“There’s been no talking” between the Tigers and Nick Castellanos’ representatives about a possible contract extension, the slugger told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News and other reporters. Castellanos reiterated that he would love to spend the rest of his career in Detroit, and stated “I think both sides know a conversation would be welcome” about a long-term pact.
This isn’t the first time Castellanos has discussed his willingness to discuss an extension, and of course there’s still plenty of time before Opening Day (or beyond, if Castellanos is open to in-season negotiations) for the Tigers to begin talks. That said, the Tigers have discussed extensions with Castellanos in the past, so the heretofore lack of negotiations just months before the right fielder is scheduled to hit free agency is rather telling. Between the lack of talks and the months of trade rumors swirling around Castellanos, it certainly seems as if the Tigers see him more as a trade chip rather than as a building block of the next Detroit contender.
Though Castellanos is still young (he turned 27 earlier this week) and has hit a very solid .285/.336/.495 over the last three seasons, he has thus far been a bat-only player over his first six years in the big leagues. Despite posting a 121 wRC+ and OPS since 2016, Castellanos only has 7.0 fWAR total over those three seasons due to very poor glovework as both as third baseman and right fielder. While Castellanos only became a full-time outfielder in 2018 and is athletic enough to potentially become at least passable defensively, the Tigers may not want to bet (in the form of a contract extension) on such an improvement until they actually see better results. Detroit already has at least $162MM tied up in Miguel Cabrera through the 2023 season, and committing more money to Castellanos could result in a clog at the first base/DH positions if first base duty is eventually in Castellanos’ future.
This lack of defensive utility is of obvious concern to Castellanos as he approaches free agency, due to both the lack of free agent activity in general over the last two winters, and the particularly chilled market for first base/DH types. However, Castellanos’ limitations have also been a reason why there hasn’t been too much trade interest in his services (of course, the Tigers’ reported high asking price is also clearly a major factor).
If there is a limited market for Castellanos as a both a future free agent and as a current trade chip, McCosky suggests that there could be some opportunity here for a shorter-term arrangement between the Tigers and Castellanos, perhaps from a starting point of a three- or four-year deal worth $10MM-$11MM per season. Such a deal, as McCosky notes, would cover the end of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, perhaps allowing Castellanos to enter free agency when the conditions are more favorable to a player of his profile. Such a deal could be attractive to the Tigers as a relative bargain for a good hitter in his prime years, though if the club doesn’t really plan to start spending (and pushing to contend) until 2021, keeping Castellanos for two more seasons even at something of a discount might not fit Detroit’s plans.
Either trade him or extend him. Don’t just let him walk in free agency. I would rather he stay with the team and be a key veteran once all the young guys come up, but if the tigers really don’t want to do that they should at least get a few free agents out of him before letting him leave
If the Tigers can’t get anyone to meet their asking price, then they’d be better off trying to extend him. He’s a good hitter.
I just dont see Nick or his agent being willing to accept $10mm per season on any type of extension, at age 27.
I believe he he would, Eduardo Escobar set the bar. If not, he could see himself in a similar situation as Iggy. I don’t think there’s anyway we’re getting a comp draft pick, if he stays consistent. I hope they meet an extension.
Best… username….ever…
Not worth it for a rebuilding team. He is not that traceable either in the era of defense.
Defensive metrics which heavily influence the war stat ruin trade value for guys like nick
He is a one dimensional player limited to DH. As such he has no trade value being a year away from free agency. Letting him walk for a draft pick might be their best option as I don’t see him extending with them
One dimensional just like Andujar and Sanchez and Stanton and Harper, right?
Such a blind bitter fan you are lmao
Ouch, did reality hurt?
Blind and bitter? I mean it’s hard to take you seriously when your entire team is one trick ponies.
Sanchez has a cannon and is not as bad a catcher as people exaggerate. Stanton is a good outfielder, but not as good as Judge or Gardner, which is why he’s the DH. Go look at his stats, they’ll back it up.
Sanchez has a canon for an arm, but he has to catch the ball first. I know, defensive metrics are very touchy. Sanchez is what he is, an offense first catcher. Nothing wrong with that. Teams need players like that. They also need defensive minded players too. Nick gets a bad rap because he has little range. It’s not because he’s slow, it’s because he lacks experience and confidence. Leave him alone in the outfield and he’ll be fine over time. That’s why people need to watch the game and not focus on stats. The people that say he’s a terrible defender have probably never seen him play. Nick, early in the season was pulling up on every short fly ball and playing it on a hop. He was much better later in the year. Worst thing they can do is move him again and play him at first. He will then be labeled a poor defensive 1B and will never get another chance to play defense. He’s not good enough hitter to be a DH full time.
In order to get the draft pick, wouldn’t the tigers have to offer him a contract over $18m per year? Just curious if it’s per year or anything over $18m no matter the years?
It’s a one year deal and the amount changes every year. Next year it’ll probably be over $19 mil. He won’t get that offer. We will just walk.
You both have a point. There are defensive shortcomings, similar to the shortcomings Bryce has. No one is calling him a one-dimensional player. As mentioned, there are plenty players that are all/mostly offense and have had success.
Castellanos has an intriguing batted-ball profile. Looking at his hard-hit rate, his line-drive percentage and his spray chart, it’s eerily similar to that of JD Martinez. Like JDM, he may need to move to another team that recognizes this stuff and exploits it. And the Tigers need to quit messing around with playing him at third base. or the outfield. He’s a DH/1B period – I know they have the immovable object that is Miggy at those position but it seems like a reasonable time share opportunity for each of them.
Nobody is saying Harper is a DH/1B and neither is Nick who had better adv defensive stats than Harper in 2018. Nick was leaning the position last yr and will be fine this year. He should easily stay ahead of Harper who had played the position for years.
Of course he wants an extension. He can see what all bat and no glove free agents are no longer getting. I’m not sure what his off season regiment is/was like, but if he didn’t work with a defensive coach and try to learn 1st base, then he shorted himself.
He would be limited to AL teams but his age helps him a lot in free agency
Harper wasn’t limited to the AL,and he was the 2nd worst OF.
These people read somewhere that Nick was lousy on defense and should just be a DH. so they ignore any reasoning whatsoever. They probably still believe Harper will sign in the AL and Jose Martinez will be traded to the AL,
People don’t just read it somewhere, they see it in his defense stats, which have been incredibly awful his entire career. As for Harper, the Phillies are either gambling that last year’s abysmal defense was a fluke and he will go back to being merely a mediocre fielder, or else he will have a few more monstrous hitting seasons. I think they are being foolish, but its their money..
Harper’s defensive numbers were hurt badly by the 40 games he was playing center – he’s not a center fielder at all. There’s some anecdotal evidence that the Nationals asked him to ease up on his all-out style of play to try to keep Harper healthy all year, so maybe that was some of the defensive decline. He’d never graded out poorly before; more average than anything else, although Harper has a cannon arm. I would argue that players have fluke offensive seasons, right? It’s not too hard to imagine they might have fluke defensive seasons too.
“People don’t just read it somewhere, they see it in his defense stats,”
Exactly my point. Watch the game and see his defense. It’s not that bad. It’s not good, but definitely not as terrible as those stats show.
Harper’s RF only numbers were worse than Nick’s last year. Harper graded as the worst RF in baseball. Nick’s excuse is he was learning the position last year & was his stats were hurt by missing high probability plays early in the season. Harper doesn’t have that excuse, there is no way he’s going to improve that much, especially playing with the Phillies’ -146 DRS defense.
Old man tied his shoe laces together to learn balance. Then he chase chicken for quickness. Then he learned speed in LA ghetto by practice swim and beach run.
This year, he plans to have for nickname, “Italian Stallion” and do better.
PAY HIM!!!!!
can’t wait till next offseason when no team will sign him and it’s mid March
That WILL NOT happen. That happened this year to OLD players.
No he’s right, he’ll get stuck in the unfortunate situation of being a good hitter with no position. Which is why the NL should adopt the DH. Gives so much more opportunities for contracts for guys like this
While I think it would be a decent idea to extend Castellanos, does not appear the Tigers are interested. I get that, they have a lot of younger guys coming up, Castellanos is a defensive liability in RF and they have an up and coming hitter in Christin Stewart who is also a defensive liability. They also have an aging Miguel Cabrera who will need to DH more as he ages and he has 5 years left on his contract. From that standpoint, makes sense to trade him if you can, and take the comp pick if you can’t.
But there is another option, one that keeps a rising young hitter and a team leader the fold. Sign him to an extension and have him play first. He can start to supplant Cabrera at first while Cabrera goes to DH. Also allows the Tigers to get a better defensive RF. He was never great at third either, but if there is a place to hide a guy defensively, it is at first. Unfortunately, that is not in the cards.
I think the Tigers are already looking at the fact they have Cabrera and Stewart now with Paredes in a couple years as 1B options, along with Rey Rivera (who I still can’t believe they drafted in the 2nd round). If Paredes keeps hitting like he has and doesn’t lose any weight, expect to see him getting some reps at 1B by 2020
As has already been stated, Cabrera and Stewart are blocking the team, rightfully so, to committing another long-term contract to a bat only player. The Tigers want to get faster and better defensively. With Stewart and Cabrera already in the fold long-term, Nick is the odd man out. If they can’t get top prospects, go for a few young high ceiling, high risk type prospects. They don’t need major league ready talent for a couple years anyway
I am amused that you find Stewart, who will be a rookie this year, to be “blocking the team.” How about we actually wait to see how he does before deciding that.
Peace man, everyone has their own opinion. There’s no need to make it out like a personal attack. Bitterness is like sipping poison yourself, & expecting the other person to get sick. You’re only hurting one person in the end.
I’m glad you are amused. Sounds like you need more laughter in your life. My point was simply that with Stewart and Cabrera, the Tigers probably don’t want to commit more resources to another DH.
The way Daz Cameron has been playing this spring, I think Stewart is already penciled in as the 2020 RF next to Cameron in CF. I hope the Tigers are looking for the next big bat to play LF instead of extending Nick.
Stewart is the starting LF in 2019. No need to wait until 2020. He is the next big bat.
Only reason Stewart is in LF is because Castellanos is worse at defense. Once Nick is gone, Stewart is in RF
Verdugo for Castellanos.
Detroit is not getting 5-6 years of any player for one year of Castellanos.
As a tigers fan, I don’t see how Detroit could say no to that offer.
The Dodgers would reject that offer.
The dodgers did reject that offer
He will want OF money when he is a DH. Cabrera has that locked down for what woukd be the majority of his extension. Victor Martinez hamstrung the franchise, though not by his own doing. Horrible roster management and a lack of looking toward the future. 2020 is Det is lucky. Or spin the glut of high future RHP for position players.
When in a win now situation, you don’t wait for the future. Mr I wasn’t able to wait.
The thing that shocked me the most this off-season was that mostly NL teams were in on him. Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, Mets were a majority of the rumor mill. Clearly the NL teams were more optimistic on the young man’s defense than the writers. If the asking price by Detroit wasn’t so high, he would probably be with the Dodgers or NL east right now.
I think the general census is, the Tigers should get a similar prospect as what we did for the Leonys Martin deal last year. Hopefully Avila can figure it out, extend or trade. The worst thing is to be resentful, and get nothing in the end! I think this single transaction could & maybe should decipher AA tenure in Detroit.
It’s going to be tough for a team to give up their #1 prospect for a 1-year rental. I only see the Tigers pulling this off if they can commit to a trade and the new team extends him to make it worth while. The tigers will most likely move him at the trade deadline to a contender similar to how machado moved last year.
The tigers will probably get peanuts, because (for me) Machado’s trade last year showed that there is a lot of risk for the receiving team. The dodgers gave up 5 prospects for machado and ended up no further than they did the year before. Machado hit .227 as a reference.
if it really was about winning for the Tigers they would already have Jake Rogers in the MLB. If he was on a contending team he wouldve already been in MLB as he’s worth extra wins. He put up 7 WAR according to baseball prospectus last year with his defense alone (highest for a C at any level) and according to all the pundits/scouts say he would be best catcher in MLB right now. The game has never seen a catchers defense like his.
They are manipulating his time, prolly telling him right now how he needs to go down and work on his defense. a la kris bryant. ha
They are actually telling him to work on his offense, as he hit near the Mendoza line last year. If he can’t hit mid-high .200s in the minors, it doesn’t matter how good articles say his defense is.
he put up 7 war last year, these arent articles. thats the analytics show on baseball prospectus.. Thats worth about 35$MM/yr on open market.
DH.
The Tigers did try to extend Nicholas Castellanos last season. He and his agent declined. Castellanos openly stated that he was “lazy” and didn’t want to work on his defense. He is a good hitter so someone will want to acquire him. He just doesn’t fit on a team the tigers want to build.