The Chicago groups have lined up on a minor commerce. The White Sox acquired catcher Matt Thaiss from the Cubs for money, the groups introduced. The Sox had a gap on the 40-man roster, so there was no corresponding transfer.
Thaiss was solely an offseason acquisition for the Cubs. They landed him from the Angels in a money commerce final month. He had a path to backup job behind Miguel Amaya on the time. That’s not on the desk. Chicago signed Carson Kelly to a two-year free agent deal final week. Amaya and Kelly will break up the catching reps at Wrigley Discipline.
Kelly’s signing made a Thaiss transfer all however inevitable. He’s out of choices, so the Cubs couldn’t ship him to the minors with out placing him on waivers. Groups hardly ever carry three catchers on the energetic roster for a whole season. The Cubs may have carried Thaiss into Spring Coaching as damage insurance coverage, however they’d probably have been squeezed right into a roster transfer if their high two catchers have been wholesome on Opening Day.
Buying and selling Thaiss now provides him some readability and opens a spot on the Cubs’ 40-man roster, which had been at capability. Thaiss has a good probability at breaking camp on the South Facet. Korey Lee had a .210/.244/.347 exhibiting in a career-high 394 plate appearances this previous season. Chuckie Robinson, who has 51 MLB appearances and turned 30 this week, was the one different catcher on the 40-man roster.
The Sox have a pair of highly-regarded catching prospects, Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero, who aren’t far off main league readiness. They have been every the headliners of current trades. Teel led a four-prospect return from the Pink Sox in final week’s Garrett Crochet deal, whereas Quero was the massive piece within the 2023 deadline deal that despatched Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Halos. Each gamers ought to make their large league debuts subsequent season, although they could every open the season at Triple-A Charlotte.
Thaiss, a left-handed hitter, brings extra on-base capacity than Lee supplies. He’s a profession .208/.313/.342 hitter who posted a .204/.323/.299 slash throughout 186 plate appearances with the Angels this 12 months. Thaiss takes loads of pitches, which permits him to work a whole lot of walks however contributes to lofty strikeout charges. He has by no means graded as a very sturdy defender, which led the Angels to maneuver him from catcher to first base early in his minor league profession. He moved again behind the dish in 2022 however grades as a below-average pitch framer with subpar arm power.
