Red Sox to sign Rusney Castillo

[2nd_city_saint787]

Very simple, if Jackie Bradley's a star and playing Gold Glove caliber CF while OPSing around 700, Rusney Castillo isn't in their plans.

 

It's going to be pretty difficult to convince me otherwise.

 

Nava, Holt, Gomes, etc. Not as relevant.

 

 

Because if you really believe in Bradley or Betts, you're not going to leave them blocked for a year behind Cespedes, Castillo and Victorino.

 

The fact that Castillo and Bradley play the same primary position, CF, is also telling.

 

 

 

EDIT: And I completely forgot about Allen Craig as well, whose contract will be about as easy to dump as John Danks'

 

Fairly certain he's in their plans if they JUST signed him.

 

 

[shysocks]

Eno Sarris @enosarris

Castillo for $12m/yr? His best year in Cuba translates to .220/ .247/ .362 in America & Davenport has been fairly money

He's referring to the Davenport translation system that attempts to project how Cubans will do in MLB. For the record, Abreu has majorly underperformed his initial translation because it was so absurd.

 

Just fun stuff to think about.

[Dunt]

That Abreu deal looks better and better every day

[Kyyle23]

Fairly certain he's in their plans if they JUST signed him.

 

No, because Nava and Sizemore and things

[caulfield12]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/08/...IdoO/story.html

 

 

Long examination of what went wrong with Bogaerts and Bradley, Jr., where they rushed through AAA too quickly, why young hitters are having a harder and harder time breaking into the majors, etc.

 

Bradley Jr. would be a great buy low candidate and insurance for Eaton injuries. He's a Gold Glover caliber defender, better than anyone we've had at CF in my lifetime.

 

 

PS: Yay! Ken Rosenthal was actually ahead of everyone for once on the Castillo deal.

Edited August 22, 2014 by caulfield12

[Chisoxfn]

Fairly certain he's in their plans if they JUST signed him.

He is saying had Bradley not busted, they don't sign Rusney. Kind of like me saying, had Beckham panned out, we wouldn't have traded him to the Angels. But still a valid point, they are having to spend a lot on the international FA market because they have not been able to find quality internal replacements.

[caulfield12]

No, because Nava and Sizemore and things

 

 

Geez, nitpicking.

 

90-95% of the reason is directly related to Bradley and their disappointment with his offensive development, and even though they have Betts coming behind him, he's only had 45 AAA games.

 

 

In general, EVERYTHING has gone wrong with the Red Sox OF this season. First, Sizemore. Victorino's back surgery. Gomes, Nava and Holt underperforming. Even Cespedes has been disappointing so far with Boston. Craig's also having an uncharacteristic down year and may have peaked.

Edited August 22, 2014 by caulfield12

[Kyyle23]

Geez, nitpicking.

 

90-95% of the reason is directly related to Bradley and their disappointment with his offensive development, and even though they have Betts coming behind him, he's only had 45 AAA games.

 

 

In general, EVERYTHING has gone wrong with the Red Sox OF this season. First, Sizemore. Victorino's back surgery. Gomes, Nava and Holt underperforming. Even Cespedes has been disappointing so far with Boston. Craig's also having an uncharacteristic down year and may have peaked.

 

Craig is having a typical injury filled season, dont fool yourself. the guy is fragile

[caulfield12]

Nava has been great over the years for the Red Sox. He was never supposed to be anything.

 

Sizemore was a break or bust and he busted to no one's (except Lillian) surprise.

 

BoSox seem to be going the Oakland path. They'll have Craig/Cespedes/JBJ/Castillo/Nava and (I assume) Ortiz for 3 OF spots and DH. Plus Betts with nowhere to play. I am sure it'll be another active offseason for them.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/30910/daniel-nava

 

Great is subjective, I guess.

 

Other than 2013, his overall numbers look like Dayan Viciedo's.

 

That said, very little to nothing was every expected out of someone who spent so much time in the minors and peaked late.

[southsider2k5]

I wonder if the White Sox can match up with the Red on one of those excess OF's?

[Soxfest]

I wonder if the White Sox can match up with the Red on one of those excess OF's?

It is at least worth kicking the tires on.

[Chisoxfn]

It is at least worth kicking the tires on.

Completely agree.

[Dick Allen]

This guy owes Abreu some dinners. No way he gets what he gets if Abreu is hitting .250 with 13 homers.

[Chisoxfn]

I still would love to see Cespedes on the Sox. I think with Abreu he'd make a couple adjustments at the plate and be a total impact player. I also just really like toolsy players and guys with hoses and well he fits the bill. I'm excited about the fact that we have three guys, Semien, Johnson, and Sanchez that I think have good chances at being at least, cost controlled, league average players. I also like the fact that it will likely give us depth and versatility too. Put someone like Semien in the 9 spot (or 2 spot) with Johnson hitting 1 or 2 (along with Eaton) and that is pretty solid. Maybe it is Sanchez in the 9 and Semien up a bit in the order due to his pop. Either way, that gives us a much deeper, imo, back of the lineup.

 

I'm also starting to get comfortable with Flowers at catcher, due to his defense, and the fact that well, pretty much every catcher in baseball sucks offensively now.

[Kyyle23]

I also just really like guys with hoses and well he fits the bill.

 

well alrighty then

 

 

 

[Chisoxfn]

well alrighty then

 

 

 

Haha. Honestly, I think that is why I find the Sox team still tough to watch. We don't have those exciting game changing defensive players, outside of Ramirez, who is on his last legs (and extremely underappreciated). Eaton is fun to watch but our corner outfielders are atrocious and we are below average at 3B and quite frankly 2B. That might change a bit cause I think Semien / Sanchez will hold there own and while Johnson is more raw, if he ends up there, he can be fine too. Would love to find a strong RF'er so we can move Avisail to LF. In fact, I think we could add 2 OF'ers and then with the depth in the infield be able to do some nice things not needing a full time DH.

 

We really have to find a way to get another quality starter though and do a lot to the pen. I actually think those are what is really holding us back from contending and I dont' know that what we need is in our system either (at least not near turn....and I know we have Rodon, I just think we need 2 guys, so Rodon plus someone). It is why I think if we end up with a top 10 pick, we could really benefit and hopefully be able to land a top right handed pitcher (as I expect that will be our focus). Then try to focus some more money / other spects on athletic position players since we can't freaking develop them ourselves.

[Kyyle23]

Haha. Honestly, I think that is why I find the Sox team still tough to watch. We don't have those exciting game changing defensive players, outside of Ramirez, who is on his last legs (and extremely underappreciated). Eaton is fun to watch but our corner outfielders are atrocious and we are below average at 3B and quite frankly 2B. That might change a bit cause I think Semien / Sanchez will hold there own and while Johnson is more raw, if he ends up there, he can be fine too. Would love to find a strong RF'er so we can move Avisail to LF. In fact, I think we could add 2 OF'ers and then with the depth in the infield be able to do some nice things not needing a full time DH.

 

We really have to find a way to get another quality starter though and do a lot to the pen. I actually think those are what is really holding us back from contending and I dont' know that what we need is in our system either (at least not near turn....and I know we have Rodon, I just think we need 2 guys, so Rodon plus someone). It is why I think if we end up with a top 10 pick, we could really benefit and hopefully be able to land a top right handed pitcher (as I expect that will be our focus). Then try to focus some more money / other spects on athletic position players since we can't freaking develop them ourselves.

 

Hahn may have been very general and speak in a lot of fluff terms this morning, but it was obvious to me that he is pretty disappointed in this season and wants to get this ship pointed in the right direction, and stay pointed in that direction with depth and stability. I think he has some plans for this offseason

[Chisoxfn]

Hahn may have been very general and speak in a lot of fluff terms this morning, but it was obvious to me that he is pretty disappointed in this season and wants to get this ship pointed in the right direction, and stay pointed in that direction with depth and stability. I think he has some plans for this offseason

First and foremost, you have to find some bullpen arms and the bright side is, if you are willing to try youngsters, you can probably poach some guys from other teams systems. Often times, those reliever prospects just aren't that tough to pull, if you want to find them. I don't expect them to spend a ton of money, however, I think we'll see a pretty busy off-season with one or two major trades (and by major, I don't mean getting superstar, but with club acquiring young cost controlled talent...possibly at the expense of other talent). Maybe we'll see a big FA signing but I would be surprised, presume we will wait and go bargain shopping in FA market.

[2nd_city_saint787]

If we're talking RHH, I'd love to get Napoli to DH. With the "Glut" in the OF they might wanna play Craig at 1B(where he's better off anyway) thus making Napoli available.

 

They'd probably want a major league ready SP back though.

[witesoxfan]

He's referring to the Davenport translation system that attempts to project how Cubans will do in MLB. For the record, Abreu has majorly underperformed his initial translation because it was so absurd.

 

Just fun stuff to think about.

 

Ehh, his Davenport translation was .321/.446/.660, he's at .303/.361/.594. That's really not terribly far off.

[shysocks]

I still would love to see Cespedes on the Sox. I think with Abreu he'd make a couple adjustments at the plate and be a total impact player. I also just really like toolsy players and guys with hoses and well he fits the bill. I'm excited about the fact that we have three guys, Semien, Johnson, and Sanchez that I think have good chances at being at least, cost controlled, league average players. I also like the fact that it will likely give us depth and versatility too. Put someone like Semien in the 9 spot (or 2 spot) with Johnson hitting 1 or 2 (along with Eaton) and that is pretty solid. Maybe it is Sanchez in the 9 and Semien up a bit in the order due to his pop. Either way, that gives us a much deeper, imo, back of the lineup.

 

I'm also starting to get comfortable with Flowers at catcher, due to his defense, and the fact that well, pretty much every catcher in baseball sucks offensively now.

That's sort of a misconception. ALL non-pitchers are hitting .255/.319/.395 in 2014. Catchers are hitting .246/.311/.383. It is still weaker than average but it's not the offensive black hole it once was.

 

These are the players with more than 300 plate appearances at catcher this season. There are some good hitters in there. Notice who's close to the bottom.

[shysocks]

Ehh, his Davenport translation was .321/.446/.660, he's at .303/.361/.594. That's really not terribly far off.

It's 150 points off the OPS. Not that I'm complaining about Abreu.

 

But I seem to remember a different projection that came out first that was well above that one, in Ruth/Bonds territory.

[The Wiz]

What do they have to do with Castillo? a DFAed free agent, AAAA bench player and first full season player have no impact on Castillo

In what world is Daniel Nava a AAAA bench player?

 

I'm not saying he is anything special, and he is already on the wrong side of 30, but there is no reason to think that Nava can't still be a useful offensive player for someone next year. Even with his OBP in the .335-.340 range this season, that is still a nice upgrade to what the Sox usually get from De Aza and Viciedo in the OF.

Edited August 22, 2014 by The Wiz

[Kyyle23]

In what world is Daniel Nava a AAAA bench player?

 

This one.

 

There was supposed to be a slash between AAAA/bench. But the guy was in the minors until he was 28, and Boston has moved on from the idea that he is a starter.

[2nd_city_saint787]

In what world is Daniel Nava a AAAA bench player?

 

I'm not saying he is anything special, and he is already on the wrong side of 30, but there is no reason to think that Nava can't still be a useful offensive player for someone next year. Even with his OBP in the .335-.340 range this season, that is still a nice upgrade to what the Sox usually get from De Aza and Viciedo in the OF.

 

vs RHP...

 

De Aza- .282/.350/.413

Nava- .284/.367/.370