In a surprising move, the Chicago Cubs have named Victor Caratini as their back-up catcher for the beginning of the 2018 season.
The move comes as a bit of a shock as Chris Gimenez, who has hit .194 but also drove in 11 RBI in 36 spring training at-bats, has an established relationship with new starting pitcher Yu Darvish.
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Darvish, acquired in free agency after the Cubs signed him to a six-year contract, often pitched with Gimenez behind the plate when he was with the Texas Rangers and then this spring with the Cubs, but he’ll have to work with another catcher as the team will send Gimenez to Triple-A Iowa.
Caratini does have a home run and five RBI this spring, and the team insists that they feel he’s ready to back-up Willson Contreras this season.
“The biggest thing is we felt that Victor’s ready for this,” manager Joe Maddon said. “We just felt this was the right thing to do right now.”
Chicago Baseball
The move essentially sets the Cubs’ roster for the spring, with Pedro Strop’s health remaining as a small question mark before the team embarks for Florida to kick off the campaign.
