JUNE 20: Castillo has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Pawtucket, tweets Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal.
JUNE 19, 1:21pm: The Red Sox hadn’t contacted Castillo as of an hour ago, tweets Rob Bradford of WEEI. Castillo has three days before he’ll have to report to the team, Bradford adds.
10:57am: The Red Sox placed outfielder Rusney Castillo on outright waivers Saturday, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Castillo will clear waivers Monday if nobody claims him. Given that Castillo is on a $10.5MM salary this year and is set to rake in upward of $50MM through 2019, odds are strongly against a team claiming the Cuba native.
This obviously isn’t the outcome the Red Sox or Castillo anticipated when the two sides agreed to a seven-year, $72.5MM contract in 2014. Castillo came to the United States as a potential five-tool center field option for Boston, but he never lived up to that promise with the Red Sox after an excellent initial taste of the majors.
When he first joined the Red Sox late in the 2014 season, Castillo appeared in 10 games and collected 12 hits – including three home runs – three walks and three steals in 40 plate appearances. Over a much larger sample size last season, he batted a poor .253/.288/.359 with five homers and four steals across 289 trips to the plate. That lack of production has carried into this year, with Castillo having posted a .245/.304/.320 line in 161 PAs with Triple-A Pawtucket. Despite the Red Sox’s injury issues in left field, where Blake Swihart and Brock Holt are both on the shelf, the 28-year-old Castillo has collected just eight PAs in the majors this season.
Going forward, there’s a chance Castillo will remain with the Red Sox organization if he clears waivers, according to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. While Castillo would no longer be on the club’s 40-man roster, he’d still be able to suit up for Pawtucket.
Is he that bad?
I feel like he’s been mishandled. He’s a great defensive outfielder, with a tendency to hammer every ball he hits into the ground. You would have to think some coach or team would be able to adjust his swing to get him some more loft. The Dombrowski crew has seemed to have no interest in him since they got there though.
Ya this was kind of weird to me too. I mean his stats aren’t good by any means but theres definitely a lot worse out there. And would it kill them to just keep him down at AAA and have him work on his swing some more rather than just get rid of him altogether?
That’s really all they are doing with this move, sending him down. There is very little chance of any other team claiming his contract. That are simply removing him from the 40 man at the same time. It’s no longer looking like the Cuban players are a sure thing to be able to handle/adjust to the MLB.
Going all the way back to Barbaro Garbey, It has always been a relatively small percentage of Cubans that acclimate themselves. For every Jose Fernandez there is an Odrisamer Despaigne. And for every Yoenis Cespedes there are several Rusney Castillos, Alex Guerreros, and Erisbel Arruehubbabubba. People only tend to focus on the success stories though.
You forgot Jose Abreau and Yasiel Puig
Same with top prospects
I didn’t forget them, I left them out. But if you want to discuss them, here goes. As far as Abreu goes, he had an excellent rookie year, but it seems that the league caught up with him fairly quickly. He might rebound, but he not currently a superstar in my opinion. He’s a good solid player, but he has declined quite a bit since his rookie year. Right now, I wouldn’t sign him for the 6/68MM that he originally got from the White Sox.
Puig is almost the exact same story as Abreu, although his fall has been even greater. If you take away his name value, you basically have just a decent outfielder that makes far too many mental mistakes to be on a contender. He is the type of player that should be putting up semi-star type numbers and selling tickets on a 70 win team.
I’ve heard this “mishandled” thing a lot about players from Cuba. These guys come to a new country, have to adjust to a new culture and even play the game is a slightly different way.
I truly wonder if there’s a team out there that would put someone with them in a “liaison” kinda role to help them deal with the change. I’m thinking “Mr Baseball” here! Hehehe
I don’t know this player but I moved here from another (English Speaking) country and I found it difficult at times. It must be way harder for these guys. Doesn’t matter that they are pros, when everything else around you changes its hard not to be distracted and affected.
while it may be hard, the fact is it’s difficult for a lot of young men adjusting to life in the usa from their native country, whether it’s cuba, puerto rico, dominican republic, japan or korea. but it’s major league baseball and it’s about production. if you produce, you’re well compensated. if not, you’re looking for a new line of work.
Maybe coaches have tried. I suspect any Cuban player going from rags to millionaires are difficult to coach. They’ve gotten out of Cuba to the land of opportunity, signed contracts for millions and don’t care about baseball.
I don’t really Know either. For now? He’ll joing Allen Craig at Pawtucket who has another contract nobody was going to claim when he has been added, then DFA’d 2-3 times already from the Sox 40 man roster over the last couple of years and Boston will be 100% safe in doing the same with Castillo if he never improves.
What it’s worth? Saw Castillo right after he signed at the GCL playoff games #1 and 3 at Tampa. He had a entourage of “hangers on” types already following him and I don’t mean fans, but his own people, probably the type that would be classified (to me) as leeches.
Was talking with 1 some in the small bleecher section for the fans. Everything Castillo did, according to these people was due to his core group.
It makes one wonder about these Cuban players and why teams allow these leeches to hang around them.
Allen Craig? man I forgot all about that guy
Couple of really good points there. The money does make a difference and then these leeches don’t dare tell them to shape up. They are “yes” men and make excuses. I suspect that A-Rod surrounded himself with those kinda people who dare not tell him “dude you’re acting like a douche”. Smart people surround themselves with people who will tell them the truth.
Yeah, I know people were frustrated with him, but outrighting him at this point seems a bit extreme.
They had to make a 40 man roster move… No one will take him with his contract…he will end up back in Pawtucket
Which is weird that Dombrowski is giving up on him essentially seeing as it was publicly known the Tigers were the runners up for Castillo when he signed with the Sox
Yes. He stinks on ice
Flip him for Ryan Howard and Matt Harrison. Red Sox save like 25M, and the Phillies get a better talent.
Unrealistic, I know, but I can dream.
Lol as a Phillies fan I would take it, whatever gets Howard and Harrison off the roster.
As a Red Sox fan I’d take it..too. Either use Howard off the bench or DFA him & and give Harrison a shot in the rotation and if it doesn’t work, DFA.
The Phillies have insurance on Harrison’s deal. They won’t really safe anything moving him.
It’s not full insurance. They still have to pay some. I’d take the upside in exchange for the sunk cost.
Given how poorly he was hitting at AAA this year, this isn’t all that surprising.
Matt Cain for Castillo straight up
I’m surprisingly okay with this deal…
Is that really you?
Who do they need a roster spot for that would cause them eat that kind of money??
They’re not going to “eat” that money. He’s not being released.
They could call him up later if they’d like to…
The Kid they just brought up from Pawtucket wasn’t on the 40 man roster and they are gambling they can send Rusney thru wavers and no one will claim him with his high dollar contract …. He will end up back at AAA
Thank God! I didn’t want him to come to the Sox in the first place! Hopefully Allen Craig, Panda and Hanley are next
Craig already had his turn
Craig was outrighted last year.
Panda and Hanley can reject the assignment.
Mariners get : rusney and Chris young 10 mil Red Sox get dj Peterson o’malley and Miley
Miley is not coming back. He was shipped out of town for a reason.
I know this would be the exact opposite of a low risk pick up, but if there’s still a high reward to be had, I could see either Chicago or LA team rolling the dice.
Cubs knew this culture shock issue and took their time with Soler. Think that’s the way to go
I usually don’t get into this kind of high-payroll/low-payroll argument, but this is one of those examples where you see how the big-money teams can be successful. I’m a Padres fan, and a contract like Castillo’s would have been an albatross, and San Diego already has one of those in Matt Kemp. The margin for error for teams like San Diego is unbelievably slim. They can’t really afford to spend 72 million dollars on a guy and release him two years later.
Meanwhile, look at the dead money teams like Boston, the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers can absorb and still be competitive. The Giants won three World Series while throwing money into the fire on Zito, Winn, Scutaro, Rowand, Lowry, Cain, Peavy, Hudson etc. The Dodgers have a winning record this season despite spending about 60 million dollars on injured starting pitchers, not to mention Carl Crawford etc. Yankees are near .500 despites spnding like 50 million dollars just this season on A-Rod and Teixeira, plus money on bad players llike Ellsbury and Headley.
Boston just blew 72 million bucks on Castillo. That’s more money than two teams are spending on their entire team this season.
I know money doesn’t buy victory – the Tigers and Angels are pretty good examples of that. But it sure helps paper over careless and casual mistakes made by front offices.
San Diego is the 8th largest city in the United States; it’s bigger than San Francisco and Dallas. The point about being able to absorb payroll on bad contracts only points to the fact that a team in a city as big as San Diego is not being managed in a way that it can compete with these ‘big money’ teams. Before the new ownership group in Boston, aka The Harrington/Duquette years, the team was considered by fans and media alike to be a small market David to the Yankees’ Goliath. See how quickly that type of nonsense breaks down when you have good ownership and a passionate fan base?
San Diego is the 8th largest city but the 26th largest media market. Thr San Fran media market covers the whole bay area, Dallas covers most of Texas, Boston covers all of New England, San Diego only covers San Diego…
Padres also overlap with areas with strong Angels and Dodgers fanbases
Red Sox own NESN and get millions annually from the cable channel as it covers all of New England with no competition. Boston is spending $200 million on salaries this year and could spend more. Ownership will always look good with that kind of money .
Thanks for the share! It’s so true about how big money glosses over big issues.
As for a solution to this dilemma in baseball, I’m not sure what should be done. Should teams with big markets (more fans) be punished for having more revenue? Should teams with smaller market be stuck in hard-to-win situations given their lack of revenue?
I think the way the baseball system has played out has worked well. Moneyball teams like the Rays have been to the World Series while the Royals have actually won the World Series.
And teams like the Yankees and Angles have been mediocre will spending up to the luxury tax.
I don’t think Geographic location should have any impact on a competitive league, yes everyone has a different home stadium but both teams experience the same stadium, being in a high populated area should not be a huge advantage in terms of competition like it is, baseball was never meant to be in just large cities only, it was supposed to be for all of America to enjoy, you cite Moneyball when the Red Sox used Moneyball to win their first world series large market teams will inevitably just take over small market teams strategies and outspend them, we have a stadium bubble that is going to burst in a big way because the constant growth is not sustainable, and everyone wants brand new facilities just to keep up or even stay profitable. The gap is getting bigger between large and small market teams. The Dodgers pay more to waived contracts than some teams entire payrolls. Greinke makes like half of a few teams payrolls alone. Which is another bubble that is about to burst these TV contracts aren’t going to keep getting bigger and bigger.
I should say wont keep getting bigger and bigger with the exception of teams like the Yankees, Dodgers etc they will continue to get absurd TV contracts teams like the Dbacks will not continue at that rate and the brand new TV deal is the only way they could afford Greinke.
Which is why I’ve really gotten on the combo salary cap/floor system meaningful revenue sharing bandwagon. Tons of details to work out, but everybody can win if it’s done right.
I’m a giants fan so I’m biased but this is the second time I’ve seen you post this so I wanted to correct you a bit.
Noah Lowry was not on giants patroll in 2010.
Randy Winn was not on giants payroll in 2010.
Jake peavy was excellent for the Giants during the 2014 regular season.
Tim Hudson ran out of gas but he was pretty solid during regular season. I believen he made the all-star team.
Your point still is valid that the Giants can absorb more risk than other teams, but highlighting lowry and winning in relationship to world series teams is incorrect.
In fact more apt would be their pick up of Cody Ross and pat Burrell in 2010
Let’s not start talking about the Giants like they’re a scrappy little low-budget team.
Sorry; just thinking off the top of my head. But replace Ross and Burrell for Lowry and whomever; the point is the Padres can’t throw money away like the Giants/Dodgers/Yankees/Red Sox/Angels/ etc. can. They are actively throwing money into a fire pit this year with Matt Kemp and James Shields. and it’s part of the reason they are in last place.
Rusney isn’t really “dead money”. Definitely an albatross contract, but not dead money…
Well I’m not in total disagreement but I ask you were the seats in SD empty the last two seasons in Sept with last place finishes? They were full in Boston… Two last place finishes… Second DNF does not mean released.. They needed a 49 man spot and they are working the system… Betting no one will pick him up due to contract
You can use the Yankees (1 playoff appearance the last 3 years), Red Sox (1 playoff appearance the last 5 years including 3 seasons in last place) and Dodgers (3 straight years of One And Done in the playoffs) as examples too of Money Not Buying Victory
To be precise, the Red Sox have made one postseason appearance in the past six seasons.
And they have two WS victories in the past 10 seasons, three in the past 13, so I don’t know that they’re a great example of “money not buying victory”. I’m not saying money was the only reason for their wins – moreso trying to state that they -have- had victories, more in past 13 seasons than any other team not playing in San Francisco. Credit where it’s due.
Oh certainly they should get credit where it’s due and I won’t argue against the fact that money helped them (in addition to other teams that have won as well). But despite the fact that they have several WS titles over the years, they’ve still been one of the worst teams in baseball in the other seasons in recent years. And missing the playoffs 5 out of the past 6 seasons isn’t something one would expect from one of the top payroll teams.
Since 2010, only Three wins separate the Sox and Orioles. And only Five separate the Sox and Jays. The low payrolls Rays have a better record than all 3 in that same span. Yankees have the most and are 2nd in baseball, but they haven’t won a WS in that span
Was this the same GM who signed Carl Crawford?
No
Nope. That was Theo Epstien.
The same Theo Epstien that put the Cubs together. What an idiot though huh?
Actually Jed Hoyer is the Cubs GM, Theo just hired him.
Haha the Crawford guy ( Epstein) in currently in Chicago… Cherrington made this deal and Dombrowski is there now
Good riddance
Is Yoan Moncada being mishandled too? No it not the same GM that signed Crawford. That was two GM’a ago. The notion that the coaches wrote Castillo off is silly. That would do nothing to benefit them individually or collectively. Castillo is the classic case of a guy losing motivation to excel after a huge payday.
Like Sandoval?
San Diego is a large city but sports teams are regional affairs now. They have a small media market for four reasons, all directionally-based. To the north San Diego is bordered by Los Angeles, which has two of the largest-payroll teams and media markets in the country, in Anaheim and the Dodgers. To the South, San Diego is bordered by a country in which most people live in poverty and certainly can’t just drive 40 miles north to see a baseball game. To the West San Diego is bordered by the largest ocean on Earth. To the East San Diego is bordered by the largest desert in the United States.
So while San Diego may be a large city, they don’y have the regional pull that other large cities have at all.
San Diego isn’t alone. Being a large city doesn’t equate to dollars. San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the US and has only one professional sports team. Some cities span a large territory, giving them the large population (thus very misleading). Cost of living and stadium/arena location, along with television rights impact these cities. El Paso is larger than Boston, Seattle, Milwaukee, Portland, DC, and others with professional teams, yet doesn’t have one of their own.
Now maybe I am just confused. With outright waivers, how is that different from DFA?
DFA removes a player from the 40 man, but it gives the team 10 days to decide what to do with the player. When a player is DFA the team can:
1) place him on outright waivers.
2) trade him
3) place him on release waivers
They likely didn’t DFA him because they weren’t considering trading him or releasing him. So they just sent him straight to waivers.
Thank you.
So wait. Does this mean it’s different to say Carl Crawford where any team can pick him up for the league minimum and the dodgers are on the hook for his salary? If a team wanted Cassillo would they need to pick up the entire salary even after he clears waivers?
There’s a difference.
Carl Crawford was DFA and placed on RELEASE waivers. Every team in the league waived their right to claim him and his contract. He was subsequently released.
Castillo was placed on OUTRIGHT waivers. Every team waived their right to claim him and his contract and he was subsequently outrighted.
There’s a difference in the transaction. Carl is a free agent and can sign with any team. Castillo was outrighted off the 40-man and assigned to a minor league team. Castillo is still controlled by the Red Sox.
@Thatguy Thank you for clearing that up. That makes sense but then why would every team not just put every player they want to DFA on OUTRIGHT waivers? That way they can keep them in the minor league system and bring them back any time they want right?
I’m just trying to understand the benefit to the team of each different type?
I just love the fact that the same Red Sox that called the Yankee the evil empire while they spent more then every NL team except mets through 90’s and most AL teams but always tried hard to label themselves as a little market team while big bad Yanks were killing baseball with there capitalist approach. When the Yanks won in 96 they weren’t even the highest payroll team in AL east. After they won a few championships they started paying there own players to stay and bringing in other players to keep the winning going. As the team was making money they were investing back into the team. Fans appreciate that and the stadium was always packed. Now that the dynasty is over and with almost three full decades of winning playoff baseball in the books the bubble has to burst and we are in a semi rebuild while old aging contracts expire. But here are your Red Sox the evil empire buying Pablo Sandoval, Rusney Castillo, Yoan Moncada, David Price, Hanley Ramirez, etc and when anyone suggests they are what’s wrong with baseball that moron Larry Luchino does his best impression of The current President blaming the prior president and still points and blames the Yankees and ESPN and every major media outlet doesn’t kill them the way a guy like Mike Lupica of the Daily News does every chance he can . It’s getting old and if this were Yankees cutting a guy they paid over 72 million dollars they would be destroyed on ESPN and all news outlets especially up in Boston. Boston you are what’s wrong with baseball and you must acknowledge that now!
Shut up, Stupid.
Ok Ben Afflek
I’ll be sure to not offend your prissy little team that could!!!!!
because we all know your a small market team keeping it real and if we dont believe it ask ESPN because they will remind us. Lol
Mr Lucino is no longer with the RedSox… Just FYI
Lol another Yankee fan that knows everything.
Yes just be quiet Stankee fan
That’s not nice red suck it groupie
Yankees are the evil empire. Red Sox are the evil empire number 2. (The First Order in Star Wars episode 7 terms) And every fan of other teams is sick of hearing about the sawx or yanks.
Rusney Castillo is still likely to wind up at AAA if he goes unclaimed by Monday, as expected. He was put on outright waivers, not unconditional release waivers. A trade might also be a possibility.
Perhaps the White Sox will have some interest in dealing for him as long as the Red Sox are amenable to picking up a good portion of his remaining salary. Chicago would prefer a left-handed hitting OF but at least Castillo is a plus defender who can play CF. They could use somebody better than J.B. Shuck in CF with Austin Jackson out at least until the All-Star break, which would keep Adam Eaton in RF where he has played Gold Glove caliber defense this season.
A change of scenery for Castillo might be in order. The White Sox might be a good destination and also give Jose Abreu another fellow Cuban as a teammate. Abreu seemed more comfortable and actually produced his best numbers when he had Dayan Viciedo and Alexei Ramirez as friends and teammates as a rookie in 2014. Last year he was pretty good but not nearly as dominate with just Ramirez on the roster. This season he has continued trending downward with no Cubans on the active roster. There is little doubt that most of Abreu’s issues have to do with adjusting to MLB pitching and the hitters surrounding him in the White Sox batting order but perhaps acquiring Castillo could help both the team and their prized first baseman.
Ah Cuba. More fool’s gold.
Love that the Red Sox missed on Abreu then threw all this money at Castillo when he hadn’t even played in a year. Whiff
Yes and then the Red Sox threw $62 million at Yoan Moncada whose future looks bright so far.
$63 million* that extra million is a lot to us normal folk
Moncada is hitting .over 300 and has 3 home runs in single A time to put him in the hall of fame.
Another fine Red Sox move….. What happen with this kid…??? Must be the money !!!
If Boston three in a lot of money, maybe Atlanta takes him as part of a package for Teahran. Hector Olivera has to be part of the return to Boston though.
That just nullifies the money though and it actually makes Castillo worth more seeing that he still has defensive upside at least
Yeah that would never happen. As a Braves fan I would like to see it. But heck between what LAD is paying, still gets Castillo for $26M additional payroll in the Olivera swap.
Reading the comments has me perplexed. This is a guy who bonafide could not play baseball. That’s it. Some of us knew it then and those suspicions are validated today. The Red Sox handed someone $72.5 million that should have at best, landed a $2.5mm signing bonus and an invite to the Red Sox camp. Even that would have been a stretch. Why the Red Sox overpaid by $70mm just ties into a long line of baffling decisions the last two years under previous Red Sox management. The Red Sox effectively handed out $350mm in salary to 7th OF, a platoon DH, a massively overweight and out of shape 3rd baseman, and a #4/5 pitcher. And just think, out of that bunch, Porcello is probably the most redeemable. So for $350mm, the redeemable value is with a guy that you could likely replace on a yr $9mm contract. Nice.
Think you are forgetting Red Sox adding Price this year for 200 million? Too early to say but boy that contract will look real bad very soon.
Unless he opts out because he thinks he can get somebody to pay an even more atrocious contract for him. Which is a distinct possibility if he continues to pitch like David Price for the next 2.5 years.
Sorry, but I don’t agree with your assessment. Is he living up to $10M a year? No. However, there are lots of players in the Majors hitting less than .240. Plus, he’s a solid fielder. Why wouldn’t you just play him? Let him settle in. He’s not God awful for crying out loud. Let him bat 9th for pete sake. He’s better than half the losers playing every day right now.
they’re lucky jbj broke out the way he has
… not going to miss Castillo. Rusney was right place, right time to cash-in on what was the Cuban free agent craze. Good for RC, bad for the Sox – time to move on.
There needs to be an international draft with spending rules, players should not get huge paydays without proving themselves while other players excel in the big leagues and are playing under rookie contracts.
Everyone here has made very interesting comments and opinions that could be well justified in the future. Nevertheless, Red Sox in hindsight would not have offered this contract to a player that has played out the way Castillo has. At the moment, even though sooner or later he might end up like another Allen Craig type contract, what management is doing for now is just taking his contract from the luxury tax pile (40 man roster) so they can reduce there border line amount by more or less $10 M. Thus avoiding going over this year’s 189 M maximum tax limit. Bottom line all there doing for now is controlling their budget and looking to see how much they can spend once they get close to the non waiver deadline.
That doesn’t matter if he’s no longer on the 40 man. It’s still a major league contract. It’s still going to count against the threshold. The only benefit the Soxs get is freeing up a 40 man roster spot.
I wish they would stop paying millions to Cubians just cause they might have made the Cuban team come on I think I know 6 right now in the majors that are good but how many do teams want to trade there now. Glad the Cubs got a good man in Soler
Why don’t they just release him? He’s only going to be a toxic influence at AAA. They don’t need him around the actual prospects.
I tend to agree.
Eat a bunch/most of his salary and there’ll be a team like the Padres or Brewers who’d take a risk on him at the major league level. The Brewers are starting Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Ramon Flores. That’s a fact! Alex Presley, Eric Young Jr. and Shane Peterson, all AAAA caliber players fill out their depth (not to mention fringey prospect Michael Reed who is hitting .225 in Colorado) . Heck, .140 Keon Broxton is getting a lot of playing time.
You telling me Castillo can’t get 20 ABs/week on this roster?
My apologies. Keon’s hitting .125 with 31 Ks in 56 ABs.
OK.
I don’t blame Boston at all. They have so much young talent right now.He should be playing like he has someone taking his job.