Dioner Navarro

I'm about to show you how much I pay attention to the rest of the league outside of the Cubs. Before he came to Chicago as a free agent last off season, I had never heard of Dioner Navarro. Yes, the same Dioner Navarro whose debut season with the Cubs was his 10th in the Major Leagues. He was even an All-Star in 2008 for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays where he batted 4 times after entering the game in the 7th as a pinch hitter. What?!? Oh yeah, that's the game that went 15 innings because we couldn't have another tie game debacle.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he played a more than capable backup catcher role for the Cubs in 2013. He finished batting an even .300, one of just two Cubs to reach that mark in 2013 regardless of at bats. Out of a team record 56 players on the roster. Yikes. He also threw out 26% of base stealers, just below the league average of 28%.

One of his most notable game with the Cubs came on May 29, 2013, when he went 3-3 with a a walk. And oh, his three hits all happened to be home runs, including two from the right side of the plate and one from the left. His six RBIs helped the Cubs defeat the crosstown White Sox 9-3.

Navarro is currently a free agent as of about two weeks ago. Starting catcher Welington Castillo just underwent knee surgery, so who knows where the Cubs stand at catcher in 2014.

The ATCRCS card above was signed during that Seattle series in mid-summer along with a bunch of others I've already posted. Not only that, but here's a signed 2013 team set card, something I haven't shown off in a while either.

With the offseason here, I'm going to have to sit down and figure out who I have and who I still need for both the 2012 and 2013 sets. Then maybe I can knock out some more during Spring Training.