TODAY: The Marlins are also “considering” a reunion with Marcell Ozuna, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. Since Ozuna rejected the Cardinals’ qualifying offer, however, FNTSY Radio’s Craig Mish doesn’t believe the Marlins would give up the required draft pick compensation to sign the outfielder.
MONDAY: The Marlins are looking to add a position player to their everyday lineup, as the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported last week, and the team is “believed” to have interest in free agent right fielder Nicholas Castellanos, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro writes today.
Miami would presumably have to overpay in order to persuade a fairly notable free agent to sign a multi-year deal in the midst of a rebuild, but the fit makes sense for a few reasons. Beyond the sheer fact that the Marlins’ offense in 2019 was horrific, Castellanos is a Miami-area native. He attended high school a mere 25 miles from Marlins park, so signing in Miami would likely hold more appeal to him than to the standard free agent. He’s also an unusually young free agent at 27 years of age (28 in March), so he’d theoretically still be in his prime years when Miami seeks to emerge from its rebuild. Castellanos was ineligible to receive a qualifying offer, so he won’t cost the rebuilding Marlins any draft picks. (Although, notably, president of baseball ops Michael Hill suggested last week that a qualifying offer may not be the detriment most would expect.)
On the other side of the equation, Castellanos’ enthusiasm over being in a pennant race with the Cubs can’t be ignored. He’s spent most of his career on a cellar-dwelling Tigers club and was outspoken on multiple occasions about what it meant to him to play meaningful games in September. At least as far as the 2020 season goes, that’s not really a selling point the Marlins can include in their pitch (hence the previously mentioned need to overpay).
Signing Castellanos or any other corner outfielder — Avisail Garcia, Corey Dickerson and old friend Marcell Ozuna are among the alternatives — would likely mean keeping third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson on the infield. Anderson, 26, has emerged as a potential building block himself and is the team’s clear best position player at the moment. Teaming him and Castellanos up in the heart of the order would assuredly give the Marlins improved offensive output, and the Marlins can easily afford to pursue such an arrangement. Miami has a ridiculously low $26.75MM committed to the 2020 roster $22MM to Wei-Yin Chen and $4.75MM to Miguel Rojas) and just $5MM in 2021 (plus $3MM per year to the Yankees for Giancarlo Stanton).
In fact, Miami’s payroll is so low, they’ll likely feel pressured to spend some money in the offseason. The MLBPA raised concerns about the team’s use of its revenue-sharing profits two seasons ago when payroll was substantially higher, and they’re currently on pace to have a league-low $52.79MM payroll in 2020 (including three arbitration-eligible players, 21 pre-arbitration players and the Stanton payout). Miami’s $63MM Opening Day payroll in 2019 was already the lowest in the Majors, and a further reduction could once again call the team’s allocation of its revenue-sharing funds into question.
Castellanos split the 2019 season between the Tigers and the Cubs, hitting a combined .289/.337/.525 — including a ridiculous .321/.356/.646 following his trade to Chicago. His right-field defense is regarded as well below-average, though the 2019 season was only his second year at the position after moving there from third base (and his numbers improved dramatically from 2018 to 2019).
As if he can make a difference in the sorry marlins club
Its baseball, anything can happen. And to think people would be excited about more teams trying to be competitive, sheesh.
I know, right ?
You’re thinking about football. Anything can’t happen in baseball. Not having a salary cap ruined it.
They have a luxury tax that’s basically a salary cap. no salary cap is good
In what world is no salary cap good? You must be from Boston, New York or Los Angeles, or Chicago.
@Wrek
A salary cap limits what you can spend a luxury tax is just that a tax where you can decide to spend whatever you want and just pay a tax like Boston did in 2018. The fact they want to get under the tax now is not relevant to the fact they would not have and could not have won the 2018 world series championship if there had been a salary cap.
The Marlins cannot and will not win a World Series during any length of time they sign Castellanos for in his next contract. So what’s your point? Should the Miami fans be excited about receiving a lower draft pick so they can still remain a last place team that occasionally plays the spoiler? Nobody wants that for their team. True fans would take more losses to increase their chances of actually winning a championship later by saving payroll they can spend on a true contention year and getting higher draft picks that have a statistically better chance of helping them for years to come. Why would anyone want the Marlins to overpay for a guy so they can finish in last place again? They can still finish in last place without him. That would only accomplish 2 things. #1. It would prevent a truly good contending team from being able to acquire them even though he may actually be a difference maker for that team and #2. Since he would have to be overpaid to go to a guaranteed last place team, it would artificially drive up the cost of poor defensive corner outfielders. The agent of every poor defensive corner outfielder would point to his contract and say that is the minimum their client should get paid. All that would do is guarantee truly contending low market teams like Oakland and Tampa Bay won’t be able to sign guys like that in the future even though he would actually make a difference on those real playoff teams. No one is excited about a last place team artificially driving up the market cost of poor defensive players. He doesnt help them. He only hurts their
ability to draft better players as well as their ability to spend money in the future when they might actually contend. The Marlins will finish in last place with Castellanos. They can finish in last place without paying him $50 million.
This isn’t the NBA/NFL. Who did your team draft in the first and second round 3 years ago, are they already on the roster? Miami’s traded for minor league depth and have the lowest payroll let them spend in free agency.
lol luxury tax that’s basically a salary cap. no it cant be two things.
. no salary cap is good lol how many teams till poor?
why no . no salary cap is good??? did it prove small market ?
does salary cap work in nhl, nba,, nfl???
Uh, the cap has worked in the NBA and NFL. Those leagues have been very successful while teams in markets that MLB fails in have succeeded in those sports.
As for the NHL, there issues can’t be resolved by much more than American appeal, so that’s a bad example for a debate.
And you must be from one of the cities where the owners stick all the money in their pocket
It works in the NFL. It was Jerry Jones idea. if you didnt have a salary cap in football the cowboys would spend whatever it takes to win the Super Bowl.
The cap has worked in the NBA and NFL? Really?
The NBA is the most noncompetitive league I’ve ever see and the NFL is only competitive if you have a quarterback.
LOLLLLLLL. The NHL isn’t popular. God you’re an idiot.
If you think the NBA is noncompetitive you live under a rock
@aloop
Being popular to essentially only one ethnicity on the planet doesn’t make it popular when compared to NFL, NBA, and MLB, which appeal to everyone and has the support to back it up financially. Those 3 leagues are always doing better than the NHL. The financially struggling franchises in those leagues are successful compared to NHL franchises.
Yeah, thinking the NBA is not competitive is laughable. Do you need a Top 10 player to be a legit championship contender? Most years, yes.
And the NFL is like MLB in that no matter how great some teams may be, every single team that makes the playoffs can go on a run and win it all. In fact, the NFL may have more surprise or “miracle” teams winning the championship in years they were preseason picks to have losing seasons than there has been in MLB. In MLB, we’ve had about what…4 “miracle teams” over the last 5 decades? There was the 1969 Mets, 1988 Dodgers, 1991 Twins, and 2003 Marlins. Of those, the only ones that truly shocked the sports world were the 1969 Mets and 2003 Marlins. Any others that were considered absolute atrocities heading into the MLB season? While the NFL has had it’s multiple dynasties in that time frame, I think there are more surprises.
The Marlins will be nasty in two or three years.
The marlins wont even be in Miami in 2 or 3 years. They cant even get more than 5000k people to come to games. By the time the 2020 starts Marlins Park will be 8 years old. You know how many sellouts its had? 3. Three sellouts and it was for the 2017 WBC.
You do realize part of the stadium deal requires them to stay in Miami until like 2047. They’re not going anywhere.
When they average less than 5k fans a game. That can be a renegotiated contract. The A’s are gonna go las Vegas and the Marlins will go to Montreal
@Wrek305
Do any of you learn some information before you make some of your comments?
FYI, the Rays have already been approved to play half of their games in Montreal next year. Do the math from there.
As for 5K, keep listening to what E!SPN tells you.
No they haven’t, they have not been approved to do that at all it was mentioned but not approved
Their average attendance was a touch over 10,000 last two years. So, I dunno, do 2 minutes of googling instead of pulling facts out of the ether.
Why will they be “nasty” in 2-3 years?
See my post above.
how ? their minor league maybe
lewis brison still hold team back and hill
More people attend Florida Panthers games on average than Marlins games last season. same with the Rays: the Lightning had better average attendance last season.
For the Marlins, it’s not saying that much, as the Panthers attendance isn’t that much greater per game average, but I don’t think it’s wholly insignificant either. Miami is a dead zone for sports and both teams should be looking for a move soon, I feel.
@aloop
The Panthers have had winning seasons the last few years. The Marlins have not. In the years that the Marlins won, many people didn’t even know there was a hockey team in town. The Panthers are a waste of time in South Florida. Other than the transplants from the north that are Caucasian, they don’t get support. Everyone else prefers the Dolphins, Heat and Marlins when they’re doing solid. For some reason, the Dolphins even when they stink.
To be fair the Marlins(not that they deserve a remote amount of charity), they aren’t in THAT bad a spot.
You can easily see a the basis of solid rotation with Smith, Sixto, Lopez, Edward Cabrera and Alcantata. Guys like Yamamoto and Urnea are solid depth.
The lineup isn’t a zero. Anderson is a borderline All-Star while Rojas,Berti,Alfaro, and Cooper are “average”ish contributors. Help is “on the way” with guys like Jazz Chisholm, Monte Harrison, and Jesus Sanchez. Granted, the Marlins seem to love high-risk/high-reward toolsheds that could easily flop.
Outside the obvious market differences, I don’t think the Marlins with a big FA signing or two are THAT far off from the Phillies
I would tend to agree. If Alfaro can limit his strike outs, he could be in the category with Anderson before too long.
Marlins have some very nice young pitchers also. Anderson, Alfaro, Rojas, Cooper… JJ Bleday… they will be a very good team soon.
Someone gets it!
The Marlins aren’t as far away as some of the uninformed Marlins “fans”, people outside the market, and the national media like to think.
you forget about Braxton Garrett,JJ Bleday.,Trevor Rogers Jorge Guzman Brian Miller
Jazz Chisholm still has same projecting as marlins worst hitter lewis brison.
What happens when they have to pay these guys though? Do they actually do it, or do they trade them like they have in years past? I suppose this offseason will be a tell, depending on who they target and how aggressively (not to mention whether they actually sign any of their targets) of what they might do in the future. I’d love to see a competitive Marlins franchise, but I’m not holding my breath.
Why not bring in a couple of mentor veterans to nurture the young ones?
Ⓜⓐⓡⓛⓘⓝⓢ ⓖⓞⓣⓣⓐ ⓢⓣⓐⓡⓣ ⓢⓞⓜⓔⓦⓗⓔⓡⓔ
That’s not gong to happen.
If the Marlins start spending money for once, pretty sure everyone’s predictions are screwed.
Or the other “M team” The Mariners
If this was a contest of “who will trade the most players in one offseason” then the Mariners would win for sure.
5 years, 90 million with an opt out after 3 seasons?
I’d also be curious if they’d be willing to play him in gigantic outfield or if they’d play him at a corner infield spot (shifting Anderson to RF, where he’s been terrific).
Nonetheless would be a solid signing.
he would jump all over that IMO
Might be a bit on the high side however
Yeah, that’s a bit high on the AAV. Most sources see him getting $15+/- million in AAV for 4 or 5 years.
Bet they make an ever dumber Abreu signing instead.
Abreu staying with White Sox.
1 year deal and then traded in july a week before the deadline
Seems like only a few months ago the mlbtr writers were saying Castellanos was unplayable in the field and was limited to only AL teams. Amazing what happens when you actually watch a player play the game and not rely totally on data.
Yeah. I remember them saying that. At the beginning of the season it seemed like they were pushing the idea that Detroit wanted to trade him but he wasn’t even good enough for another team to be willing to give up any value because his contract overplayed him to much at around $13 mill this season. Now he is considered the best outfielder on the free agent market. I know his defense is bad but if he can play right field why wouldn’t a team just sign him as a left fielder? His defense wouldn’t be such a big deal there. Has any team ever tried him at first base? At least he wouldn’t have to run around so much there.
MLB writers and MLBTradeRumors were poo-pooing Castellanos’ value even at a $9.95 mill. salary for 2019, not $13 mill.
He should be tried at first. At 6’4″, he was too tall for third base (i.e., not agile enough). Outfield is probably the best spot, but I always thought first base would be logical.
DET wanted him to learn 1B, but he refused. And his RF defense is terrible.
And Cal was too big to play SS…
Right, because both of them are comparable?
Supposedly, the tigers asked him to learn 1B last spring. He reportedly refused, unless the team started talks on an extension. Many think this was only requested in the team’s interest, as it may have increased his trade value. I’m sure he would do it for his new team.
They said he improved, but was still below average. He went from -19 DRS in ’18 to just -9 In 2019.
The only place on MLBTR that the word “unplayable” has been used with regard to Castellanos, to my knowledge, is in this quest of yours to call us out for questioning his defense on basically every post that mentions him.
I’ve seen Castellanos play in televised games and at live games on numerous occasions. I saw him live as recently as mid-August at Wrigley Field when I was in Chicago. He homered to right-center and also got a poor jump on a ball that dropped in for a hit by a few feet that very night.
Habitually insinuating that because we write for a web site and cite data (as opposed to opinions from our own untrained eyes and recency biases), we don’t actually watch any games is juvenile-level trolling.
I don’t think Castellanos is a good defensive player, but it’s also only fair to point out that virtually any metric you can find portrayed him as better in his second year at the position (albeit still poor overall, though).
Haha iced that guy.
Steve just dropped the hammer. Dont @ this man he will come for you lol
And then Melchez, with the come back story of the year. (not the Kim Kardasian kind of come back) Parks and rec reference.
Not sure who it was that said Castellanos was “unplayable”, I don’t think it was Jeff, because he denied it. But it was mentioned by one of the writers here. And it was also mentioned (by multiple writers) that his market was limited to AL teams because his defense was so bad. I agree, he isn’t a good defensive outfielder. Never said he was good. But to tell us he’s limited to just DH is just “juvenile-level troll” reporting. The guy was bounced around defensively since he signed. He was a shortstop, then a 3B. Then moved to the outfield. Then back to 3B at the major league level and then moved back to the outfield. Do you think he might need to settle into the position on a regular basis before you label him a DH? He has played 2 full seasons in the outfield now. He has improved greatly over his first year. Don’t you think he can still improve? especially if he improved so much in just one year?
I believe the game you are referring to was August 20th game against the Giants. Not sure what play you saw that he should have made where the ball fell in front of him. There was only one hit to right field by the Giants and that was Avelino who looped one over the 1B’s head. Castellanos homered the next night but that one went to left.
Only two other players have had lower DRS since his rookie season in 2014, Andrew McCutchen and Xander Bogarets, while being 101/108 in UZR, and 5 of them are catchers (UZR mainly takes into account range runs, so obviously they aren’t going to have a good UZR).
@Steve Adams
Ha, I don’t remember if it was your discussion, but I called it. At the price you guys’ prediction had for Castellanos to the White Sox, I knew that the Marlins would be all over that price tag for a guy his age and hitting ability.
Hopefully it can happen at a price that makes sense for us because I’d love the stability of him in our lineup for the next few years with Anderson, Alfaro, and the rest of whichever guys win the remaining jobs in our rebuild.
I don’t know the full extent of his defensive prowess, but once he joined the Cubs, he didn’t make a single OF miscue.
Nick: picks up the phone begging to play for any other team at any price…
I’d never want to play for that train wreck down in Miami… they have to pay me an outrageous amount
Come out of your moms basement,man. Get some sun & fresh air
Wow, that’s you comment, you can’t argue the point so you belittle someone? That says a lot about you and nothing about him.
Why so they can trade him next year?
So creative.
Am I joking?
I dont see it with Anderson filling the 3B/OF role with better D, and with a handfull of younger guys available at OF.
No team should be allowed to spend less than they receive from MLB in revenue sharing, MLB TV revenues, pooled local revenues, etc.
That is just another one of the reason MLB is lagging in popularity.
Yes, which is why I keep saying MLB needs a salary cap but the floor is equally important.
In other news, you can ‘believe” I have an “interest” in scratching the lottery ticket in my pocket and winning a Million dollars…..
Given where the Marlins’ strengths are right now, any plunging they do should be pitching, pitching, and, oh, more pitching. No, you never have enough, and the Fish have the potential to be almost Braves-like with pitching and defense. And that works in NL East, where the other 3 teams apparently have no interests in players who can catch the ball.
Offense? Let’s see how the super ball works out in 2020; there isn’t an offensive stat worth a dime because of the obvious alteration in the baseball. Or else you’re signing Brady Anderson to hit 50 HRs for ya.
Jeez…Jeter & Co. finally have the authorization to spend some money and they’re gonna sign a DH with a 5 week track record as a power hitter to the biggest FA contract of the new ownership era…such a Marlins thing to do
Why ? You still have a couple years left of flipping upside players at the deadline , Jon Jay and Homer Bailey are more your speed Marlins
Rays, Indians, White Sox. If he ends up on any club other than one of those 3, I’ll be surprised.
Don’t rule out Angels either. He and Maddon couldn’t stop singing the praises of one another.
The Angels don’t need an outfielder of a DH.
If he’s willing to learn First base they do. He could play First,some outfield and DH.. I know he said no to the Tigers about playing First but he also said if they gave him a contract extension he’d give it a try.
They are not going to bring in a Firstbaseman either.
I see the Angels going after a top SP like Cole, Bumgarner, or Keuchel; I also see them adding a secondary SP like Pineda, Porcello, or Roark. Lastly, I could see them adding a catcher like D’arnaud or Castro. I don’t know how much money they would have after that, or if they have enough money for that.
If only my Jays can sign Castellanos. Bichette, Guerrero, Castellanos to bat 1-2-3 ,would be a very strong start to a batting lineup. All young, and Castellanos best days are ahead of him possibly as well, showing what he showed in Chicago.,. Plug him in at DH everyday, and whenever else someone needs a break in RF, throw Castellanos out there in rare times. I think it;s worth the contract considering the potent bat Castellano’s possesses.
I’m assuming they aren’t going to overpay as much people are thinking. Either get him for 4 at $16m or less or it aint happening. Potentially 5 years at most
How the Marlins traded away Zac Gallen is beyond me.. Don’t get it, and don’t want to get it.. That SS they got back at the deadline better be the next great shortstop in this league, because Gallen seems to be a great pitcher who’s obviously very young, and under control for a long time on pennies..
Chisholm ia pretty well regarded, but i think that trade will look terrible in a few years. Gallen was the one guy in that rotation that they needed to hold onto.
The Marlins have a long history of treating their players like property. That’s the nature of the game, but if I had a choice, I wouldn’t sign there.
The Marlins outlook and future changed when Jose Fernandez passed away. They had an elite SP and arguably the best OF in the league with Yelich, Stanton, and Ozuna. If Fernandez was still around, I think that the Marlins of the last few years would be more of the competitive nature and they probably wouldn’t have traded their OF.
Sooner or later they have to spend some money. Why not now?
Why would any good MLB player sign with the Marlins, unless they are offered stupid money?
Wasn’t Castellanos the guy who replied “Do you see the batters around me?” when asked about his slow start in Detroit this year? This would be a poor move clubhouse wise as Miami is coming off a harsh rebuild
Castellanos is a DH.
No to the White Sox – you are right just a DH.
Sorry not sorry I highly doubt he’s gonna go to a team that might win 62 games. unless it’s a one year deal and he fully expects to be traded again. Not gonna happen.
If his price drops enough to entice them to sign him there are other teams with a bigger checkbook and a need, so I’d be shocked if he went to Miami.
The Marlins could add Shogo Akiyama, that would be a better use of funds.
It’s more likely he’ll sign somewhere else on a four are so year deal, and then after playing where he wants he may consider Miami when they get better at that point as a complimentary piece as opposed to a centerpiece
This smells like a Nick Markakis signing, ala back when the Braves were rebuilding.
Go for it, Jeter
I fully expect the Marlins to field a team of All Stars and win the WS next year. Then in that offseason they will unload every single contract.
That would be fun. That would put us at 3 championships, which would put us past the Phillies and Mets, while tying the Braves for the most WS Championships by the current NL East teams.
And to think, we’ll do that without paying over $300 million to any one player. It seemed to work for the Nats this year.
Man I can’t imagine how many franchises would actually do this.
If you told a GM you would spend some money (not all that much in the case) get players, win the WS and then have to blow it up….
What, 90 percent of GMs say ok? Most fanbases probably even say ok. Look at all the teams with no rings since 1993. When we got out second the RSox and Cubs were in the craziest droughts. On that not, hahahahaha Indians.
No thanks to Castellanos. Already have his clone in G Cooper. Wrigley is a hitter’s paradise in late summer and lards up hitting numbers.
I like Cooper, but he’s not as skilled as Castellanos. Also, Cooper gets injured a lot. Even if they are clones, I think the Marlins are better off with 2 of these types instead of 1 and a bunch of other holes. Adding him puts us with Castellanos, Anderson, Alfaro, Cooper and the rest. That’s a bit better without him and just another hole in the spot Castellanos would occupy.
You’re crazy if you think we should invest ANY larage money to Nick.
For that bring home El Oso. His statcast analytics show he was way better than his numbers the last 2 seasons. Plus he never wanted to leave Miami even in the rebuild. If they float a competitive offer, maybe not even the highest, he could come home.
Sends a great message to everyone in Miami. I know Nick is from here but he’s too flawed a player coming in to his game late. If he’s MVP type next season then so be it I’m wrong, but Ozuna is a proven quality bat and defender and I feel his numbers play well with our logo on him.
vastellanos was a cry baby during detroits bad years. i cant imagine he’d shake that attitude in miami.
Source?
I believe the OP is referring to a moment where someone asked about his offense (In a slump and the time) and he said something like “Do you see what’s around me?”
I read it in a couple places, but I don’t think it makes him a clubhouse cancer. He’s clearly a space cadet though.
Nick Castellanos tells Joe Maddon “Happy Opening Day” before every game
I asked him why
“Prove to me it’s not”
“If what has happened is a memory and whats going to happen is a thought, you’re taking yourself out of right now. So in that case, every day is Opening Day”
I believe I have interest in
Taylor Swift.
Doesn’t mean it will happen…..
And if Castellanos friends and family attended every game
the Marlins attendance would
double…..
in hindsight i feel i should have had the foresight to predict Ozuna to the Marlins