Cubs Acquire Catcher Matt Thaiss from Angels, DFA Trey Wingenter

The Cubs ended up trading for an Anaheim catcher after all, it just isn’t Logan O’Hoppe. Not long after picking up middle reliever Eli Morgan from the Guardians in exchange for outfield prospect Alfonsin Rosario, the Cubs acquired Matt Thaiss from the Angels for a cash consideration. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, they designated reliever Trey Wingenter for assignment.

The 29-year-old Thaiss doesn’t figure to be much more than organizational depth, as he comes to the Cubs sporting a career .208 average with 22 homers in 771 plate appearances. His best MLB season came in 2023 when he popped nine dingers and drove in 31 runs over 95 games. Given all the talk about their need to upgrade behind the plate, my first reaction was that this is a curious move.

I suppose it could be a matter of backfilling some of the depth that was lost after Bryce Windham retired and Christian Bethancourt elected free agency. But doing so at the risk of a 40-man spot when they still need to find another catcher doesn’t really add up. Unless…maybe they’re willing to give Moises Ballesteros a shot. The most likely outcome is that they’ll try to get Thaiss through waivers, whether they non-tender him Friday or DFA him later. It’s too early to derive much from these moves yet, so we’ll wait and see how it all plays out.