The Padres announced, on Twitter, that they have claimed outfielder Alex Castellanos off waivers from the Rangers. Left-hander Cory Luebke has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list in order to clear a 40-man roster spot.
The Rangers designated the 27-year-old Castellanos for assignment earlier in the week in order to clear a spot on their 40-man roster for Joe Saunders. San Diego is Castellanos' fourth organization since the end of last season. Initially dealt from the Dodgers to the Red Sox for Jeremy Hazelbaker, he was next claimed off waivers by the Rangers when Boston signed Mike Napoli.
Though he's moved around quite a bit this offseason, Castellanos has an outstanding minor league track record. The Florida native is a career .291/.382/.525 hitter with 36 homers and 35 stolen bases in 848 Triple-A plate appearances. However, he's managed just a .171/.186/.390 batting line in an admittedly small sample size of 43 big league plate appearances.
Cool, I hope he’s able to turn it around with SD.
with Maybin injured (again), maybe Alex will show some flash of the glove and strike of the bat. i like this for the Pads too.
Hopefully, the Padres will have to waive him and the Rangers can get him back.
The good news for Castellanos is he will never have to buy his own coffee.
Pads using the same “improve our team at no cost” philosphy. I like this for the Pads and I hope Castellanos succeeds here but using unproven MLB players is getting quite old. I understand this is a cost effective move for the Pads considering Maybin’s contract but winning is equally as important to the fans.
The Padres vocal minority tune of “the Padres don’t spend any money” is getting pretty old. Complaining that the Padres are cheap for picking up a former prospect for the 25th man on the roster spot is really weak. Fans like these sometimes make it difficult to be a Padres fan.