Willson Contreras Trade Rumors: Cubs Catcher Linked to Marlins amid Angels Buzz
January 12, 2021
The Miami Marlins are among the teams that reportedly are looking to trade for Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras.
Craig Mish of SportsGrid reported the Marlins have the assets the Cubs are looking for as they attempt to "go young" and retool their roster after the departure of president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. The Cubs already traded Yu Darvish to the San Diego Padres last month.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the Los Angeles Angels have also considered adding Contreras.
The Cubs are clearly under some level of mandate to slash payroll despite winning the NL Central in 2020. The franchise has made the playoffs in five of the last six seasons, the longest run of sustained success in club history.
New president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, an Epstein disciple, may be attempting to replicate the stripping of the roster Epstein did when building the current Cubs core and looking to replenish the farm system while staying competitive.
Contreras, who has one year of arbitration remaining, made the All-Star team in 2018 and 2019 and is one of the best hitting catchers in baseball. He has the seventh-highest WAR among catchers between 2017 and 2020, per FanGraphs.
