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At the moment, you can find Willson Contreras behind the Chicago Cubs and the number one star in the National League.
Who knows?
Contreras has been a regular distributor of trade rumors for a few years now, but the Cubs are more likely than ever to make a deal with him this time. With a record of 25-43, they will not use his last season before the free agency.
Not that it’s Contreras’ fault. He is already a two-time champion of stars and world series and is making the best season of his career. He has performed more on the plate than any other catcher and also manages his peers with .907 OPS and 2.9 rWAR.
As for where Contreras can finally get out, so far we can only speculate on his suitors and rank them according to how badly they need him and how well they are Cubs’ trading partners.
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10. Los Angeles Angels
Record: 33-38 (2nd place AL west)
Capture of War: 0.3 (T-17.)
Angels who have lost 25 of the last 34 games must first climb back into the American League playoffs before they can consider buying out. If they could, Contreras’ catcher Max Stass would rise and be a short-term response to the loss of Anthony Rendon (wrist) in the middle of the lineup.
9. Boston Red Sox
Record: 38-31 (3rd AL East)
Capture of War: 0 (22nd)
Honestly, Christian Vazquez is a great defender and a powerful batsman. However, the Red Sox need a consistent batsman who can take the pressure off their big trio Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and JD Martinez. Contreras is at least well suited to this role.
8. Tampa Bay Rays
Record: 37-31 (AL East 4.)
Capture of War: minus -0.7 (29.)
Rays, led by Mike Zunino and Francisco Mejia, will receive 0.516 OPS from their catchers. Contreras is the obvious savior in this regard, but there is an urgent question of whether the low-budget Rays would want to take his $ 9.6 million salary.
7. Minnesota Twins
Record: 38-31 (from T to AL Centralis)
Capture of War: 0.8 (T-12)
Twins already has a dangerous attacker in the incarnation of Gary Sancheze, but it’s remarkable that he’s hit better than he has developed from a designated hit point. If he’s there and Contreras behind the cup, what’s already scary would look a lot scarier.
6. San Diego Padres
Record: 43-27 (T-1. NL West)
Capture of War: 1.4 (8th)
While catching isn’t a big problem in San Diego, AJ Preller isn’t the one to avoid adding big tickets. Adding Contreras as a force to be reckoned with in an attack would certainly be a good fit and make the team’s first NL West title after 2006 much more real.
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Recording: 33-33 (3rd place in AL Centralis)
Capture of war: 0.1 (T-19)
If the Chicago White Sox intends to hit the batsman ahead of time, other positions should unquestionably take precedence over the catcher. They are in the lower third of the rWAR too second base, third base, right-handed, and designated hit.
However, the lower third also has .588 OPS, which White Sox obtains from its catchers. Among other things, it speaks to the disappointing year of the Yasman Grandi.
The Grandal was one of Chicago’s top winners in 2021, scoring 0.939 OPS and 23 home runs in 93 games. He scored just 0.531 as a result of his first 50 games of the season before he was on the back injury list.
That’s reason enough for the White Sox to have an eye on Contreras, and they don’t necessarily have to take it off even if Grandal rediscovers his form when he returns from IL. After the transaction, he and Contreras could always work for the catcher and DH.
Rather, the cost of Contreras may be what prevents it from moving from the north to the south. There are no Tier 1 prospects in White Sox’s 26th-place farm system, so they are at a disadvantage when they enter Contreras’ bidding war.
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Recording: 35-28 (from T AL Central)
Capture of war: Minus-0.1 (T-23.)
As with Rays, the question is whether the Cleveland guards will take over the rest of Contreras’ salary in the transaction. Maybe even more, because the Guardians’ $ 67.8 million payroll is about $ 20 million less than what the Rays spend.
In addition, Contreras Cleveland is clearly suitable.
Although a talented defender, Austin Hedges has never been a big striker and is in the middle of what could be his worst offensive season ever. He’s just hitting .163 / .219 / .259, so he’s most to blame for the ugly .501 OPS that Cleveland gets from his capture corps.
More broadly, the Guardians simply need a right-handed batsman with a Contreras caliber. The 0.331 percent slip they get from the right side of the plate is the worst of baseball.
As the Guardians have a No. 3 farm system in the league, there is little doubt that they have the potential capital to do business with Cubs. And as the club threatens to get the first place in AL Central from Twins, it is to be hoped that the owner will be more willing to invest in this team day by day.
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Recording: 45-25 (1. NL East)
Capture of war: Minus -0.2 (25th)
The New York Forest could have signed JT Realmuto in the 2020-21 season, but they chose a favorable option with a four-year, $ 40.6 million contract with James McCann.
Unfortun
ately, the deal did not pay dividends immediately in 2021 and now looks more like a direct bankruptcy in 2022. McCann posted just 0.521 OPS in 21 games on May 10 when he broke a bone from which he is still recovering. .
Otherwise, Tomas Nido and Patrick Mazeika have been largely useless with a bat. Thus, this applies to the position of savages as a whole, as the 0.516 OPS received from anglers is ranked 26th in major competitions.
Although the savages already have the highest salary fund in baseball at $ 260.9 million, it doesn’t seem to be asking them to spend too much. Steve Cohen is the richest owner of baseball, and his 2022 team is like a “world series or a bust.”
Even so, Jon Heyman New York Post wrote that the Forest “is unlikely to give up the prospects it needs” to get Contreras. If this is true, it can be assumed that they should not blow up an already average farm system just for rent.
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Recording: 38-29 (3. NL Westis)
Capture of war: 0.4 (16th)
While there are many other factors at stake, the decline in production from a catcher position is one of the reasons why the San Francisco Giants will not dominate as it did in 2021.
Largely thanks to Buster Posey and his average of 0.304, the Giants won 107 victories last season as the fourth-largest catcher in the big business. But then Posey retired, handing over power to potential Joey Bart.
It has not been a smooth transition. Until June 4, Bart scored 0.556 OPS in 36 games with the Giants, giving them no choice but to choose him back as a minor.
As Bart is out of the picture, Giants expects Curt Casal and Austin Wynns to bear the burden of the catcher. This is not a tandem suitable for a team that would win the second consecutive NL West title, much less one that would bring the franchise back to the World Series.
Scott Harris worked for Cubs before joining the Giants in 2019, so he is familiar with Contreras. If it decides that it wants to be reunited with the reserve, there are both financial and potential funds available to complete the transaction.
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Recording: 42-25 (1st place AL west)
Capture of war: Minus -1.0 (30th)
None of the teams we have discussed so far will receive a viable insult from their catchers in 2022, but the Houston Astros can still look at them all with envy.
At 0.474, the OPS they send from behind is the worst of all MLB. Not great for any team, but not especially one trying their fourth World Series in the last six years.
It is fair to note that it is more Jason Castro than Martin Maldonado’s. The latest .516 OPS looks pretty good compared to the first .352 OPS. Maldonado also has value in defense, especially as a threat to potential basic thieves.
But is it enough to stay with him? Not quite. Maldonado’s attack looks good compared to Castro, and his poppies will not replace the dwindling set of defensive skills. His framing is over and in 2022 even eaten balls have been a problem.
The hook should be that we have the worst farming system in Houston for baseball, but the top of that system isn’t that bad. It has a particularly well-regarded catching opportunity, Korey Lee, who can turn to Cubs as the heir to Contreras’ coat.
Statistics are provided through the Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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