The Cubs have two of the most likeable catchers in baseball. David Ross is the designated grandpa of the team, extremely popular in the clubhouse and with his pitchers. Ross knowledge of the art of catching is second to none. Pitchers love working with him and he seems to get the best out of whoever is on the mound. What's more, he can still control the running game. He has thrown out 31% of baserunners -- no small feat when he catches Jon Lester regularly. But Ross is 39 years old, which is ancient in catcher's years. He can no longer handle the duties day-to-day over the course of a long season. In fact, his numbers have been in decline since an unexpectedly fast start to his season. Ross will still walk and has the strength to take one out on occasion, but the bat speed is gone. The K rate is on the rise and numbers like RC+ (82) and wOBA (.296) are at well below average since the first week of May.

Miguel Montero is another clubhouse and fan favorite. Like Ross, he knows how to manage the game and his pitching staff. He's competitive as they come, but Montero's solid 2015 is behind us and he is playing more like the catcher who struggled his last two seasons in Arizona. It's hard not to feel for Montero. He still plays the game as hard as he ever has, still wants to win as passionately as he has throughout his career -- but the body just isn't cooperating anymore. Years of injuries and the general wear and tear of catching have taken their toll. He has thrown out just 2 of 30 baserunners this season -- a 7% rate.

In addition to their ability to manage the game and the pitching staff, the two veterans are among the top 10 framers in baseball. StatCorner has Montero ranked 4th and Ross ranked 9th.

Up until now, the Cubs have felt that those little nuances of catching have outweighed the individual physical limitations of each catcher. The Cubs have a veteran pitching staff that is ranked 3rd in the NL in WAR and 2nd in FIP. When it comes to starting pitching, they are first in WAR and tied for 1st in FIP. And if you like traditional stats, they are first in ERA by a wide margin (2.33 for the Cubs and 3.17 for the second ranked Mets).

It's hard to know how much we can chalk that up to the relationship Ross and Montero have built with the staff. How much is that owed to their knowledge of the league, calling a game, and managing their veteran staff?

What's more, I've never really believed that framing was purely a physical skill. Politics and communication play a role here. They have to know their pitchers, but they also have to know how to work with umpires. It takes a certain personality, experience, and strong communication skills to lobby the alpha personality that is a major league umpire and establish a strike zone that is beneficial for the pitcher on the mound that day. It is a skill that is not just physical, but requires interpersonal intelligence. A catcher that frames well has to be a bit of a salesman, psychologist, and politician behind the plate. Some of that is part of their natural mental makeup and some of it comes with years of experience -- it isn't something you can just learn by reading or watching others. It is something you learn by doing, by trial and error -- especially when you consider that is how many of us learn and it may even be more the case with athletes.

So then we turn our focus to Willson Contreras. He is a better hitter today than any of the Cubs 3 catchers by a wide margin. He has excellent plate discipline and great hands at the plate. They're quick enough to turn on any fastball and strong enough to take pitches the other way with virtually no loss in power. His excellent hand-eye coordination help him make contact consistently. As an offensive player, he is about as much as you can expect out of a catcher. In that respect, Contreras could be among the best in baseball.

The praise only continues on defense. Contreras has plus to plus-plus raw arm strength that he has begun to tap into by shortening his arm action on throws and vastly improving his accuracy. As long as the pitcher gives him a chance, odds are Contreras will cut the runner down. He takes tremendous pride in that part of his game. It's almost as if he takes the attempt to steal personally.

When it comes to receiving there are few catchers who are as athletic as Contreras and that manifests itself in his tremendous mobility when it comes both to blocking pitches and fielding bunts/slow rollers in front of him. Physically, he is everything that the Cubs current catchers are not at their respective stages of their career. He still needs some work with his technique to make the best use of that ability, but he has made big strides there as well.

So why isn't he up? Well, it's those nuances. Do the Cubs want a rookie catcher handling a veteran staff that is the best in baseball right now? And more to the point, do they want a rookie who only started catching full-time last season managing games on a World Series contender on a day-to-day basis?

Contreras is an intelligent, hard-working catcher and his competitive nature is very much like that of Montero and Ross. He wants to win as badly as anyone and that has been a good and bad thing for him as he has developed. The bad part is that Contreras has been prone to letting his passions boil over to the point where it can adversely affect the game. That includes his play on the field where he sometimes tries to make plays that just aren't there, leading to unnecessary errors.

The good thing is that Contreras has learned to refocus that competitiveness and in the past two seasons, he has rechanneled that passion to work for him and his team instead of against them. In some ways it has been a bit like the maturation process of Javier Baez, who was prone to the same types of mistakes. Like Baez, Contreras is learning when to let loose and when to hold back. He is using that strong competitive nature to spur him on to do whatever it takes to make it to the major leagues and stay there.

And Contreas is getting close. In fact, if this was 2013, my money would be on him being up by now. The Cubs would have nothing to lose by having him continue to learn at the MLB level. But this is not 2013, this is 2016 and the Cubs are the best team with the best starting rotation in baseball. They are simply not in a position to develop catchers on the fly.

Yet...

The increasingly apparent deficiencies of the Cubs current catching core are creating a dilemma. While Contreras works on those nuances of catching, the Cubs have a very nuanced decision to make. When do those physical limitations of the Cubs veteran backstops begin to outweigh everything they bring from the neck up? It isn't an easy question to answer and it is probably one the Cubs are monitoring on a regular basis. When the Cubs face a good team like the Nationals that can compete with them for 9 innings and more, a stolen base or a pitch that gets by the catcher can make the difference -- as we saw yesterday when Danny Espinoza's stolen base put him in scoring position and allowed him to tie the game on a single. Could Contreras have prevented that? Maybe. Would he have made them think twice about taking that kind of risk when compared to Montero? Absolutely.

At some point, likely this season, that balance is going to tip in Contreras' favor. Certainly by September, perhaps by August, the way it did with Kyle Schwarber. The Cubs managed to make that work while continuing to win games. With the minor league season ending in early September, it's only one month of lost development time and at that point, some of the benefits of working with MLB veterans and getting acquainted with the staff and league on a more gradual basis may outweigh the benefits of catching everyday. Some estimates will tell you that we retain 80% of what we learn by personal experience, so in an ideal situation, that is why the Cubs would want Contreras to continue doing. But we also retain about 50% of what we see and hear and 70% of what we discuss with others. When we look at the big picture, there will be a tipping point where the best combination for Contreras and the Cubs will be to be up at the MLB level where he can continue his education by seeing, hearing, discussing, and occasionally doing with and against best baseball has to offer.

When that date will be is impossible to know, but it is a decision the Cubs will eventually have to make.

And with the way Contreras is playing, learning, and maturing as a catcher, that decision is getting closer everyday.

UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Contreras will indeed be called up. How's that for timing?

Sources: #Cubs promoting catcher Willson Contreras, will join team tomorrow. Plan is to go with 3 catchers. No word on accompanying move. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 16, 2016

UPDATE #2" It appears Tim Federowicz will be the one to go. Had to be tough because I know the Cubs liked him. Hope he sneaks through.

Confirmed: Top catching prospect Willson Contreras to join team Friday for Pirates series. First big-league callup. Federowicz expected DFA — Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) June 16, 2016

UPDATE #3: Not really an update but I had a thought last night that is a bit unorthodox and forgot to add it to the article. What if the Cubs used Willson Contreras late in games to control the running game in close contests? Teams are more likely to take those gambles when one run wins the game. Additionally, it would help him break in calling a game as relievers work with a smaller repertoire and streamlined approach. He could also block pitches better, especially RPs with nasty sliders and splitters. Lastly, he adds a bat late in the game and is even an average runner -- not for a catcher, I mean for any position. Sort of a catching closer who gets an occasional spot start. It's unusual, yes. Not tried as far as I know, but Joe Maddon has never deterred by that sort of thing.