcast booth, and general budget concerns in Chicago (which may have been somewhat mitigated?), Willson Contreras’ offseason rumors probably didn’t get the attention they deserve. Maybe it’s just because I was living in denial.
But if you look back, you will see that there was a ton of smoke in this off season. In early December, we learned that the Cubs are very open to negotiating with Contreras. In early January, the Angels began to show interest in a deal for the Cubs catcher. A few days later, the Phillies were considering Contreras as a Plan B for JT Realmuto. Four days later, the Marlins were connected to their market. And just ten days ago, the Nationals was linked to Contreras once again. And all the time, Cubs were open about their desire to add long-term, impactful pieces, even if it meant being “opportunistic” in the trade market.
Well, since then, the Phillies have signed with Realmuto and Nacional added Alex Avila to Yan Gomes (and we were already skeptical about his ability to facilitate a deal), which leaves the Angels and Marlins still on the line, along with perhaps any teams that may have missed Realmuto (Braves? Blue Jays?).
Well, today there’s an update on the material regarding Los Angeles via Robert Murray, so I think we should keep our eyes peeled as spring training approaches:
Even after signing a one-year contract with Kurt Suzuki, the Los Angeles Angels explored additional updates to the catcher. Players of interest include Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs and Christian Vasquez of the Boston Red Sox, according to league sources.
The Angels’ interest in Contreras, first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, would reunite the 28-year-old with longtime manager Joe Maddon. The Cubs talked to several teams about Contreras, including the Miami Marlins, but the negotiations did not gain momentum.
As of today, Angels’ catcher Max Stassi (0.9 WAR) and the recent free agent signing Kurt Suzuki (0.6 WAR) project for just 1.5 WAR in 2021 according to ZiPS. Contreras, on the other hand, has a 2.4 WAR projection, which is probably especially conservative, given what we know about the advances he made with pitch framing last year and the likelihood that these changes are here to stay (but may not been considered enough in the multiannual ZiPS formula). And given that the Angels are * clearly * hoping to compete in 2021 and that Stassi will not be ready, much less effective, on his debut day (as he continues to recover from surgery to repair a torn lip on his hip), the Angels will interest in adding a catcher of the Contreras caliber is easy to understand.
His previous relationship with Joe Maddon and the newest holder of The Angels, Jose Quintana, is just great, from their perspective, I imagine.
But even so, it was reasonable to backtrack on Contreras-Angels rumors after they hired Suzuki, at least until someone really confirmed that they could still be after him. But here we are.
The last time these rumors emerged (through Ken Rosenthal), they went so far as to mention possible perspectives to be observed in such an agreement, which normally does not happen if there are some semi-serious talks. But somehow, I am LESS sure about the Cubs’ intentions this off-season (and what they can aim for in return) than I had back then.
No, the Cubs didn’t exactly have a spending spree now that some money was released, but they just added Joc Pederson for 2021, so it hardly seems implausible that the Cubs may be more inclined to cling to Contreras at the moment as he, you you know, it helps them win in 2021.
In any case, the highlights here are quite straightforward: (1) Contreras is available if there is an offer that the Cubs cannot refuse, (2) the Angels are interested in negotiating for it, even after adding Suzuki, (3 ) Angels manager Joe Maddon is a huge fan of Contreras, and (4) unlike other parties with previous rumors, the Angels really do have the pieces to close a deal like that.
I still prefer not to see the Cubs switching Contreras – he’s very good and I like him a lot – but if they really believe in Miguel Amaya in the long run and believe they can complement the 2021 list while ALSO improving for 2022 and beyond in a deal , then they will have to chase you.