Cubs' Montero Integral Part of Team, Cards' Garcia Hoping For No Injuries

Sometimes he’s forgotten in a loaded Chicago Cubs lineup, but catcher Miguel Montero is an integral part of the team if for no other reason than he’ll be tasked with backstopping a pitching staff favored to win the division. He won’t catch Jon Lester -- that’s David Ross' job. But he will be catching a staff ranging from Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta to No. 5 starter Kyle Hendricks, making Montero’s job a big one. He’ll be counted on for defense first and foremost. What he brings with his bat will be gravy.

“Overall it was a good year defensively other than throwing errors,” Montero said from Cubs camp. “I’m not afraid of throwing errors. And there is a combination of your middle infielders helping you out.”

There were mixed reviews of Montero in Year 1 with the Cubs, as his pitch framing was among the best but there were other facets of his game behind the plate that left fans scratching their heads. He had a career-low caught-stealing-percentage (20 percent) to go along with 13 errors -- and some frustrating missed blocks on pitches in the dirt. He says he wants to show more consistency this time around, starting with his defense behind the plate.

“There are blocks I should have made, but there are pitches you can’t do anything about,” he said. “It wasn’t that bad. I looked at my blocking percentages from last year compared to years before, it was a plus for me. It was more than the league average.”

Cardinals' Garcia Hoping for No Injuries

The St. Louis Cardinals drafted Jaime Garcia out of Sharyland High School in Mission, Texas, but by now he should have an honorary orthopedics degree. Garcia, 29, has been through all the major arm injuries that can end a pitcher’s career.

Tommy John elbow reconstruction. Check. 2008. Major shoulder surgery. Check. 2013. Surgery to repair thoracic outlet syndrome. Check. 2014.

Last season was a relative walk in the park for Garcia, who missed only 12 starts with a groin injury. If he could ever manage to avoid catastrophic injuries, he might one day be recognized for the pitcher he is. With a career 3.31 ERA, the left-hander’s similarity scores on Baseball Reference include Stephen Strasburg, Dallas Keuchel and Hisashi Iwakuma.

No wonder the Cardinals exercised his $11.5 million option shortly after last season ended. In his 20 healthy starts last year, Garcia had a 2.43 ERA.

Garcia is hesitant to discuss his lengthy injury history these days, saying, “The past is the past. I’m focused on this year.” That reticence could stem from some tension with the team in the past over some of those injuries. General manager John Mozeliak wasn’t thrilled with how Garcia announced he was having thoracic outlet surgery in 2014. The team wanted Garcia to try rehabbing the injury first.

“He’s been a hard guy to count on,” Mozeliak was quoted as saying at the time.

And yet here they are, counting on him again. Garcia’s fastball tops out in the low-90s these days, but he gets remarkable natural movement on his pitches. Manager Mike Matheny compared trying to catch Garcia to catching a knuckleball pitcher. His primary off-speed pitches are a cutter and changeup.

Cole Disappointed in Contract

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Gerrit Cole, coming off a 2015 season that included his first All-Star nod, says he is disappointed by the contract he signed for the 2016 season.

Cole signed for $541,000 on Saturday, the same amount he made last year when he went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA and finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting. His 2015 base salary was $531,000, and he earned $10,000 for making the All-Star team.

"When you perform at a level that draws the praise of management, teammates, coaches and fans, you expect appropriate compensation," Cole told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "I understand the business of this game, but it is hard to accept that a year of performance success does not warrant an increase in pay."

Cole told the newspaper that club officials refused to go over $541,000 after making an original offer of $538,000, saying that was the most they could offer under the team's salary system for players who are not eligible for arbitration.

"They even threatened a salary reduction to the league minimum if I did not agree," Cole said.