Angels trade for catcher from White Sox after Chicago lands former LAA backstop

The White Sox and Angels just swapped their 2024 backup catchers in a round-about way. The White Sox recently signed Bryse Wilson, so they needed to clear a 40-man spot. In order to do so, they traded catcher Chuckie Robinson to the Angels for cash (it's common practice for teams to forego the waiver process by sending cash in exchange for a 40-man casualty). The White Sox were able to let Robinson go because they had just acquired Matt Thaiss from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for cash. The Cubs shopped Thaiss after they inked Carson Kelly to a deal. The Angels had sent Thaiss to the Cubs in exchange for cash in November. Yes, this is a lot to keep track of.

The Angels now have their third catcher, as they deemed that Robinson is more worthy of a 40-man spot than Davis Daniel. If anything happens to Logan O'Hoppe or Travis d'Arnaud health-wise next season, expect to see Robinson fill the void as of now. Candidly, Robinson provides 0 offense whatsoever at the major league level. He has solid traditional statistics of throwing runners out, despite average-to-poor underlying metrics regarding his pop time and arm strength. Perhaps they value Robinson's blocking, pitch-calling, and framing? Either way, if Robinson plays at all for the big league team it's not a good sign.

There was a path for Daniel to break camp as a long-relief option on Opening Day, but that is out of the question now that he is off the 40-man. It remains to be seen if he will return to the Angels, as he will need to clear waivers. If he does clear waivers, it stands to reason that they would want to retain Daniel at the AAA level in case of emergency. The Angels chose to DFA Daniel over several other candidates like Gustavo Campero, Kyren Paris, Kelvin Caceres, Jack Dashwood, and Hans Crouse.

Matt Thaiss has a chance to carve out some playing time

Matt Thaiss should enter a catching platoon with Korey Lee to start the season for the White Sox. Similar to when he played with the Angels, Thaiss will have to hold off Edgar Quero to retain his spot on the major league roster. In contrast to when he played for the Angels, he will have to hold off Kyle Teel as well. Teel was acquired as part of the Garrett Crochet trade, and is as close to MLB-ready as a prospect can be.

Thaiss will reunite with his old hitting coach Marcus Thames, old pitching coach Matt Wise, and bullpen coach Drew Butera with the White Sox. He worked with all three of those coaches quite closely with the Angels.

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