Save the 2013 Chicago Cubs

[Don Quixote]

Navarro is only on a one-year deal, and the Cubs seem to like Welington Castillo a lot. It wouldn't be unreasonable for the Cubs to re-sign him and go with the same package they've been using this year, but I wonder if some other team will be willing to take Navarro as the unquestioned #1.

Honest question, no slant intended--What do the Cubs see in Castillo and not in Navarro that makes them seemingly prefer the former?

Second question--Who do you see as teams that may be interested in signing Navarro? The Almighty Yankees come to mind immediately, as they certainly need help at catcher even if Cervelli comes back healthy and clean.

[mjl]

Honest question, no slant intended--What do the Cubs see in Castillo and not in Navarro that makes them seemingly prefer the former?

Second question--Who do you see as teams that may be interested in signing Navarro? The Almighty Yankees come to mind immediately, as they certainly need help at catcher even if Cervelli comes back healthy and clean.

Castillo is regarded as an excellent defensive catcher. Granted that fielding stats are not necessarily meaningful, Castillo is second in MLB in fielding WAR, way behind Russell Martin. Navarro is a little below average. I have no idea what their relative skill is at pitch framing, and they seem pretty comparable at throwing runners out. Castillo is also younger and isn't arbitration-eligible until 2015 and is under team control until 2018, so he'll be cheaper at least for a little while.

Teams that should be interested in Navarro: Yankees, Angels, Marlins
Teams that might be interested: Rays again if there isn't some history I'm unaware of, Phillies if they don't re-sign Ruiz and if Tommy Joseph or Sebastian Valle isn't ready, Tigers if they give up on Avila, Mets if they decide d'Arnaud isn't ready yet

[cavebird]

Honest question, no slant intended--What do the Cubs see in Castillo and not in Navarro that makes them seemingly prefer the former?

Second question--Who do you see as teams that may be interested in signing Navarro? The Almighty Yankees come to mind immediately, as they certainly need help at catcher even if Cervelli comes back healthy and clean.

The scuttlebutt around here is that the Yankees will look a bit higher than Navarro and are the likely destination for McCann next year.

[SeaDogStat]

The scuttlebutt around here is that the Yankees will look a bit higher than Navarro and are the likely destination for McCann next year.

He came up in the Yanks org... I'm sure they let him go for a reason (part of Randy Johnson trade)

[Don Quixote]

He came up in the Yanks org... I'm sure they let him go for a reason (part of Randy Johnson trade)

I assume you're referring to Navarro, who's now been with a bunch of organizations (Yankees?, Dodgers?, Rays, Reds, Cubs). We know why the Yankees let young "prospects" go--not because they think they can't cut it, but because with the Yankees, almost every "prospect" is trade fodder.

And we know that Navarro had maturity issues when he first came up, but based on last year with the Reds at AAA and with the parent team and this year with the Cubs, it looks like he's grown up.