Cubs should make extending Contreras the top priority
With so much uncertainty in the team's future, Cubs management needs to sit back and let the game dictate the best moves to make.
It's already spoken. Rather than focus on the three keystone players in the final year of their contracts - Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez - maybe the Cubs' top priority should be locking up Willson Contreras.
Contreras won't be a free agent until after next season, but the 28-year-old catcher has consistently shown the kind of qualities worth building around. Or rebuilding around, however the Cubs plan to frame it.
"I think Willson brings it every day," manager David Ross said. "This guy, he's as passionate and hardworking as anybody we have. And he's got the nickname 'Killer' around here because he has that killer instinct. He wants to win and does everything he can to help his team win."
With the Cubs in a horrible hitting slump to start the season, it was Contreras who led the way out, with 4 home runs in three games this week.
The same thing happened last year when he was the first of the veterans to figure out how to find success during the short season.
He also provided a blueprint on how to keep your cool when he was getting hit by pitches almost daily, and after getting called out for an illegal slide on a controversial reversed call in Pittsburgh. Mentally tough feels like the appropriate description.
"I think it speaks a lot for his mental focus, for what he brings daily, energetically and with his mindset," Ross said. "He's got a lot on his plate too. I think it says a lot.
"He's an emotional player, but wasn't emotional as he was not getting off to the start he wanted to, he just continued to have hit at-bats and it turned around pretty fast for him."
Contreras is currently the Cubs' leader in batting average (.273), on-base percentage (.400), and is tied with Bryant with 5 home runs.
Another reason to lock up Contreras long-term is there aren't many high-quality catchers in the majors right now, and the competition with other contracts is relatively small.
The highest-paid catcher in the game is San Francisco's Buster Posey, who is winding down an eight-year, $159 million deal. The freshest catcher contract is Philadelphia's J.T. Realmuto with five years at $115.5 million.
The next two highest-paid catchers are Kansas City's Salvador Perez and the White Sox's Yasmani Grandal. Contreras' offensive numbers are similar to Realmuto, so it shouldn't be too hard to come to an agreeable deal.
"If you just look around the league, (catching) is extremely difficult," Ross said. "Those guys that can really produce on both sides of the ball get paid some of the most amount of money in our game. It's a really hard skill set to find."
Uh-oh, maybe Ross shouldn't have said that part out loud. An obvious reason why it's difficult to judge the Cubs' future is money was such an issue last winter.
Between the loss of fans in the pandemic, a high purchase price, a high payroll in the past, rehabbing Wrigley Field, launching a TV network and engaging in rampant urban renewal, the Cubs' budget is an unknown commodity.
Maybe the Boston Red Sox provide a good example to follow. The Red Sox retooled a few times while winning multiple World Series. There was usually an all-star caliber player or two who carried over, like David Ortiz or Dustin Pedroia. The Cubs could follow that plan by keeping some veterans, but it's also unlikely the next Mookie Betts is waiting in their farm system.
Locking up Contreras would be a nice start. Maybe Bryant, Baez or Rizzo will stick around too, but first the Cubs should listen for the hits arrive this summer.
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