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Why Cubs individualized one-knee stances — for current catchers and any they may add

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When veteran Yan Gomes joined the Cubs, catching coach Craig Driver started working with him on a one-knee-down stance. It wasn’t foreign to Gomes, but he’d always favored a more traditional setup.

“Maybe you can teach old dogs new tricks,” Gomes said.

Catching was in the headlines this week, thanks to some big free-agent signings — Christian Vazquez with the Twins, Mike Zunino with the Guardians and Omar Narvaez with the Mets — and a blockbuster three-team trade that saw Sean Murphy join the Braves and William Contreras join the Brewers.

Although much of Cubs fans’ offseason angst has been focused on free-agent shortstop Dansby Swanson, all the movement in the catching market isn’t helping the anxiety.