Cubs Sign Henry Blanco To Two-Year Deal
The Cubs have decided to decline arbitration to Paul Bako, and sign another one of Greg Maddux’s personal catchers, Henry Blanco. The Cubs signed Blanco to a two-year deal, financial terms unspecified.
A two-year deal for a guy who’s who had .184 and .216 EqA’s the past two seasons seems a bit lengthy, no matter the financial terms. Paul Bako hits about the same. If Baseball Prospectus’s fielding statistics are to be believed, however, Blanco does appear to be the better defensive catcher. For his career, Blanco has been 14 runs per 100 games better than an average catcher. Bako has been -2, a difference of almost one win in a season if you figure either of them would catch about 50 games as the backup catcher (a high estimate).