Cubs Acquire George Kottaras From Royals

For those of you waiting for the Cubs to "DO SOMETHING!", they have done something:

catcher George Kottaras has been traded to the #cubs

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) November 26, 2013

Obviously, this is not a huge move. However, the Cubs do need a backup to Welington Castillo, who now will be the primary catcher after having started just 107 games in 2013 due to the great year Dioner Navarro had, and also because of a knee injury that forced him to miss the last couple of weeks of the 2013 season.

Kottaras isn't much of a hitter -- career .214/.324/.406 -- and he had a particularly bad offensive season for the Royals in 2013, hitting just .180/.349/.370 in 100 at-bats. That .349 OBP with a .180 BA should catch your eye, though; Kottaras has always had good plate discipline and hits for a bit of power, with the .406 career SLG.

It's not a major move, obviously, but fills a need. According to Paul Sullivan, this is an all-cash deal:

Cubs acquire C George Kottaras for cash. Will be in mix for back-up job.

— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) November 26, 2013

Unless the Cubs make another acquisition, or someone really plays much better than Kottaras in spring training, I'd expect him to be the Cubs' backup catcher on Opening Day in Pittsburgh.