When it comes to the Houston Astros, most baseball fans can agree that it’s easy not to like the reigning World Series Champions. For Chicago Cubs fans, that sentiment might only grow here in the near future.
Sure, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Cubs fan or not. There is a simple reason to dislike Houston, and obviously that’s due to the cheating scandal in which the Astros were found guilty of stealing signs over a couple of season.
Now the current Word Series Champions, the Astros just leave a bitter taste in most fans’ mouths. And as for the Cubs, that taste could get even worse.
According to a report this week, the Astros are in discussions with Contreras and plan to meet with the All Star catcher at the winter meetings.
Willson Contreras could soon be leaving the Chicago Cubs to join the World Series champs.
If the 30-year-old catcher does indeed leave the Cubs during free agency, it wouldn’t necessarily be a shock. After all, the Cubs have been in full-on selling mode for a while now and haven’t shown much loyalty to players they have groomed in-house over the last few years.
To go along with that point, the Cubs and Astros were also in agreement on a deal last season to send Contreras to Houston. But, manager Dusty Baker and owner Jim Crane weren’t in agreement with the deal. Neither one of them liked the idea, therefore it didn’t go through.
The trade would’ve sent pitcher Jos? Urquidy back to the Cubs in exchange for Contreras. Fortunately for the Astros, they were able to keep one of their better pitchers and ended up winning it all anyways.
But now, Houston could land Contreras without having to give up any assets. The 3-time All Star catcher has played his entire 7-year career with the Cubs and was of course part of the World Series team just a few years back.
It would be sad to see Contreras go, but at this point, not much of a surprise. Hopefully, the Cubs can turn their mindset into more of being a spender, as some reports have suggested. The fans deserve better, and hopefully they receive just that.