The Reds “remain a player” for free-agent outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The extent to which the Reds are interested is far from clear, though. Cincinnati has already signed Shogo Akiyama to a three-year deal and has Nick Senzel, Jesse Winker and Aristides Aquino atop an already deep list of incumbent outfield options. And, unlike the Rangers, who are also said to have interest in Castellanos, there’s no option of plugging him in at first base, where Joey Votto is entrenched in Cincinnati.
It’s difficult to envision much of a fit in Cincinnati unless Castellanos winds up taking a short-term deal along the lines of the one Marcell Ozuna signed in Atlanta just yesterday. Even if such an opportunity were to materialize for the Reds, they’d likely still need to move an outfielder to alleviate the logjam that’d come with signing Castellanos. Corner outfielders have had a hard time cashing in this winter, and the market for Castellanos looks rather limited at this point. If he and agent Scott Boras are willing to wait things out, it’s possible that an injury early in camp or a Cubs trade that sheds some cash will change his market’s landscape. At present, however, demand doesn’t exactly appear frenzied.
More from the division…
- Marcell Ozuna asked his agent to initiate extension talks with the Cardinals in late June, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, but the Cardinals seemingly didn’t have much interest in exploring such a deal. President of baseball ops John Mozeliak said over the summer that the team preferred to address Ozuna’s contract status in the offseason — even at a time when Ozuna was vocal in voicing that remaining in St. Louis was his “priority.” Tyler O’Neill and Lane Thomas as the top candidates to step into the left field void created by Ozuna’s absence, though Hummel adds that GM Mike Girsch listed first baseman/outfielder Rangel Ravelo and outfielder Justin Williams as players who’ll get consideration this spring. Cardinals fans can still hold out hope for a more notable addition, but owner Bill DeWitt Jr.’s recent comments strongly suggest that’s not on the horizon.
- Retired closer Joel Hanrahan will serve as the pitching coach for the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in 2020, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter). Hanrahan held the same position with the Pirates’ Double-A club in 2019 and was the pitching coach with the organization’s Class-A Advanced affiliate back in 2017. It’s the latest step in a fairly swift rise through the system for Hanrahan — one that comes in spite of the offseason shakeup in the Pittsburgh front office. It stands to reason that whether it’s in Pittsburgh or elsewhere, Hanrahan’s rapidly growing resume will earn him some consideration for a big league coaching spot.
Castellanos to White Sox as RF platoon and pinch hitter.
No thanks.
He’s an everyday bat! He would be a nice addition but your FO has done a great job with that lineup! Eddy Mazara Grandal and Abreau (resigned obviously) kind of push the Sox out of contention for him but then again, they’ve surprised us all this offseason so I wouldn’t put it past them. I think I’m the right situation he could be the next JDM, maybe not as good avg wise but the dude can flat out hit baseballs.
Makes no sense with EE at DH, and it does nothing to break up the beer leaguers in the corners of the outfield.
Puig makes more sense because he’s cheaper and can actually play defense, even if he has reverse splits. Still better than Mazara.
If they didn’t have EE, it may have made sense, because they could all rotate at DH.
That would be an expensive part-time player! It will never happen under those terms.
Very disappointed in Mr. Bill DeWitt Jr.’s position on standing pat on his Cardinal payroll for 2020. His position on letting his #4 hitter walk who was an all world trade to him 2 years ago. No trades to improve since acquiring Goldschmidt over a year ago. There’s a term for that!! “Tanking”. Their just not saying that word.
They best stop winning division championships if they want to tank.
Stumbled into the Central Championship last season. Others in the Central were just weaker. Washington showed the Cardinals what a World Series look like in their series.
You need to check out the records for the Astros and Cubs when they were “tanking” to get some perspective. A division winning team with a $170M+ payroll cannot ever be called tanking. If they start trading guys like Flaherty, Goldschmidt, Wong, Bader, etc for prospects, then you can accuse them of tanking. I am a huge Cards fan and I am also disappointed in their offseason but they definitely are not tanking, their just not selling the farm to win the WS this year.
Everyone has budgets look at the angels they would love to be in the Cards shoes.
I know a Gold Glove RF in Chicago that the Cardinals can have right now
I would hardly call Schwarber’s defense gold glove worthy.
I would hardly call Schwarber a RF. In fact I would never call Schwarber a RF.
You really thought he was talking about Schwarber? Guess again.
Yeah he didn’t want to be the man in STL when he took flight to the Windy City so you guys can have him and yes I’m am bitter with about him.
Really would like to see Castellanos in a Dodger uniform. I know it will never happen, oh well. The man can flat out hit
Why? He doesn’t really bring anything to the table that we can’t fill in-house already. There’s no spot for him.
JH is a great defensive outfielder but we have one of them already, plus he sneaked out of town on the Cards before.
He can flat out (streaky) hit. If we’re being honest.
We’d be happy to move AA to AAA to accommodate Nicky C.
The Reds may be a “player” for Castellanos, in Heyman’s words, but given their situation, it’s likely they would only play at a reasonable cost. I’m not sure Boras is ready for that.
If his price comes down, he becomes interesting to more clubs especially if it’s a one year deal. I still think Boston makes sense if Mookie is traded and he’s still available.
Letting Ozuna sign elsewhere is ok. Then you start to look at the probable starting lineup’s OPS numbers from last year. More question marks here than the Riddlers suit. Cardinals too complacent.
On the bright side, cubs have been just as complacent if not more! The NL Central hasn’t added too much talent this offseason.
Except for the Reds
Reds are more of a comedy club than a baseball club.
Sounds like a Cubs fan, the win one WS and they think it’s a dynasty, Reds could pick up Castellanos & might, he led league in doubles & would b fine LF @ GABP smallish OF
Cards are hoping that our AAA team will greatly improve our MLB team while assuming that the rest on the NL will regress …. gotta love it.
Or they are thinking that when Ozuna was injured they took lithe lead in the NL Central so they were just going to see if lightning is still in the bottle.
I mean Ozuna was a 10% above league average bat as a Cardinal and the metrics still haven’t caught up with his horribly declining defense, so his WAR will likely decrease as his gaffes pile up in the OF. He’s basically a 2-3 WAR player. Cards produce those in their sleep. Fowler is basically a 1-1.5 WAR player as a veteran floor, but O’Neill has nothing left to prove at AAA and has not gotten a fair shot at seizing a job. He’s faster than Bader and Edman (top 10 foot speed in MLB) and has a much higher defensive and baserunning floor. He’s projected to be about league average with the bat, but with massive upside. Ozuna isn’t very good. He’s basically had one outlier year.
He needs to go home to Tigers, they need corner OF and they wanted to extend him but Boros stopped that. He could get 6-7 yrs at 75-85 million and be part of the rebuilding
Hilarious idea. You guys are in the earliest stages of a rebuild, many many years off. His interest will be nil.
Castellanos ain’t going back to the sorry Tigers
If the Yanks are able to trade Happ, then they should look at bringing him in on a one year deal. Take Hicks spot until he returns and then send Tauchman down.
1. DJ 2B
2. Judge RF
3. Castellanos LF
4. Stanton DH
5. Sanchez C
6. Torres SS
7. Andujar 3B
8. Voit 1B
9 Gardner CF
Interesting, but will his D hold up? Left can be a tough position to play. His bat would be nice because he would not be swinging out of his shoes to try and hit the ball out, which is why they lost last year imho. Back to basics – line drives and high contact – the homers will come, especially in that stadium.
Yankees could go after Arenado. Then after next year, 2021-22, they have their choice of top-level ss when Lindor, Story, and Baez go to FA. It’ll never happen, but fun to think about since the Yankees have the resources to do it.
Won’t happen and it shouldn’t. Hicks and Gardner are BOTH better options and they already have them. Never discount outfield defense.
I’m a Cardinal fan and I can honestly say that our Front Office is a joke!!
Haha, maybe you can take over the Cardinals and drive them into the ground. I think they know what they are doing and have been a successful organization.
So true. STL is a well ran club. You should be proud
Pretty sure a lot of fans outside of a few teams would trade their teams resume & front office over the last two decades for the cardinals.
It’s time for the cardinals to have full confidence in Tyler O’Neill and give him a real everyday shot! The power is real, stop promoting and demoting him and just see what you have with him, I don’t think he will disappoint!
The Cards tried to ride an aging core a little long. It’s understandable after the fans supported them well for a couple decades. Carp could have been traded 3-4 years ago, they could have laid off the 2 left handed rp, Motte, Rosenthal, and others could have been traded for something (either an earlier trade or cashing in high), Oscar could have lived, Yellich could have been had (or what I’d said, Cards trade for Ozuna a year earlier and sell high) but most importantly I believe we/they should have signed Cole. Take away Carps money and it’s $15 million the first two years, I like Goldy but I’d rather have Weaver Kelly right now and not be paying another $20million a year. There is Cole’s salary for two years plus most of it for 2-4 more. I like him and this is a big year but they should have and still should shop Wong. Maybe LAA sends Addel plus and Cards send Thomas/Bader plus Wong?
They can’t break up with carp, they are married with 6 kids!
The cardinals “could have” done a lot of things in in hindsight. So could literally every other team and become the best in mlb
Blue Jays should be all over Castellanos now. Price tag has dropped a bit, he’s young, he rakes and his defense in RF has improved in his 2nd year. He is the same age as Teoscar, is a better hitter and quite possibly a better defender than Teoscar. Fisher is useless. If it means trying to stomach Grichuk in CF, go get Castellanos and the Jays will have 2 strong throwing OFs in Nick and Gurriel in LF.
Personally if Cast would consider going back to third I think his market gets bigger and the money goes up.
Toronto make most sense, either one-year or long-term at a cheapo rate (~12m).
The Reds have had a great off season. The Brewers? Well, not so great. I think the Reds could finish 1st or 2nd in the NL central. There’s a lot of talent on that ball club now and excellent pitching.
I have been a Castellanos fan since he was a kid in West Michigan. But I do believe he and his agent, Bora$$ may have overplayed the market. The number of potential suitors is rapidly dwindling and smart teams don’t bid against themselves. So he either has to hope someone gets stupid or he’ll have to take a smaller deal than he would like. I still think he can get two years, $35-40M but not much more than that. He doesn’t have a QO attached to him, otherwise he might in one year land or having to wait until June to sign.
By the looks of it, the Rangers seem to be less and less interested in signing Castellanos. I guess they figure his glove is a bigger deficit than we thought,.
White Sox still have a chance to sign Castellanos!
What say you?!
Yes, he would be a luxury for a loaded team. But it’s only money!
Keep everyone fresh for the World Series!
How fresh do they need to be watching the World Series from home?
Jealous boy, shortie!
Everyone will be a White Sox fan come October!!
Gotta screen shot this….
Or April
If Carpenter can reestablish himself as the starting 3B, then I’d rather have Edman start in LF over the unproven O’Neill and Thomas.
Unless Senzel moves back to the infield…
I think undercutting Castellanos’ value by quoting defensive numbers is like criticizing Lester in arbitration because he firs the throw to first base.
How many games did Castellanos lose on defense versus how many games did help win with his bat?
With more experience, focused coaching and the additional reps during spring training, there’s no reason to not expect his defensive rating to improve.
And remember, defensive replacements late in games will seal up some of the leaking baseballs.
Firs = refuses
Cardinals front office never seemed they were in on Ozuna. His pathetic off season, coming into camp not ready, and his declining defensive performance, throughout the year, makes many Cardinals fans happy he wasn’t resigned.
True, Im glad Reds didn’t take Ozuna, Put Senzel @ SS, pickup Castellanos for LF & put Akiyama in CF, that could pan out
” And, unlike the Rangers, who are also said to have interest in Castellanos, there’s no option of plugging him in at first base, where Joey Votto is entrenched in Cincinnati.”
That may be exactly what the Reds are thinking. Joey has not been setting any barns on fire the last few years. And has publicly said that he will retire if he thinks that his game is slipping. And, I hate to say it, but it is. I like Joey Votto. And he is, without a doubt, a fan favorite. But I was really disappointed that Cincy didn’t at least stick their toe in the water on some of the FA 1B.
At least a move like this would give them an option.
Okay, I was sitting on the ski lift last week, and it hit me. Hire Hammer, let it look like he’s our AAA pitching coach, then September comes around, BOOM. We start the ridiculous motorcycle video on the JumboTron and trot him out there! It’s like Hot Ice! Best of both worlds!
Always thinking of you guys.
-Nob