The Orioles’ preferred option behind the plate is free-agent backstop Welington Castillo, according to a report from Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com. Interest had previously been reported, and Robert Murray of Fan Rag suggested yesterday that there was some momentum building towards a deal.
Baltimore has continued to discuss a possible multi-year contract with Castillo’s representatives since the Winter Meetings wrapped up yesterday, Connolly writes. There’s some “optimism” on the team’s part, though talks remain “firmly in the discussion phase” at this time.
Castillo is one of several names still under consideration for the O’s, but seems to have emerged as the favorite. Incumbent Matt Wieters and veterans Nick Hundley and Chris Iannetta are other options that appear still to be possibilities as Baltimore seeks a primary backstop to pair with Caleb Joseph.
Castillo, 29, was a somewhat surprising addition to the market after he was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks. Given the fact that he seems to be lining up for a contract that covers two or more years, though, that may turn out to have been a blessing (depending upon what guarantee he is able to command, at least). Castillo was projected to earn $5.9MM in his final season of arb eligibility.
Castillo is regarded as a bat-first catcher, with some real questions about his glovework — in the framing department, in particular. But the bat does play quite nicely, especially when one considers the dearth of offensive output from receivers leaguewide. Since joining the DBacks in the middle of the 2015 season, Castillo has slashed .261/.320/.452 and driven 31 home runs over 760 plate appearances.
if he signs with Baltimore, with that park and lineup, sneaky good fantasy option
Sleeper hit! I like it. Thanks for the suggestion.
He’ll be a good fit for them.
I definitely agree, Wieters got 65% of his PA’s batting 5th/6th because he brought “balance” to the lineup, killed us during middle of the games with runners on. although I will admit he was clutch on a few occasions late in the game
Yeah, he had a few moments with 2 outs and RISP. That .302 OBP for the $13M per season it will take to have him; not worth it. Castillo is a no-brainer to me. They need to get this deal done as soon as possible.
Orioles also need to let Mark Trumbo scoot. He won’t have another season like he did in ’16. Another guy who just doesn’t get on base enough for what we need. We have too much of that already.
Castillo was the best Cub but Theo wanted his hand print on the club. I bet the White Sox and Rentalia would take him .Go for it O’s
Yea. Damn Theo for ruining the Cubs by putting his handprints all over the team …
And seems to me they don’t have a young option at catcher ;)
Sucks to have regrets …
You think Castillo was “the best cub” dude was below league average and awful on defense for like 2 years. Yeah because the amazing Wilson contreras is just bad. He didn’t help the defense at all.
Boy thebare is not shy about showing his ignorance
Caleb Joseph had an incredibly awful season last year, so they need someone who can start.
He would be bad ass in a platoon as the C/DH, not the guy you want behind the plate all the time though.
Is Castillo really that poor of a defender? He may have graded out as a poor framer, but het was first in the NL in Caught Stealing % (4th in all of baseball) last year with 37.5% and Fangraphs pegged him for 7 DRS last year too.
I love fangraphs but I think their catching metrics are bad. He’s got a good arm, yeah, but I believe framing value is real and quantifiable. Combine that with the fact he doesn’t hit right handers well.. He’d be pretty boss on the small side of a catching platoon though, and his production vs LHP ais good enough to play at 1B/DH or as a pinch hitting threat.
Fangraphs is using the outdated version of DRS which does not include pitch framing. DRS was updated to include framing numbers, but you have to go to Baseball-Reference to see the latest version of DRS. I’m not sure why Fangraphs is still using the old version.
Fangraphs has him listed as 7 DRS but Baseball-Reference has him listed at 2 DRS (which means he is -5 runs from framing).. Given the fact that Baseball Prospectus is pretty bad at measuring any catching skill besides framing, DRS is the best overall measure of catcher defense out there. Also, bWAR uses DRS as their fielding component for catching, so bWAR is currently the best way to look at catchers overall value.
Anybody else get the impression the Brsves are waiting for the catcher market to fall in place and are hoping that Matt Wieters will fall in their lap on a contract a lot less than what him & Boras were expecting. I can’t imagine Tyler Flowers as the everyday starting catcher. I think he would be exposed playing to much time I think he could play 3 outta every 5 days and we need a guy to play 2 days a week. I don’t like Recker in that role I would almost rather sign Thole at least we know he brings something productive catching Dickey once a week.
I don’t want Wieters but it seems like the Braves are not really aggressive looking for a catcher. Castro woulda been perfect I don’t understand why we didn’t get him unless Twins said he would be guaranteed a lot more playing time.
Why get a poor defender in Casttilo or horrible offense from Castro or concerns with both in Wieters? Flowers is almost as good as Castro at pitch framing and he hits much better and Recker is a solid backup for now. We should stick with that this year and then sign Lucroy next offseason
Hmmmmm
I’m really surprised that az couldn’t trade him for a bullpen arm or something.
Hazen addressed that shortly after the trade. Their budget essentially demanded it. The concern was that, after tendering him, they would be stuck with him until they could find a trade partner, but that finding one at $5.9 million for a guy that should be no more than a backup catcher/DH was not going to be easy. They needed to be able to clear 100% of his salary.
Since the risk of being stuck with him until a much later date was a very real possibility, they chose to release him, making sure they had the money to work with going into the winter meetings. Hazen has received more than a small bit of criticism for not rolling the dice on that, especially since the money wasn’t spent. But the concern is at least a very valid and understandable one.
Ok that makes sense I suppose. They would have been able to trade him no problem.
Castillo is probably the player I want my Orioles to sign this offseason more than any other. We’ve got a huge void at the catcher position and I do think his bat will be better than what Matt Wieters will give us at this point in his career. Certainly a better value-dollar wise than Wieters. .302 OBP and $15.8M still doesn’t sit too well on me right now.
As much as I loved having Matt on the team for his entire career up until this point; he’s been a huge disappointment as far as his performance/expectation ratio. Good Riddance