The Yankees announced on Friday that they’ve released first baseman/outfielder Adam Lind for the second time this year. Lind inked a minor league pact with the Yankees during Spring Training and was released to pursue other opportunities, though he ultimately landed back with the Yanks on a second minor league pact. That seems unlikely this time, as he’ll now search for a different opportunity with a better path to the Majors than he has with the Yankees, where Greg Bird is nearing a return and Tyler Austin is showing power at the big league level.
New York also announced that the organization has acquired the rights to catcher Wilkin Castillo. who’d been playing for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. He’ll head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in place of veteran Erik Kratz, who was traded to the Brewers today.
The 34-year-old Lind has appeared at two levels with the Yankees thus far, slashing a combined .302/.362/.477 with three homers in 94 plate appearances. The bulk of the damage he’s done, though, came in an eight-game stint with Class-A Advanced, while his work with the team’s Triple-A affiliate has been less inspiring.
That said, there’s no reason to think that Lind won’t catch on elsewhere as a depth option in the upper minors at the very least, if not in a greater role. He’s been an above-average bat in four of the past five MLB seasons, has a long history of hitting right-handed pitching at an especially strong clip, and produced a robust .303/.362/.513 slash with 14 homers in 301 PAs for the Nationals just last season. He’d make sense as a Triple-A stash for any number of clubs, while clubs like the Rockies have seen their first baseman struggle in the Majors and others, such as the Twins, have recently incurred an injury at that position (Joe Mauer, concussion).
Castillo, meanwhile, received a small bit of big league experience with the Reds way back in 2008-09 but hasn’t appeared in the Majors since. He has just 22 games and 37 MLB plate appearances under his belt and is a career .244/.280/.352 hitter in parts of 10 Triple-A seasons. He should be a familiar face for those in Scranton, having spent 45 games there last season.
Gonna go get Hanley
He will fit perfectly with Yanks
That’ll be so annoying if that happens xD
The Yankees definitely don’t need Hanley. They are better off with any combo of Bird/Austin/Walker both defensively & offensively.
He’s trolling…
I’m expecting a Hanley move
Unlikely that Hanley would sign with the Yankees as his MLB opportunity will depend on multiple injuries.
To the Mets ?
A .300 hitter who can’t find a major league job. Wow. I get he’s a 1B who struggles against LHPs, but he can also play a serviceable LF. I guess the problem is there are already too many Adam Linds in the majors currently (Moreland, Bird, Belt, Adams, Duda, etc)
Please don’t include Bird in that list of mediocrity. He hits better then all of them and fields as well as Moreland
If that were true they would have traded him rather than release him.
Also Matt Adams is 3rd for first basemen in wRC+, Mooreland 4th. Lind has been an average AAA hitter this year.
And Moreland’s offensive production is about to tank as he is always a strong first half— weak second half performer.
A career platoon player.
Fine with me with that glove. Deep teams today are needed but not necessarily all stars at w
every position.
Bird hasn’t hit since 2015. Besides, there’s just not that much value in a perennially injured first baseman with a career slash of .227/.316/.477. A competitive team like the Yankees needs to prioritize proven players.
Belt is a much better hitter than Bird and has done it longer.
Bird fields as well as Moreland? According to who? He’s got -4DRS for his career and I’ve watched a ton of Yankee games outside of they’re playing the Jays, he can’t scoop balls in the dirt like Tex or Moreland.
Tex was amongst the best ever. Never saw anyone cover more ground left to right.
Hasn’t been on the field long enough to compare him to Moreland. Love Bird’s swing but with Devers at 3B, I’m so glad Moreland is playing first. Bird scores well below most 1B until he can prove he’s reliable healthwise. A big if but he’ll quickly move up the 1B pecking order if he stays on the field.
Brandon Belt leads the NL In OPS.
Does he go back a third time !!
Nationals should get on this. Gotta have at least 5 first basemen on your team so u can score some runs.
Adam Lind would have been better than Tyler Austin. Austin is a subpar 1B.
Go back to Beantown…
Would be an upgrade for the Rangers
He looks like a evil villain from a movie in that photo.
I know right, that is an evil looking pic!
The Nationals should be trying to add depth already because of all the injuries they have. I think Hanley Ramirez would be a much better option because I believe going back to the National League would benefit him greatly. Also he could play 1st for Zimmerman or even 3rd if needed. He also still has a lot of pop in his bat and could easily hit 20 HRs.
You do not want Hanley fielding anywhere other than 1B.
That would be 4 1st basemen on one 25 man roster.
A lot of pop lol, everyone pops 20 homers nowadays
The Rockies should give a minor league deal. If he shows anything having him in a left right platoon with Desmond is a real possibility.
Hanley would be a great fit with the yanks!
Hanley a great fit with Yanks who trade Greg Bird to Red Sox for Houck and Mata (the only Red Sox non-steroid/non injured players in MiLB system). Both become long term rotation mainstays. Bird continues on Nick Johnson trajectory. Dombrowski fired and becomes modern day Don Zimmer to Cashman. He gets into December 2022 brawl with Mookie Betts who attacks Cashman in Stanford climbing down a building for charity after Yanks fifth consecutive World Series title tying 49-53. Book it.
Just another in an endless line of _____
Could probably turn his writing into a NY Times fiction top ten. Wouldn’t sell however outside of the big apple.