JANUARY 10: Castillo will be guaranteed $600K on the deal, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The pact includes another $1MM in potential incentives.
JANUARY 9: Former Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo has signed with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball. The Eagles officially announced the move today, after reports out of Mexico last month suggested Castillo was preparing to join the Japanese team.
Castillo last played in the majors in 2016, appearing in nine games for Boston that left him with a .262/.301/.379 slash line over 337 career plate appearances from 2014-16. The big majority (289 PA) of that playing time came in 2015, when Castillo seemed ticketed for regular duty in Boston’s outfield after being called up from the minors in May, but Castillo stumbled to just a .647 OPS that season.
Though he signed a seven-year, $72.5MM deal as an international free agent in August 2014, Castillo was already on the outs with the Red Sox, as the team put him on waivers and outrighted him to Triple-A in June. This left Castillo stuck in a contractual loophole, as his salary was no longer counted against Boston’s luxury tax bill since he was outrighted. However, the new collective bargaining agreement from the 2016-17 changed these terms, so Castillo couldn’t be returned to the Red Sox 40-man roster without the entirety of his remaining contract being again counted for luxury tax purposes.
As a result, Castillo was more or less trapped at Triple-A Pawtucket to play out the remainder of his deal. He ended up posting a respectable .295/.335/.425 slash line with 42 homers over his 1973 career PA with the PawSox, and he will now head to Japan in an attempt to spark what has been a thoroughly unusual career.
Barring any changes to international signing rules in the upcoming CBA talks, Castillo’s $72.5MM deal will stand for the foreseeable future as the largest deal ever given to a Cuban free agent. It also stands out as one of the more expensive misfires in Red Sox history, though it shouldn’t be forgotten that Castillo had enough potential coming out of Cuba that almost every team in baseball had some level of interest in him back in 2014. Should Castillo play well for the Eagles, it will be interesting to see if he remains in Japan next winter or perhaps explores a return to Major League Baseball.
good move for him. i think he’ll do well over there.
I find it incredible that team would throw out massive amounts of money on international free agents hoping they will be a star. Hector Olivera comes to my mind also as another guy who essentially laughed his way to the bank.
There’s a good article in SI in October about Jon Coppolella. Said he was overly obsessed with Cuban baseball to a fault and would not rest until Olivera was a Brave.
If he didn’t break the rules, I could have seen him getting canned later for some ill-advised international contracts. It just would have delayed his eventual move into being the SVP for a time share company.
Not the first time this has happened. The Yankees kept Kei Igawa in the minors for 3 years (2009-2011) while he was making $4 mil per year. Can I be a minor leaguer for $1 mil per year? Sign me up!
FredMcGriff: Just looked it up. Hector Olivera made $92 mil for 0.054 years of MLB service time. Wow!
I was all over Alex Guerrero
Remember that :When Guerrero had the opportunity to play every day,he was the best hitter in the league :Dont forget please
Guerrero led qualifying NL rookies with a .423 batting average (11-for-26) and a 1.077 slugging percentage
Thank you Johnny Superscout
This guy was made out to be some evil thief. It was pretty gross treatment. I hope he rakes in NPB.
the ability to burry him in the Minors really ruined any chance he had to do anything under his Sox contract. not that he was crushing it in AAA, but he overall did quite well.
1.6 WAR in 99 games in sporadic play, there’s been so many worse players given so many more chances.
They really should have made an exception for him. It’s too bad that the players’ union is so weak.
Totally depends on your perspective. I think there’s a lot of non Red Sox fans who look
at it and think that his contract and the luxury tax basically stole the prime of his career from him.
I could totally understand from the Red Sox prospective thinking that he was a bust who ended up doing nothing. Both are kinda true.
the Sox made the right choice to burry it, but it just sucks that he couldn’t get the chance to contribute to the game’s highest level. no one to blame but the CBA.
Rusney was payed extremely well @ $72.5m to play AAA baseball. The Sox would of brought him up if he earned it but that was never the case so it ended up being an awful contract…
Slashed .314/.350/.507 in 2017 at AAA. Where was his call up? What do you mean by earned it?
He wasn’t given a fair opportunity to “earn it”
It’s fine to say that, but each and every team could have scooped him up for next to nothing. No one did.
Wasn’t his fault that he was offered 70M+. To say he should give it back means you’d have to believe to corollary and say teams should be paying young stars with only a few years experience 20 or 30 million a year.
Cherington didn’t want a reunion tour?
The Pirates do need outfielders, but not 33 year old average AAA outfielders. Japan is a good move for Castillo.
It was sarcasm. But thanks.
Sorry, I am sarcastic often enough that I should have recognized it.. 🙂
All good. I believe you judging by the handle 🙂
He got screwed. The Sox gave him less than 100 games to prove himself. Why invest all that money and leave him in AAA?
$72 million eases the pain
the ability to burry the contract hurt here. it was in Boston’s best interest to keep the contract burried. the CBA creators dropped the ball in allowing players to be grandfathered into the rule. (probably added secretly to the CBA by Boston because they knew most teams wouldnt care about it)
Basically to avoid luxury tax. As long as he wasn’t on the roster the salary didn’t count.
Rusney Castillo did NOT hit for power, did NOT hit for a consistent high average, did NOT walk much so he had a low OBP and thus a low OPS even at Pawtucket in AAA. He was never a starting mlb outfielder. He probably would have been a 4th outfielder at best.
I would trade places with him in a heartbeat…..$72.5 million to play AAA baseball with absolutely no pressure and no constant BS Boston fans bad mouthing you for not doing this or that.
He got his $72.5 million regardless that he played in AAA. If that is “He got screwed”, than I bet 99.9 percent of the readers on this site would volunteer!!
@Yaz1971 –
Man, I volunteer to be screwed like that anytime.
Bradley jr is consistent ????,234 average lifetime hitter?,dont make me laugh
Man…seems that other international leagues have had a much hotter stove this off-season than MLB. What gives? Still a lot of good names and talent out there. Should be an interesting month of moves from here….hope my Halos get some damn pitching!
most of the guys signing in these foreign leagues probably woudlnt have gotten as much on the Majors anyway, and id have to imagine these other leagues, being below the Majors in their ability to obtain talent, have learned they need to strike quick to get the best talent they can.
That makes more sense. Thanks for that insight or point of view. It’s better to get paid now than cross your fingers. And hopefully some big names getting signed and traded starts to make the market move more.
Also, Japan and Korea had more or less full seasons last year because their countries did a much better job dealing with COVID head on which contained things better. I believe they even got to the point of being able to have some fan attendance at games, so financially their league did better, providing teams there more financial surety than MLB teams have right now. All of that is factoring in to the deals they’ve been able to offer vs the lack of movement here.
Mostly AAAA fringe Major Leaguers or in Justin Smoak’s case a guy with one foot out the door already. Its not like after 1994 players like Kevin Mitchell and Julio Franco, guys who were everyday players coming off of very good seasons headed to Japan because of the uncertainty during the strike.
Sox fan here, I had high hopes for Rusney. Also, felt bad that he never got another chance to make it to the majors (especially considering some of the teams we have had recently outside of the WS year).
I am glad he got paid well despite being stuck in the minors. Good luck in Japan, I hope you can achieve your remaining professional goals.
Castillo would not have beat out any of the Red Sox outfielders!
2016
Benintendi OPS .835
Bradley OPS .835
Betts OPS .897
Chris Young .OPS .850
2017
Benintendi OPS .776
Bradley OPS .726
Betts OPS .803
Chris Young OPS .709
2018
Benintendi OPS .830
Bradley OPS .717
Betts OPS 1.078
Holt OPS .774
2019
Benintendi OPS .774
Bradley OPS .738
Betts OPS .915
Holt OPS .771
Bradley made up for a couple of lower OPS years with Gold Glove defense.
Castillo at best is Guillermo Heredia. Not an everday player but definitely got paid better than many everyday players.
Seems to me that the Red Sox’s really screwed this guy. I remember when they first signed him and all of the hype mad you think he was going to be the next star in baseball. But to bury this guy for this long is so wrong. I wished the Orioles would have gave him a chance.
He was paid $72.5m to be a mediocre AAA player. How did the Red Sox screw Rusney over?
By leaving him in the minors for 4 years to rot because they didn’t want his salary to count against their cap. The Sox either made a TERRIBLE MISTAKE by signing him or screwed him by leaving in the minors for 4 years after signing him. You can’t have it both ways.
Imagine being so ignorant that you think a team giving a Cuban guy who probably up until that time had made 100s possibly 1000s of dollars 72 million and thinking the Redsox screwed him! How many baseball players in the world would turn down their dream to play in the mlb for 72 million dollars, oh that’s right every single one. I got news for you as well. Had he put up stellar numbers at AAA they would have played him or traded him. Instead he got to be the highest paid aaa player possibly of all time. I can’t believe how far outside of reality you live to think he got screwed over it’s baffling.
Iver – you are totally correct.
Very few human beings would turn down $72.5 million to accept less money play somewhere else for way less money.
Castillo could have ask for and been released his last year, but instead took the $13 million.
Ask kyle Schwarber if he’s going to turn down the 10 million if he hits for 230 for life, he just can’t hit, but he won’t give back a penny or ask Staton, A upton jr, Hamilton (Texas) or Davis (Baltimore), and hundreds more and they have never returned anything and gave them opportunities and confidence, something that they never gave Castillo
Good for Rusney. Not sure which was a bigger waste of money: Castillo or Pablo Sandoval…
Easy, Sandoval. At least with Castillo you could buy a ticket and see him play in Pawtucket.
Burry?
Baseball isn’t known for its intelligence. Burry is a surname. You bury the dead.
Rusney Castillo had the same numbers in AAA as he had in Cuba. He was pretty good. I never understood why the BoSox never found a way to use him on the MLB roster or a way to trade him
Adding him to the MLB roster would have added to the luxury tax. Trading him required the Sox to eat a majority of his contract and they still wouldn’t get much back. As for just not letting him go and letting some other team pay him the major league minimum, I figure it was a bit between wanting to get something out of the money they were paying him and not wanting him to go to another team and watch him do well.
Not a bad idea for him.
I think he probably could have cracked an MLB roster if not for his weird contract situation.
The CBA ended his chances of ever getting called up to Boston, but if he really wanted to, he could have asked the Sox to release him and void the rest of his deal at the end of 2017 or 2018. The Red Sox would have done it in a heartbeat if MLB allowed it.
I’m not sure if he seriously considered that, but in any case it was probably wise to ride it out in AAA and earn the remainder of his $72.5MM. Better to make $10MM+ per year in the minors than maybe play a bench role in the majors (no guarantee that would even happen) while making the minimum.
Total bull$*it, Boston should not have been able to get away with the way they treated Rusney. If his contract would have counted towards the luxury tax regardless, then you can bet he would have been in Boston this whole time. I mean we’re talking about a team that allowed Hanley Ramirez to man left field for a few games and who thought it was a good idea to Sign fata#$ pablo Sandoval to a long term contract.
Whats interesting is the Diamondbacks basically did the Same thing to Yasmani Tomas and no one says a word.
The Dodgers have seemingly had the worst luck with Cuban players. Sure Puig mostly worked out but Hector Olivera (6 years $62 million), Erisbel Arruebarrena (5 years $25 million), Yasiel Sierra (6 years $30 million), Alex Guerrero (4 years $28 million), Pablo Fernandez (minor league contract $8 million) have all been personal/professional trainwrecks costing the team almost a hundred million dollars (the Braves paid down some of Olivera’s contract)
Matsuzaka cost $102 million (including posting fee) for 2 good years out of 6.
W-L. 50-37. ERA. 4.52.
IN. 668. BB. 321. WHIP. 1.41
The WHIP of 1.41 would earn most starter a long trip to the bullpen or a ticket back to AAA, and that was his collective career with the Red Sox of 6 years.
…certainly not ace numbers or anywhere close….and $102 million bought a lot more then than now.
Castillo mlb OPS in 2015 was .647
I was not sad by missing out on Kim or Sugano after the experience with Matsuzaka and Rusney Castillo!
Daisuke was a very expensive World Series ring. But at least he did that much.
Castillo, through no real fault of his own was not likely to ever live up to that contract. Most big money contracts end in disappointment. The Angels have gotten nothing out of Pujols aside from piggybacking a few milestones. Unless the Angels go off on an extraordinary dynasty run Trout’s contract will basically be for milestones. Same for the Dodgers and Mookie
If Ben Cherington signed Rusney Castillo to a reasonable more modest contract of say $35 million over 7 years, Castillo probably is the Red Sox 4th outfielder for 7 years (or some other mlb teams 4th outfielder). Personally I would rather play in AAA for $72.5 million for 7 years than in mlb for $35 million. Lol
Please try to think ,dont repeat others opinions
only puig received the opportunity to play every day
Tell me a single Cuban who has been able to play a season and has not been able to hit? Tell me one
Well it doesn’t exist
It’s not my words, it’s the words of a diamondbacks hitting coach
Here the question is: why this treatment of Cubans? What is the nervousness? What scared them?
By the way Tomas 2016 : 267 ave ,31 hr and 87 rbi
A PawSox great, he will be missed
Well said!
Yes, Castillo was a great AAA player, and the fact he was there 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, may have made him the longest tenured player there too.
Too bad his AAA numbers did not translate to the mlb
Another fine example of the rich organizations being able to swing n’ miss big, with no repercussions.
The Sox did what they did to save that money by not having to count his hefty deal towards their luxury tax bill.
It’s unfortunate, especially for Rusney, because I believe with a longer shot, he really could have proven to be a slightly above average regular.
What really sucks is that he was basically wasting his prime years away at AAA, knowing almost regardless how well he performed the Sox were never going to call him back up.
Knowing that, I am sure it took its toll on Castillo. I wouldnt be at all surprised to see him mash over there next season.
Hopefully, he can do some solid work over there, and then get another shot at a ML deal for at least a couple seasons, before he gets on the very tail end of his 30’s…
Definitely rooting for the guy, but you cannot really blame the Sox for what they did. In hindsight, you can blame them for signing him in the first place, but that’s about it honestly..
I’d feel sad for him if he wasted away those prime years in AAA while making a typical AAA salary. Bottom line is if he were signed as a normal Latin American minor league free agent and worked his way through he likely would have made far less than the $72.5M he did make. He might have hung on through his first year of arbitration but then would have been non-tendered after that, limiting his salary.
I’m glad Castillo is finally able to move on. Having said that, pity feels like a matter of perspective. How much pity do you think the minor leaguers who weren’t making millions of dollars a year felt for him? Castillo may not have been better off than many major leaguers but Castillo was doing just fine and he will still do just fine.
I’d love to see him tear it up in Japan and get another shot with a MLB team.
Whenever I read his name I remember how the Tigers were desperately hoping to sign him with the idea that he could help them while they were in contention that same year……..
That’s how highly regarded he was!
I was hoping for a storybook ending with him being resigned at Boston and given a real chance. They were never gonna bring him up if it had luxury tax implications
Looking at his minor league numbers, I thought he would be worth at least a look on a minor league deal (guarantee him a spot on the MLB team after spring training so that way you keep flexibility on the 40-man during the off-season) from some rebuilding team.
He wasn’t viewed as good enough to risk the luxury tax hit, but he was certainly good enough to have had opportunities to play in the Majors. He also lost the further development he’d have received as a major leaguer. I think Rusney is the main reason international free agents of a certain level have clauses in their contracts now preventing teams from doing what the Red Sox did here.
Rusney has 72.5 million reason’s to prove he did not get screwed.
I believe he was also Ben Cherington’s last straw….
…enter DD
Yeah. The only person screwed in this deal was ultimately Cherington