It’s a holiday week so you’d figure any deals made by teams, notably the Chicago Cubs, would be minor.
And that’s what we have today:
Christian Bethancourt is 34 and played in 24 games for the 2024 Cubs. In those games, covering 59 plate appearances, he batted .281/.305/.509 with three home runs and 15 RBI.
Those are good numbers! But it’s also a very, very small sample size. Bethancourt left the Cubs after 2024 as a free agent and signed
with the Blue Jays, though he did not play a single MLB game for them, spending the entire year at their Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, where he did not hit well: .173/.219/.332 in 58 games (214 plate appearances).
This is the Reese McGuire spot from a year ago, the “break glass in case of emergency” catcher to be stashed at Triple-A Iowa in case there are injury issues. Bethancourt is a perfectly cromulent guy to hold this position, and unless he plays in the majors it costs the Cubs only a minor-league salary.
It is, though, worth remembering Bethancourt’s 3-for-5, seven-RBI day against the Pirates on Aug. 28, 2024 [VIDEO].
