Jed Hoyer turns to one-time Yadier Molina successor to solve Cubs catching woes

It's hardly going to talk Chicago Cubs fans off the ledge they're currently teetering on, but Jed Hoyer did manage to get his team's Winter Meetings started on the right foot on Monday.

No, it wasn't a Cody Bellinger trade. No, it wasn't an impact addition to the starting rotation. But Chicago was in desperate need of some help at catcher, where Yan Gomes struggled so mightily he eventually got DFA'd and Miguel Amaya needed a strong finish to get his numbers with shouting distance of respectability. The Cubs ranked 26th in the Majors in wRC+ and 29th in fWAR last season; even finding a league-average option over the offseason would be a major upgrade.

Early this winter, it seemed like Hoyer would even struggle to clear that low bar. One by one, the best options on the market found homes elsewhere, from Travis d'Arnaud to Kyle Higashioka to Danny Jansen. At the last moment, though, Hoyer pounced, with a signing that should at least keep catcher from costing the team games in 2025 — even if he had to turn to a former St. Louis Cardinals farmhand to do it.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work onThe Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Cubs sign former Cardinals catching prospect Carson Kelly

According to the New York Post's Jon Heyman, the Cubs are "making progress" on a deal with free agent Carson Kelly. The 30-year-old spent time with both the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers in 2024, slashing .238/.313/.374 (good for a 96 OPS+) with nine homers in 91 games. Those numbers might not leap off the page, but given the state of the catcher position these days, a bat near league average is nothing to sneeze at. And Kelly pairs it with solid defense, including an elite ability to control opposing runners in a world in which rule changes have incentivized more and more stolen-base attempts.

No, Kelly isn't a star. But Chicago needed a partner for Amaya, and in-house options like Matt Thaiss (bat) and prospect Moises Ballesteros (glove) come with huge question marks. Ignore the position entirely, and Hoyer ran the risk of repeating 2024's struggles behind the plate. Kelly is a decent bat to be at least mediocre at the plate and above-average behind it, locking in an at-worst reasonable floor at a reasonable price.

Of course, there's also some added irony: Kelly was initially drafted in the second round by the St. Louis Cardinals, and after a few years in the Minors, he was one of the best catching prospects in the game — and the potential heir apparent to Yadier Molina. That didn't quite work out; the Cardinals dealt Kelly to the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of the package that brought Paul Goldschmidt back to St. Louis, while Molina went on to play a few more seasons. But who knows: Maybe the Cubs can tap into some of that former upside, and get a little revenge on their arch rival in the process.