The Cubs made a trade today sending catcher Welington Castillo to the Seattle Mariners for reliever Yoervis Medina. Castillo had long been the subject of trade rumors dating back to when the Cubs signed David Ross to a 2-year contract back in December.
Castillo, 27, hit .163/.234/.349 with a .172 BABIP in only 47 plate appearances. His playing time had been limited due to Montero-Ross being the Cubs primary catchers and while his pitch framing had improved significantly from last year (albeit a small sample size) he simply was the odd man out.
Medina, 26, is coming off a pair of excellent seasons with the Mariners where he posted a combined 2.81 ERA in 129 appearances and 125 innings pitched. He is off to a decent start in 2015 with a 3.00 ERA in 12 appearances although a 5.37 xFIP tells a different tale. His biggest issue has been his control with a 5.25 BB/9 so far this year and his strikeouts have been down at 6.75.
The move is a good one for the Cubs as they already had enough major-league depth at catcher and they needed bullpen depth to have options in case the Cubs ran into a situation in which the bullpen is gassed, although I think this is more than just depth because if Medina can figure out his control he could end up being a solid piece in the Cubs pen.
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