P. J. Higgins has elected free agency

Last Friday, I reported here that P.J. Higgins had cleared waivers and had been sent to the Triple-A Iowa roster, after having been designated for assignment when the Cubs signed Tucker Barnhart.

Today, there’s an update on Higgins’ status:

Higgins had the right to elect free agency because he had previously been outrighted.

Now, I suppose it’s possible that the Cubs could re-sign Higgins to a minor-league deal, but he’s likely looking for a team where he could make the Opening Day roster, and there are teams around that might be willing to do that. In 83 games for the Cubs in 2021 and 2022, Higgins batted .210/.291/.348 (47-for-224) with six home runs, though his numbers were better than that in 2022 (.693 OPS) after going 1-for-23 in nine games in 2021.

This leaves the Cubs with Dom Nuñez, who they recently signed as a minor league free agent, and Miguel Amaya as catchers at Iowa. At the moment, the Iowa roster shows only Nuñez as a catcher.

The Cubs thus might wind up signing more catchers to minor-league contracts before Spring Training begins. As always, we await developments.