The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a one-year deal with catcher Austin Romine, possibly to replace Willson Contreras.
In what has been an overwhelmingly disappointing offseason, the Chicago Cubs have failed to make many moves to give fans hope heading into the new season. With a ton of roster issues to still be addressed, the Cubs have been shopping Willson Contreras around and may have just signed his replacement. Last season, Contreras posted a line of .243/.356/.407, and noticeably improved upon his glove and skill work, something teams will surely heed on the trade market.
As rumors continue to swirl around trades for both Willson Contreras and Kris Bryant, the Cubs put pen to paper with former Detroit Tigers backstop Austin Romine.
The Cubs and C Austin Romine have agreed to a one-year deal, per source. The deal is pending physical.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 22, 2021
Could Romine replace Contreras altogether?
Austin Romine had spent the majority of his career thus far with the New York Yankees, who drafted him in 2007. He was a member of the Detroit Tigers for last year’s shortened season and now joins Chicago on a one-year, $1.5 million deal. In 130 at-bats in 2020, Romine posted splits of .238/.259/.582 for 12 runs and 17 RBI’s. He’s quite the drop-off from Contreras, but the Cubs have been in need of a backup catcher since losing Victor Caratini.
If this is a part of the Chicago Cubs’ big plan to replace Contreras, they had better keep working. The two-time All-Star is clearly among the most valuable pieces still left on the board for the Cubs and if they want to move him, they’ll need to add some value.
Several teams have placed their names in the hat for the Contreras sweepstakes. We’ll see if the Cubbies can get a deal done that makes sense in the near future.