Cubs Could Make Trade to Upgrade ‘Struggling’ Catchers: Ex-GM

Getty Cubs potential trade target Elias Diaz

Seems former MLB general manager Jim Bowden is quite a fan of Rockies catcher Elias Diaz. And he is a fan of his potential fit with the Cubs, who have seen their catching unit get off to a doubly bad start. Bowden recently wrote in a mailbag that Diaz was the ideal trade target for the North Siders, and he now writes that he has heard scuttlebutt that the Cubs are, in fact, considering such a deal.

In fact, in an article titled, “Thirty things I’m hearing and watching for on MLB trade deadline with 50 days to go,” Bowden writes that the Cubs could also be in the market for offensive upgrades elsewhere, with Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. among the targets. But Diaz is a more modest target who could help the team fill the ugly void at catcher, where catcher-of-the future Miguel Amaya is hitting an unsightly .194 and veteran Yan Gomes has been worse, at .155.

At a combined .179, the Cubs’ catchers have the third-worst batting average among all MLB backstop units.

“The Cubs are searching for more offensive help at catcher with the Rockies’ Elias Díaz a strong trade possibility. Interestingly, they’ve also touched base with the Mets on Pete Alonso and the Blue Jays on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.,” Bowden wrote.

Cubs Craig Counsell: Catchers ‘Have Been a Struggle’

The struggles of the catchers are hardly the only reason for the Cubs’ offensive hardship recently—they’re batting .240 as a team and have scored just 3.0 runs per game in their current stretch of four losses in five games—but manager Craig Counsell has been blunt about the need for an upgrade.

“Frankly, our catchers’ offense has been a struggle,” Counsell said recently, per The Athletic. “We’re going to need to have better offense from our catchers to have a good offense. To have spots in your lineup that aren’t producing stops rallies.”

Diaz is not a future Hall of Famer by any stretch, but he is a solid hitter and was an All-Star last year, hitting .267 with 14 homers and 72 RBIs. This year, he is up to .303 and in the month of June, he has put up a slash line of .357/.419/.536.

Diaz is also a big upgrade defensively, where the Cubs catchers are also badly struggling. He ranks seventh in baseball at MLB Statcast when it comes to throwing out runners attempting to steal, a major improvement over Gomes, who is 33^rd in the league, and Amaya, who has been 59^th out of the 62 catchers who were rated.

Miguel Amaya’s Ongoing Struggle

Bringing in Diaz as a temporary solution to keep this season afloat makes sense, but the worry is whether it would damage the long-term prospects of Amaya by sending him to the bench and perhaps dinging his confidence.

Amaya has already dealt with a number of setbacks since the Cubs first was added to the 40-man roster in 2019. Then, Covid-19 struck and while Amaya was back in the minors, he underwent surgeries for major injuries—Lisfranc in his foot, and Tommy John surgery on his arm.

Counsell is trying to be patient with his youngster.

“Miggy’s gone through a couple different phases here,” Counsell said. “He’s gone through an unlucky phase, a chasing phase, missing pitches to hit. We’ve seen a couple long at-bats with just a bunch of foul balls. There’s some pitches to hit in those cases and just not squaring them up. That’s all led to some difficulties. We’re just going to keep going. Big league at-bats for Miguel are a great teacher right now. At his experience level, he will improve.”