Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer assuredly said all the right things about catcher Willson Contreras after his agreement with the St. Louis Cardinals was revealed.
The Cubs will miss him.
Oh, he was such a great person.
All the luck in the world, Willson.
It was everything you would expect Cubs management to say after losing one of the team’s best players to its biggest rival.
But what we didn’t hear was why.
Why did the Cubs not want to keep Contreras?
After all this time, we still don’t know the real reason.
Just because he was a free agent didn’t mean the Cubs couldn’t negotiate a deal, as the New York Yankees did with Aaron Judge by signing him to a nine-year, $360 million contract to stay in pinstripes for likely the rest of his career.
Contreras is no Aaron Judge, of course — or even an “Arson Judge” for that matter.
But he was the best catcher on the free-agent market, as evidenced by the five-year, $87.5 million deal he got from the Cardinals to replace the retired Yadier Molina.
Yes, that’s a lot of money, but it’s certainly affordable for a team like the Cubs, who probably could have gotten him for less if they had made a half-hearted effort to retain Contreras.
Everyone agreed Contreras was a great player and a special person.
Cubs fans adored him so much, they gave him a three-month goodbye at Wrigley Field. He was always accommodating to the media, answering question after question about his future when he didn’t have any real answers. Manager David Ross professed his love for Contreras and knows in the bottom of his heart they’re not a better team without the veteran catcher in the lineup.
Yet there was never any hint over the last couple of years that the Cubs were at all interested in re-signing him. A five-year deal isn’t so big that it would tie up the payroll by the end of the contract. He was always in good shape, played through nagging injuries more often than not and had the kind of passion few players on the Cubs ever show. His hatred for the rival Milwaukee Brewers was so obvious, it was no wonder their pitchers treated him like a human pin cushion.
If the Cubs had a young catcher in the system ready to take his place, maybe they would’ve had good reason to let him go with only a compensatory draft choice in return. If they had a backup who was good enough to take Contreras’ playing time without much of a drop-off offensively, some of us would understanding the reasoning.
But they don’t have a suitable replacement and apparently will go with Yan Gomes as their primary catcher, with a backup to be signed later. If that’s a sign of a team going for it, we’re all in trouble.
So what are we missing here? Why couldn’t the Cubs keep one of their most popular players in years, one who’s still in his prime at age 30?
Hoyer went into the winter meetings with money to spend, and he seems to be living up to his promise of doing just that.
Maybe Jameson Taillon is worth $68 million over four years to be a No. 2 or No. 3 starter, and perhaps Cody Bellinger is worth taking a flier with a one-year, $17.5 million contract. And even if the Cubs wind up spending big on a shortstop, there was a way they could’ve fit Contreras into the budget.
If Hoyer gave Contreras the combined money he spent on Taillon and Bellinger, the Cubs would be in better shape and fans would’ve carried him off on their shoulders.
Now they’re about to find out if Contreras will be their worst nightmare come true, leading the Cardinals to the playoffs and becoming a Cub killer like the man he’ll replace. The sight of Contreras putting on a Cardinals jersey will be a sad thing to see for Cubs fans, and watching him play at Wrigley Field the next five years will be gut-wrenching for many.
It may not be Brock-for-Broglio, the infamous deal that sent Hall of Famer Lou Brock to the Cardinals for sore-armed pitcher Ernie Broglio that’s often referred to as the worst trade in baseball history. But there was no Twitter back in the 1960s when Brock’s success was rubbed in the faces of Cubs fans. If Contreras continues to be an All-Star-caliber player in St. Louis, it will be impossible to ignore the taunts from Cardinals Nation.
So get ready for the “Welcome Back, Willson” video tribute during his return to Wrigley in May and more compliments from Cubs brass about all the great things Contreras did in Chicago.
But all the words will ring hollow,
It didn’t have to turn out like this, and Hoyer knows it.
And if he doesn’t realize it now, Contreras is sure to remind him every time he steps to the plate through 2027.
