9:22pm: The 2024 option would vest at $5MM if Castro appears in 60 games next year and passes a physical at the end of the season, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter links). Should Castro finish 40 games next season, it’d become a player option. The deal also contains various incentives based on appearances and games finished that could tack on as much as $2.75MM per season to the deal.
9:00am: The Diamondbacks have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent righty Miguel Castro, Robert Murray of FanSided reports (via Twitter). The Ballengee Group client will be guaranteed $3.5MM. Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds that the one-year deal also contains incentives to boost that guarantee, as well as an option for the 2024 season.
Castro, 28 next month, is one of the youngest free agents on this year’s market, which surely appealed to the D-backs and other interested parties. However, he’s also coming off an injury-marred season in which a shoulder strain limited him to just 29 innings for the Yankees. That injury sidelined Castro for most of July and for all of August and September, though he did return to toss two innings in October. He added another pair of scoreless frames during the ALCS.
Since making his Major League debut with the Blue Jays as a 20-year-old back in 2015, Castro has been traded multiple times and struggled to find consistent success. The flamethrowing righty, who averaged 97.9 mph on his sinker in 2022, has at times looked brilliant but has also battled high walk rates and been occasionally susceptible to home runs. His 2022 season in the Bronx was solid, as he pitched to a 4.03 ERA with above-average strikeout and ground-ball rates (23.7% and 47.5%, respectively) in his 29 frames. However, Castro walked 11.5% of his opponents in his lone season as a Yankee — the fifth straight year in which he’s logged at least an 11% walk rate.
For all the ups and downs with his command, Castro has logged a composite 3.93 ERA in 350 innings across the past six Major League seasons while pitching for the Orioles, Mets and Yankees. His strikeout rate has trended upward over the past three seasons, in particular, sitting at 26.6% in that time. That’s backed up by an above-average 12.8% swinging-strike rate, and Castro has added a hearty 50.8% grounder rate in that time.
Between his age, velocity, ground-ball rate and ability to miss bats, there’s plenty to like in Castro’s game even if his command never turns a corner. The D-backs will surely hope to curtail his proclivity for free passes, but Castro has pitched for five different Major League teams and only once turned in a walk rate under 10% — and that came in 2016 when he threw just 14 2/3 innings with the Rockies. Listed at a lanky 6’7″ and 205 pounds, Castro’s long levers give him excellent extension on his pitches (77th percentile, per Statcast) which can make his perceived velocity even stronger than his already impressive 98mph average — but maintaining control over those long levers has been a persistent challenge that no team has been able to help him overcome to this point.
Castro is the second addition to the Arizona bullpen in the relatively young offseason, as the Snakes also claimed righty Cole Sulser off waivers from the Marlins late last month. Improving a suspect bullpen has been a stated priority for the D-backs, and Castro will give them a youthful veteran to pair with incumbent options Joe Mantiply, Kyle Nelson, Kevin Ginkel and Mark Melancon, the latter of whom will be seeking a rebound after a frustrating 2022 campaign that saw him lose his grip on the closer’s job in Arizona.
Castro’s $3.5MM guarantee will nudge the Diamondbacks’ projected payroll north of $100MM for what would be just the fourth time in franchise history and the first time since 2019. General manager Mike Hazen recently cast doubt on whether ownership would take payroll back to that 2018-19 level ($131MM in 2018, $124MM in 2019), but he did suggest that a bump over last year’s $90MM Opening Day mark was likely. It stands to reason that the D-backs will remain in the market for further bullpen help, and Hazen has previously spoken about the possibility of finding an offensive upgrade behind the dish and perhaps adding a right-handed bat to the lineup.
Not bad, he’s had some great stretches in the past.
Good riddance, nice live arm though. When he’s on he’s on. When he’s off. Smh.
Perfectly put
Castro was great on the Mets. Hard time understanding why he was swapped, but lefty needs were there.
Castro walked almost every batter he faced, he was horrible. He didnt even know where he was throwing. He’d just take the ball and slingshot it as hard as he could
my dbacks love these 1 year deals with the hope of past years luck. He’s ok.
Do they flip him at the deadline for prospects?
Unless he gets back to 13K/9IP, Castro won’t fetch much as a league-average middle reliever.
It depends on where they are and how he does? They definitely can compete for a wildcard the dbacks. They always have these turn around years. If you look at every 5 or so years
Can someone fill me in about this guy?
Really good stuff. Lots of movement on his pitches. Wicked, high velo sinker. But, he lacks control, which has been his biggest issue. When he has control, he’s virtually unhittable.
This is a good acquisition, imo. But I wouldn’t want him in a high-leverage position (close game, must win)
Fortunately for the Dbacks, they don’t play in any must-win games. 🙂
Throws hard with decent movement, pitches well more often than not, not really a high leverage dude, but doesn’t suck
Castro definitely has plus stuff, but as others have said, command can be an issue. Maybe working with Brent Strom can help him maximize his ability
Those who have him then want to get rid of him. Great arm but highly frustrating.
Good get
He’s been around so long I guessed he was 35.
I think a lot of these guys are just trying to throw the ball at max velocity, and that has led to a lot more injury. Remember back in the day when thr TV announcer would say a guy was reaching back for a little extra in a tough situation? They’re reaching back on every pitch now it seems.
Yeah, good point. I come from an era when guys who were touching 90 or so was special—Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, etc.
Now, everyone and their grandmother is at least in the low-to-mid 90’s. No wonder there are so many Tommy John surgeries. And after they have the surgery, they come back throwing harder
Speed above all else seems to be the motto these days
Speed kills……..careers.
Or, speed makes careers. Even if he blows out his arm forever, which is unlikely, he’ll still have career earnings > $10M. I’d be willing to blow out my arm for $10M.
That’s fine …if the blowout affects only your MLB career. If it creates a quality-of-life issue, especially long-term, I’m not so sure.
I’d be willing to blow out my arm for $10M.
I did it for a lot less. 10 million less to be specific.
D-Backs are going to be sneaky good in 23, it’s just unfortunate that they play in the same division as the dodgers and padres
Yankee legend
When the word “shoulder” issues is noted it means you have to watch their innings. Not necessarily good for middle relievers.
Injury plagued season and he still manages to get a guarantee of 900k more than last season. What a world we live in. I remember when coming off an injury plagued season someone like this got a league minimum contract or a minor league deal.
The term “effectively wild” comes to mind…..
Castro is walk machine. Met Fan and wife D Back fan living in AZ. It’s pathetic that dBacks cannot hit a 135 million payroll. Castro not dependable. Mets traded to Yanks for another flop Rodriguez who is now signed by bosox.Dbacks should sign Conforto and Trade Gallon for MeGill or Petersen pitchers and demand Baty and Mecurio. Two position kids ready to play for next 10 years. Baty will be a star.
Bwahaha. Dbacks trade their ace for a bunch of no names? You Mets fans are funny.
DBACKS always suck, he’ll do fine
Jack
Correction DBACKS bullpen sucks.
This isn’t the first DBacks update I’ve seen him drop in on just to be salty. I wouldn’t pay him too much mind.
Thx highheat
He’s a good project for Strom. I think these are exactly the type of moves AZ should be making.
Wait!! Wasn’t there an article yesterday saying the D’backs were in on Bogaerts? Can’t keep payroll under $130 million and sign a guy for $30 million when you are already over $100 million.
You can if you find a way to move Bumgarner or Marte, but I don’t really see another way.
Padsfan
Don’t believe everything you read.
Last year, the Dbacks had 3 bullpen pitchers who were able to drag the overall reliever team ERA up to 4.57. Without those 3, the team reliever ERA was probably closer to 6.00 than it was to 5.00.
So, the Dbacks need to replace 5 relievers, plus develop some decent reliever depth. Most of all, they need a real Closer.
None of the 3 relievers the Dbacks have signed/traded for thus far are their 2023 Closers, but they are light years better than the middle relievers the Dbacks had last year…even if they have average seasons in 2023.
The Dbacks had one of the worse bullpens in all of baseball last year, and relievers are notoriously volatile from year to year. Dbacks are taking the right approach by signing high octane arms with upside potential. Maybe they will get a couple of surprisingly good seasons from these signings?
The Guardians actually finished as 3rd runner up to sign Castro.
The problem is that they can’t really replace 5 pitchers to begin the year, due to the Melancon contract; Mantiply, Ginkel, Nelson, and Melancon are all locks to start the season, and Castro and Sulser in the mix leaves the Martin/Widener spots as areas for upgrade.
Granted that Melancon is likely gone at the team’s earliest convenience, and I doubt that even two of the group of Martin/Sulser/Widener are in the MLB bullpen by the All-Star Break. Would like to see Martin finally get some results; he’s out of options and Beer is looking more like a bust, so Rojas is the only saving grace of the Greinke deal currently.
There are a lot of question marks with regards to the MiLB bullpen depth, but with Bukauskas, Frias, Martinez, and Vargas all near term, the bullpen talent baseline is almost guaranteed to increase by mid-season.
I’d imagine Bukauskas has a leg up, due to having MLB experience with recent MiLB success (and the struggles of Frias plus final polishing/service time manipulation of Martinez/Vargas). A good ST by J.B. likely sends Widener (a.k.a. “The Gap”) to AAA to start the year.
I’m keeping an eye on Taylor Rogers’ free agency; I highly doubt it will happen, but if the market doesn’t quite materialize the way his camp wants I’d love to see the DBacks try to buy low on him and push Sulser or Widener to AAA.
Talking entirely hypothetical at this point: but say Rogers is the next BP signing, Bukauskas beats out Widener in ST, and we reach the point of the season (whenever that is) that Melancon can be jettisoned. Is Rogers, Mantiply, Ginkel, Nelson, Castro, Bukauskas, Martin, and either Vargas or an external addition a bullpen you’d be comfortable with? That’s miles better than what we saw a calendar year before, and with much more upside.
Solid pickup for ARZ. Feel like another ex-Met, Givens, would be a nice addition for them as well.