The Cubs have publicly said that Welington Castillo still has a place with the team.
The idea of having three catchers on the major league roster is really out of the box. With most teams adding an additional pitcher, the position bench is pretty thin. Thus, the rise of the super-sub like Emilio Bonifacio.
There are two reasons for management's comments. First, it is a way to bump up the "trade value" of a surplus catcher. There are many teams that are in need of a quality, major league ready backstop. But no one has pulled the major trigger since the Blue Jays signed Russell Martin. The Jays former starter, Dioner Navarro, had an excellent season so he wants to be traded to start somewhere else. But the Jays have not tried to move him.
Navarro is a better hitting catcher than Miguel Montero, David Ross or Castillo. Navarro's return to the Cubs would have made more sense than replacing Castillo with Montero and Ross, who will be the personal catcher for Jon Lester. Personally, the Montero trade was not an upgrade over Castillo.
Second, there may be some concern that either Montero, who has had two declining years in a row for Arizona, or Ross, who is at the final stage of his career, may break down leaving the Cubs with a huge catching hole since Kyle Schwarber is years away from a big league promotion.
In his major league career, Castillo has only played one game at first base. Otherwise, he has been a catcher. So Castillo does not have the experience to become a super-sub and play multiple positions such as 1B, LF or 3B, the latter two to be manned by journeymen.
The Cubs could try to deal from catching strength if some clubs have spring training injuries to their starting catchers, but at this point that is a long shot.
It is not to say that Castillo would not be better than the 25th man off the bench. But it is a luxury to carry three catchers. It means that a team has a set 8 man daily lineup, which clearly the Cubs do not have.
