28-year old righty swinging Geovany Soto will be back as the Cubs’ starting catcher. Soto played in 105 games for the Cubs last season and he was 90 of 322 (.280 avg, .890 OPS) with 47 runs scored, 17 homers and 53 RBIs. It was a nice bounceback year for Soto after having a poor sophomore campaign in 2009. Soto will likely get back to cranking around 25 homers this season as long as he can stay healthy. Soto had 4 errors and 2 passed balls in 104 games behind the plate for the Cubs, which isn’t too bad. He threw out only 18 of 95 (18.9%) of runners trying to steal on him last season and Cubs’ pitchers had a 4.29 ERA with him behind the plate. Soto is one of the better all around catchers in the N.L. and I look for that to continue in 2011.

31-year old switch hitting Koyie Hill will likely be Soto’s backup once again in 2011. Hill played in 77 games for the Cubs last season and he was 46 of 215 (.214 avg, .552 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 1 homer, 17 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Hill is a hacker at the plate as he whiffed 61 times while only walking 12 times so don’t expect him to hit for a good average any time soon. Hill had 4 errors and 4 passed balls in 72 games behind the plate for the Cubs. Hill only threw out 5 of 45 (11.1%) runners trying to steal on him last season and Cubs’ pitchers had a 4.16 ERA with him behind the plate. Hill has the reputation of being a solid defensive catcher but I didn’t see that last season. He will be challenged for his job this spring by Welington Castillo and Max Ramirez.

23-year old righty swinging Welington Castillo is one of the better prospects the Cubs have. Castillo played in 69 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 61 of 239 (.255 avg, .815 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 13 homers and 59 RBIs. He also played in 7 games for the Cubs last season in which he was 6 of 20 (.300 avg, .983 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBIs. Castillo didn’t make any errors or have any passed balls in 5 games behind the dish for the Cubs. He also threw out 2 of 5 (40%) runners trying to steal on him and Cubs’ pitchers had a 4.30 ERA with him behind the plate. Castillo will be pushing Hill this spring.

26-year old righty swinging Max Ramirez is a former top prospect who hasn’t made his mark in the majors quite yet. Ramirez played in 28 games for the Rangers last season and he was 15 of 69 (.217 avg, .689 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 8 RBIs. Ramirez had 2 errors and 2 passed balls in only 26 games behind the dish for the Rangers last season. He was 4 of 29 (13.8%) throwing out runners trying to steal against him last season but Rangers’ pitchers had a 3.56 ERA when he was catching so they liked throwing to him.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CUBS CATCHERS IN 2011: B+

The Chicago Cubs have signed 36-year old starter/reliever Braden Looper to a minor league deal. The Cubs are likely looking at Looper as a reliever as the rotation is likely set for 2011. Looper sat out last season. He pitched in 34 games (all starts) for the Brewers in 2009 and he was 14-7 with a 5.22 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. He has now pitched in 670 games (97 starts) in his first 12 years in the majors and he is 72-65 with 103 saves, a 4.15 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. This was a good low risk/high reward signing for the Cubs as Looper has been a solid pitcher both as a starter and a reliever in his major league career.

UPDATE: (3/26/2011) - Braden Looper has decided to retire from baseball. He pitched in 5 games (1 start) for the Cubs this spring and he was 1-0 with a 9.95 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP.

The Cubs have signed 36-year old switch hitting infielder Augie Ojeda to a minor league deal. Ojeda played in 59 games for the Diamondbacks last season and he was 15 of 79 (.190 avg, .486 OPS) with 6 runs scored and 5 RBIs. He has now played in 502 games in his first 9 years in the majors and he is 249 of 1,062 (.234 avg, .633 OPS) with 135 runs scored, 7 homers, 81 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Ojeda will have a shot this spring to earn a utility role on the bench for the Cubs.

The Chicago Cubs have signed 32-year old righty starter/reliever Todd Wellemeyer to a minor league deal. He pitched in 13 games (11 starts) for the Giants last season and he was 3-5 with a 5.68 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. He has now pitched in 208 games (75 starts) in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 32-34 with 3 saves, a 4.83 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. The Cubs will give Wellemeyer a chance to win a job as the long man in the bullpen this spring. They hope he’ll be much better than he was the first time around with the Cubs. Wellemeyer pitched 3 years earlier in his career (2004-2006) with the Cubs in which he was 5-3 with 2 saves, a 6.19 ERA and a 1.72 WHIP.

The Chicago Cubs have signed 29-year old righty swinging outfielder Luis Montanez to a minor league deal. Montanez played in 26 games for the Orioles last season and he was 8 of 57 (.140 avg, .296 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 3 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 93 games in his first three years in the majors and he is 56 of 251 (.223 avg, .579 OPS) with 25 runs scored, 4 homers, 23 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Cubs will give Montanez a shot to win a job on the bench this spring.