{"id":24685,"date":"2025-01-08T22:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24685"},"modified":"2025-01-08T22:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:17:10","slug":"cubs-officially-sign-veteran-catcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24685","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Officially Sign Veteran Catcher"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, if we\u2019re calling for Carlos Perez to be on the team at any point in 2025, then something disastrous happened. However, you know that when spring training rolls around and the newest Cubs catcher starts hammering baseballs in Arizona, fans are going to fall in love with him.<\/p>\n

The Cubs needed to add veteran depth at catcher after the team traded Matt Thaiss to the White Sox earlier this month and 34-year-old Carlos Perez was the answer. He\u2019s played in a total of 278 games in parts of five MLB seasons, but Perez has hung around in the pros for 16 years, playing for eight different organizations since signing as an international free agent back in 2008.<\/p>\n

The Cubs announced two minor league deals that include invites to spring training. The veteran catcher, Perez, was one of them along with right-handed pitcher Ben Heller.<\/p>\n

\n

Cubs agree on minor league contracts with RHP Ben Heller and C Carlos Perez. both have ML spring training invitations.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 8, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m not saying Perez is going to contribute much of anything if he\u2019s ever needed, but looking at those Triple-A numbers from his 2024 season, I just know he\u2019s gonna hit a couple moonshots in spring training and I\u2019ll get too excited about them. He\u2019ll probably put up good numbers at Triple-A Iowa as well.<\/p>\n

Perez\u2019s last appearance in the big leagues came in 2023, when he played in 66 games with the Oakland A\u2019s. As you\u2019d expect, he put up backup catcher numbers. Perez posted an 83 wRC+, slashing .226\/.293\/.357, with 6 home runs in 189 plate appearances.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good that the Cubs have made other moves this offseason because there\u2019s no doubt fans would be having a field day at the expense of Jed Hoyer over signing another backup catcher. But these are the moves that organizations have to make. Sometimes you simply need bodies in the minor leagues to get through a season and all things considered Perez seems like a fine pickup. Hard to imagine a guy sticks around for 16 years if he\u2019s not a good teammate and doesn\u2019t work well with his pitching staff.<\/p>\n

Taking a look at the Cubs catching situation for 2025, you have Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly in a timeshare behind the plate. Meanwhile at Triple-A, there\u2019s top catching prospect Moises Ballesteros and fellow prospect Pablo Aliendo. Now they have a mentor in Carlos Perez.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs have a new veteran catcher and it’s easy to see how fans could fall in love with him in spring training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nCubs Officially Sign Veteran Catcher - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24685\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cubs Officially Sign Veteran Catcher - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chicago Cubs have a new veteran catcher and it's easy to see how fans could fall in love with him in spring training.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24685\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-08T22:17:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/a1-2-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24685\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24685\",\"name\":\"Cubs Officially Sign Veteran Catcher - 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