Cubs: Jed Hoyer non-answer on Willson Contreras’ future says it all

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras’ future is up in the air on the North Side. Jed Hoyer’s comment wasn’t good enough.

Contreras is in the final year of his contract, and if the Cubs want to get anything out of him beyond this season, they’ll either have to extend him to a lucrative deal or trade him for prospects.

Given how contract negotiations have gone, the latter feels like a more realistic approach.

As for Hoyer, he’s been approached with the same Contreras question time and time again. And yet, he continues to dance around a direct answer. Hoyer commented more on the performance of Yan Gomes — Contreras’ backup — than the starting backstop himself:

“We wanted to see that,” Hoyer said. “He’s a guy that, he wants to play every day. You’re not going to have a backup that’s going to hit like him. So without the DH, it was really hard to take his bat out of the lineup. We wanted to see how this would be if he got more rest. So far, so good. So, I’m going to not answer your question directly, but sort of indirectly.”

Will Cubs trade Willson Contreras?

Barring a surprising development on the Cubs’ end, yes, Contreras will be on the way out come the deadline.

Good-hitting catcher are tough to come by, and Contreras is one of the best. He’s also not a complete void behind home plate. Because of this, despite his contract status, Chicago can expect a decent return for Contreras. That’ll be enough to restock the farm system for a player the Cubs already have a replacement for in the first place.