Cubs Free Agent Target: Kyle Higashioka |
As nice as it would be to announce some sort of big Cubs acquisition, that hasn't happened, and it is unclear when something like that will happen this offseason. That's frustrating for most fans to comprehend, but the bottom line is that the MLB offseason is a tricky thing to predict, and no one knows when the first ball is going to drop and who it will fall to.
That is why most of the MLB offseason, at least the first six weeks or so, is filled with rumors, as GMs, Owners, and MLB experts often throw out ideas about what teams are interested in what players. Sometimes, those rumors hold true, but more often than not, they are just smoke in an effort to get the fans' hopes up. The Cubs are no strangers to taking that route. They have done a great job getting the fans' hopes up in recent offseasons, only to come away with a disappointing haul that led to mediocre seasons. It's just not a good way to do business in the Sports World, and the Cubs are finding that out the hard way as a big market team acting like a small market club. Instead of discussing targets the Cubs are being linked to, whether those discussions came from the media or from other teams, it's time to shift our focus to players they should target to fill the holes this roster has. Some of these names aren't going to be flashy, but all of them fill a need in some aspect, which is where Kyle Higashioka comes into play. Hoyer knows he needs to upgrade the catcher position in one way, whether that be trading for a new starting catcher or giving Miguel Amaya the reigns again and putting a solid backup behind him. When you look at how the catcher position performed last season, adding a starting-caliber catcher would be huge. However, Amaya showed tremendous improvement over the second half and should, at the very least, earn an opportunity to win the starting job this spring. Higashioka could challenge Amaya for the starting spot but would most likely settle into a backup catcher role, and a good one at that. At 34 years old, Higashioka is a bit older than most would like this team to target, but coming off a career year, he has at least shown he has a little bit left in the tank. The age alone should be a red flag for the Cubs after seeing what happened to Yan Gomes, but he was 36 years old, not 34, and had a very good 2023 season before father time caught up to him this season. Even if the Cubs only get one good season from Higashioka, it would be better than nothing, which is why a one—or two-year deal makes sense as a backup role until Moises Ballesteros is ready to take over the catching duties. Higashioka played in 84 games with the Padres this past season, and although his average may not be great, his overall production was very good. Higashioka hit just .220/.263/.476 for the season, which isn't very good by all accounts. He made up for the low average with production, connecting for a career-high 17 homers while hitting for a career-high in Slug and OPS. That is worth noting on its own, but when you have the lineup the Padres have, it's hard not to be productive during the season. He also managed to steal the first two bases of his career, which is another item you can check off his career-high list. Even with his offense showing signs of life last season, Higashioka isn't known for his offense but for his defense. Although he is average at best at throwing out runners, he is a great defender behind the dish and is known for calling a great game. The most significant question mark surrounding Higashioka this season is whether or not last year was a fluke. Keep in mind that he played in more than 300 games with the Yankees before landing with the Padres and never posted an OPS over .650. He consistently played at one level in New York before breaking out last season, which has many in the baseball world trying to figure out why that was. Coming off a season in which he made just north of two million dollars, Higashioka is going to get more money based on his season, but his value will still be cheap enough for a backup catcher. I want to think a two-year, eight-million-dollar deal would be a starting point where he could make $4.5 million in 2025 with a second-year option worth $3.5 million attached with a buyout clause.
