The Red Sox announced that they have claimed right-hander Max Castillo off waivers from the Royals. The righty was designated for assignment before the holidays but lingered in DFA limbo for a while since the normal seven-day window is paused between Christmas and New Year’s. Boston’s 40-man roster is now at 40, though their deal with Lucas Giolito has not yet been made official.
Castillo, 25 in May, has 59 2/3 innings of major league experience to this point in his career. He has a 5.43 earned run average in that time, having stuck out 18.1% of batters faced, walked 9.3% and kept 44.7% of balls in play on the ground.
Acquired from the Blue Jays alongside Samad Taylor in the Whit Merrifield trade, Castillo spent most of 2023 in Triple-A Omaha. He threw 116 innings at that level with a 4.58 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 38.8% ground ball rate.
Castillo still has an option year left, so he’ll give the Sox some extra rotation depth for now. The Boston rotation currently projects to feature some combination of Giolito, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock but Castillo will give them another arm and can be kept in Worcester. Pivetta is an impending free agent and Giolito can opt out of his deal after 2024 as well. That creates some long-term uncertainty though the Sox have been connected to free agents like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Perhaps the club will convert Castillo to relief at some point to see if that unlocks another gear. Castillo still has less than a year of service time, giving him the club plenty of cheap control if he takes a step forward.
There’s that offseason thaw baby!!
just – I heard he’s almost as good as his cousin Rusney!
Fever, Rusney was never worth what he cost but while he got his money, he also got screwed by the then CBA change. It wasn’t fair to him or others like him who got stuck in the minors because of the financial hit that would have been incurred had there been a promotion. As for this Castillo, I’m expecting another trade before the Giolito deal is official as I don’t see who they would DFA if not Castillo.
Why do you feed the troll?
Dewey – I completely agree on Rusney, but even after his contract expired he never stuck in the majors. I think because he was basically another Franchy AAAA type player.
Dewey – BTW I’m hoping Llovera gets released, they don’t need him.
Another data point on Rusney was he had the chance to opt out, and chose to keep collecting his payday to play in the minors.
From a financial perspective I dpnt blame him one bit, but, for a chunk of that time he chose to do it to himself.
He was also a bit of an outlier due to the massive size of the penalty hit he triggered, of the few guys grandfathered in when the CBA changed, they generally were much much lower salary and tax hit situations and thus had more mobility
GA – Agreed! Rusney’s last year he could have asked to be released, but chose to stay in AAA with the Red Sox for $13 million. If he chose to be released, the only contract he would have received would probably have been a minor league deal for a million or two. I would have done what he did….$13 million with zero pressure to perform well….what can you say…..not many would have walked away from that.
The Rusney goof was the final nail in Cherington’s coffin (after Sandoval, Hanley, and Allen Craig)…..
Fever – Do you think Dusty would come to Boston?
You just gave me another New Years Wish!!!! Thanks!
Fever – I’d take Valentine before Cora so my expectations for the next manager is like laying the stick on the ground and trying to jump over it!!!
Any great manager like Dusty would be greatly appreciated but a bad one is still a huge improvement.
TF – here’s one for you then….
Cora vs Beltran? And remember the roles of each in Houston 2017…
Troll- I’d take Valentine over cora as well. At least he knows baseball and isn’t a confirmed cheat. Beyond beltran and hinch there’s not a manager that I wouldn’t take over cora.
GA – BOTH IN JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Easy Georgia. Bang that drum slowly, hahaha
I’m just happy something happened.
6’2″, 280? Sounds like a better fit in Foxboro
Need him on the OL
Or in the WWE.
He’s a little small for Offensive where average weight is over 300 pounds. But weighing less can be an advantage for guys on the Defensive line because it makes them faster. So maybe Max could help the Patriots there.
Another righty??
Nickname Big Macs?
Full throttle
Po Boy asleep at the wheel AGAIN! Too busy wining and dining some guy named Frankie when he could have picked up this physical specimen
Craig Spendlow doing his thing!
Spendlow? Do you honestly think breslow is the one creating the red sox budget? frustration should be directed at ownership.plus the giolito contract wasnt small.
I was being funny. No the budget obviously is set by ownership. Based on local reports does seems as though there is a ceiling below what they are used to spending. Giolito contract isn’t small but it’s not a big commitment either.
We should wait and see, but I don’t think the Red Sox are reducing spending. They just ate $17M of Chris Sale’s $27M salary to get rid of him and spent $19M on Giolito.
Pool – You don’t get the process if you start talking budgets.
Ownership or more precisely the BOARD might tell the GM that he has a hard cap, or they might tell him to get what he needs to win or they might not say anything at all and simply approve or not approve his requests.
The whole process depends on the GM submitting requests and getting approval. I don’t believe based on the history of the spending that there has ever been a CAP or a budget. I believe ownership puts a guy in the GM position to choose which acquisitions he wants to pursue. These are professional baseball people just like normal profession business people. There are heavy handed owners in sports like Jerry Jones but most treat their GMs with the respect they have earned by offering them the job.
Bloom’s philosophy was not one of spending big money on players and he proved how incredibly bad he was at it by his Devers, Yoshida and Story deals. He also didn’t recognize value like Mookie, Bogey, JD and Nate. Basically, he wasn’t qualified for his job.
Breslow like Bloom has the responsibility for submitting requests to the BOARD for funding players he wants. Whether it’s an over pay like Giolito or an insignificant add like Castillo, he needs to get approval of the funding.
So wipe the budget concept out of your mind and consider the fact that the board may have made suggestions about spending for the year but more than likely they will simply approve or reject requests based on the best interest of the team AND they will respect Breslow’s opinion in filing these requests. Therefore, most if not all will be approved. They do clear over $300MM a year so there is no financial issues to stop them from spending what Breslow thinks is necessary to win.
Completely disagree. There is indeed a budget. Any profitable business has one. You’re out of your depth with this one.
You’re blaming Bloom for low-balling Mookie and way overpaying Price. Bloom only followed orders. Henry’s other business acquisitions were slammed by the pandemic (as were we all). Bloom was brought in to clean up the mess and run a Tampa Bay-type business model. Square peg in a round hole. Ownership set Bloom out to fail, hanging him out to dry with that intention.
They did to Sale what they did with Mookie and Price. Yeah, they spent on Giolito. But I doubt they’re in on either Snell or Montgomery. And they never intended to chase Ohtani or HH.
The Sox got themselves a potato.
La Papa
Hard to call him a SP depth piece. He’s mostly been used out of the pen. I’d just call him AAA filler.
Buying more stock in Dunkin’.
@Swanhenge
21/22 appearences in AAA in 2023 were as a starter…
But agreed, a year option still, probably depth piece with a chance of MLB spot starts…
I stand corrected. I just looked at MLB stats. Either way, he’ll need an apartment in Worster
Swan – Agreed that he is headed for Worcester, but I would not sign the lease yet. I would not be surprised if he is DFA in the next few days to see if they can pass him through. If he gets claimed, he could ping pong like Tyler Wade did.
El Guapo Dos.
I was thinking Big Sexy 2.0
Panda’s uniform still around?
It is but he’ll need a new belt.
This is going to be a joke season. I love baseball, but I already feel checked out. Henry lost his passion for the Sox. Maybe he is full throttle on the penguins or that trash soccer team.
Liverpool is on top of the Premier League.I guess that is trash.I think I know guys that feel good winning darts,pool or maybe softball.Liverpool might win one of the top leagues is soccer.
Actually the Sox could pick up Wander Franco.Probsbly pretty cheap.Just in case he ever came back to MLB.I think he could hit better than the infield guys we got.All about Stars and Chanpionships.Bring in Trevor Bauer.
Sox don’t want a kiddie fiddler.
That “trash” soccer team is worth $5.3 billion. More valuable than the LA Dodgers and about a billion more than the Red Sox.
Who cares because soccer sucks. I care about the Sox, not some over seas soccer team.
Toyota is more valuable than Lamborghini, but, I’d rather watch or consume content from one than the other as well.
Likewise, an apartment in NYC costs more than a nice rural mini-farm, and, one is, again, much better than the other.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some may like soccer and think that team is great. I also think its a trash product, just like that candy they make with bugs inside it.
I’m currently reading Feeding The Monster. It would not be possible to overstate the difference in tone of the relationship between ownership and fandom. It’s like a long marriage grown old and cold.
Sad.
Teach – Excellent observation!! Henry despises fans as much as fans despise him.
Fever – Synonyms, but, I think Henry has more disdain for fans, in that they aren’t worth his time, attention, and their opinions don’t matter to him at all. ‘Let them.eat cake’, right? Fans, I agree, are growing to despise what Henry is *now.*
He was a great guy for the organization in the early oughts. But, we really have to wonder how much Larry was influencing things back then. Henry funded a Renaissance for Fenway with the upgrades – I’m not just talking the monster seats, I’m talking the grandstand upgrades, the new food concourse that opened, the new bars…. he did a lot for the park.and club when it was his focus.
But since he bought the other teams… they’re getting that attention and, while we’ve been spoiled by all those early oughts investments, not a lot has changed in the past decade or so for the better at the park. What was ‘new’now has an aged/faded feel to it. Last game I attended was monster seats, and, when we went the exclusive stuff you used to *only* be able to get at the stand up there and *only* if you had the monster seats tickets to get to it… gone, replaced by normal fare the rest of the park had.
That was perfect symbolism to me of attention being elsewhere. Like the shiny new toy that lost its luster and was replaced by other shinier, newer toys.
And that has fans I think genuinely beginning to hate him in the despise train of thought.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Boston Red Sox’ opening day starter!
His weight is (hopefully) at the Max.
the thing Henry does not like to do is revenue sharing. Why finish in last AND pay CBT penalties when you can finish last and not pay in?
FULL. THROTTLE!
DFA’d for Giolito soon.
Probably. Weiss or Llovera could go too
Red Sox spend $38 mil on starter.
Fans: What a waste of money!
Red Sox sign acquire pitching depth.
Fans: What a cheap organization!
Red Sox still spending about $200 mil minimum.
Fans: Red Sox aren’t spending enough!
Ellis, I hear you. That said, spending $38M on Giolito seems like a lot, given the performance question marks and the potential fit in Fenway. Spending $38M+ on Montgomery might have bothered me less. Taking a chance on a castoff from the Royals is, in isolation, not a terrible thing. In the context of Chaim’s passion for dumpster diving, Breslow’s “full throttle” comment, and an offseason that so far makes it look as though the Sox are far more focused on the long term than the short term, the Castillo signing is both too good of an opportunity for fans to tee off and a good reminder that fan is a truncation of fanatic. If spending millions more of someone else’s money is all that it takes to put a winning team in Fenway more than 81 times this year, I’m all for it.
Breslow never said “full throttle”. That was Tom Werner.
Ellis – A certain percentage of the contributors for every team just seek to see their words on a web page. You need to mute those people.
The true fans should comment on the quality of each move. For example, adding Giolito as a SP3 when you need a SP2 or SP1 is like adding Schwarber when we needed a pitcher. It’s not the player acquired is bad it’s the player acquired was a waste of money when you look at team needs. Was Giolito over paid like Devers, Story and Yoshida? The answer is YES ABSOLUTELY. Does that mean we don’t want ownership to spend money? ABSOLUTELY NOT. We just want them to spend the money on the people we actually need.
Does Boston clear over $300MM a year? Yes. Should they spend to the CAP? Yes to compete with others that do or go beyond that. Is spending $70MM a year on a 3B who can’t field, a LF who can’t field and a SS that can’t hit a wise use of the money? NO. So like many fans it’s not how much you spend it’s about how smart you spend. Bloom was an idiot when it came to spending. Breslow is maybe halfway between the idiot Bloom and the genius DD. Each new acquisition moves the needle towards Bloom or DD. The Sale deal cost Boston $17 and the use of Sale for a slightly above league average 2B who is under control for several years. To evaluate the trade one must ask if Sale is going to be our Best, Worse or middle of the road starter in 2024. If you believe he was going to be the worst then it’s a good deal even if Grissom never gets better. If you believe he was going to be the Best then it’s a bad deal since Grissom isn’t that much better than some other internal options costing the same or less. If it’s middle of the pack then it’s a pretty even trade.
I think $17MM is too much for Grissom since he’s not that much better than what we have in the minors. I also think it was bad timing since we are short on pitching right now. If Breslow gets out bid or can’t close any deals on SP1 or SP2 pitchers then you gave up our best potential pitcher for a 22 yr 2B which we had no urgent need for like pitching.
Read the opinions of individual contributors and mute those that only voice unfounded opinions and never say why they think what the think they just expect you to believe that they are right. That’s a lot of muting but it’s worth it!!
People who write comments like yours are more interesting. You pointed out a valid observation about the site and I agree with you.
Tf – Breslow’s move tells me a couple things:
1) he expected to decline Sale’s 2025 option anyways, and, thus also didn’t view him as a QO candidate.
2) he wants to get the rotation younger, and, get some growing pains and evaluation out of the way in ’24 while trying to fix the bloom-mess.
3) he, like myself, viewed 2024 as a bridge year to do a legitimate retooling on the fly.
For the cost I think Atlanta got a great deal. But, I think for Breslow it was also about getting to pick the piece he wanted playing the position he wanted, which, limits your trading partners.
Ellis – You forgot one:
Real Red Sox fans: “Stop spending money foolishly!”
Also, I forgot to add…
When trying to decide how much of an ‘overpay’ Giolito may appear to be based upon recent history you need to recall the concept of a pr!ck tax.
When I quote proces or contracts for work, if it’s something I really don’t want to do, I prepare my costs than add a penalty on top. Could be because someone is a d!ck, could be it’s just a job I don’t want, but, will do if someone is foolish enough. Whatever.
Well, with the quality of the roster bloom left behind, fan expectations in Noston after the last 4 seasons of ineptitude (short leashes and tempers), and, stories of how the old front office treated players – and a bunch of those guys remain, not to mention ownership being unchanged – you better be paying me not just higher, but, by a significant margin if I’m joining the current sh!tshow…
Through that lens it’s less an overpay than it first appears
GASox – Post of the Year, so very true!
The way players such as Xander and Mookie and Eovaldi were treated, the way Dombrowski and Bloom were treated, even the way Orsillo was treated, is all coming back to bite Henry in the ass.
Who are we going to have to trade to fit this players salary into the budget? No one wants to play for the Sox!
Chaim Breslow at it again with another stud pitcher.
Wouldn’t be surprising to see Castillo DFA’d again as soon as the Red Sox need another 40-man roster spot. They’ll hope he can pass through the rest of the teams so they can assign him to the minors. Ultimately, comes down to who they value more: Castillo or another player on the 40-man. Pretty common, though, to see players claimed and then DFA’d shortly as the team hopes to keep them without using a 40-man spot.
Rob – True, but not as common in the offseason.
Hopefully Llovera is gone, so Cora can’t use him to punish his boss again.
Just spent some time pouring through this guys stats at the MLB and the minors and it’s hard to find something to like. Maybe he’s been added so when Devers goes to the playground they don’t need two players on the other end of the teeter totter!! hahaha
Seriously, his WHIP bounces back and forth with his control. He’s giving up more than a hit an inning in the Venezuelan Winter League where SO SO many great players go in the winter (sarcasm).
Only conclusion that makes sense is Bloom called him with a tip!!
Even the worst winter league players there are probably better than Trevor Story.
Polyglot – Be fair. They all hit better but defense is not one of the strengths of the Venezuelan Winter League. It’s all about hitting since there aren’t many good pitchers there!!
Poly, the bat wasn’t there after a very short rehab stint for Story, but, look at his defensive numbers. 314 innings isn’t the biggest sample, but, it wasn’t out of line with his past abilities either.
Let’s see what the bat can do with a full offseason and ST. If by May he’s sub-mendoza, that will give something to think about. I’m hopeful he may be a comeback player of the year candidate.
GASox – Post of the Year! As everyone in America knows, I was strongly against the Story signing. If he starts 2024 strong offensively with one of his hot streaks, hopefully someone will take him off Boston’s hands and allow Mayer or Rafaela to play SS in the second half.
Looked at his stats FA in 2030. 2030? Sounds so far away and it’s just not.
I think we all will be better off if we just wait and see the finished product before the season starts. I have to believe that the new GM is taking a more Macro view instead of the micro view of a lot of commenters on this site. I am quite confident the payroll will be close to 230 million when the season starts. I think there are more transactions coming but at this point it’s very short sighted to complain on a move by move basis when none of us have an idea of vision of the new head guy. If the finished product looks like this at the start of the season then sure complain away. The new guy is obviously not afraid to make moves, it’s just a guess but I’m guessing Breslow has something else cooking perhaps with prospects for young controllable pitching. I get that the old guy didn’t seem to have any direction with the big club and seemed to focus on building the farm but Breslow seems different.
Let’s see how this all plays out I have a feeling we will be pleasantly surprised before the start of the season.
Bruin1012 – Same speech you used with Bloom!!! Again, how did that turn out? Blind faith is a nice trait when it’s given to someone who deserves it. Bloom never did and Breslow hasn’t done anything yet to suggest blind faith is a good approach.
I believe Breslow is reacting to guys “he likes” and then he will assemble them into a roster. That conflicts with standard operating procedure of identifying problems and eliminating them.
That’s why without a vision announced by Breslow, he is forcing a very shell shocked fan base to do the same thing they did for the guy that destroyed the roster.
You many buy into him but you should NOT criticize those that don’t. Burned once, it happens, burned twice shame on us.
Troll I’m not criticizing anyone I’m just simply stating this is not the finished product. It’s just a guess but trading Sale for a 2nd baseman makes a lot more sense if some prospects are on the move for a controllable young pitcher. Perhaps this is just the first domino to fall and we all look back with hind-site and understand. Imo it just makes sense to let the new guy show us what his macro vision is. I can’t believe this is the finished product and if it is well then I think we have a real ownership as well as a possible new POBO problem. I can’t stop anyone from criticizing but just think we might want to give the new guy a chance just a thought.
Bloom lost me completely in 2022 at the deadline when he went over the lux tax and appeared to not think he went over. I think that’s when he had some explaining and some eyes were raised with ownership. They should have got rid of him after the 2022 season imo. I think he was just doing his ownerships bidding before that and building the farm which I think he did a decently good job with. Breslow has inherited talent let’s see what he does with it.
Bruin – Post of the Year! Just like no reporter should make unwarranted assumptions prematurely in their quest to be first, we shouldn’t rush to assume the Sox have no good moves planned for the rest of the offseason.
And yes, I’ve been saying for over a year Bloom lost track of spending in 2022 and should have been canned after that season.
Storage wars or American pickers? eBay or Craigslist? Bloom or Breslow?
I wonder exactly what Breslow sees in this guy?
Fun – “Castillo still has less than a year of service time, giving the club plenty of cheap control if he takes a step forward”
Emphasis on “cheap”.
El Guapo!
(L)-as in “took the loss”, Whoppo.
This part of the “full throttle”?
Stocking up for a trade??
So now we should see Craig signing Montgomery & trading for Luzardo, signing Teo Hernandez & also picking up a lefty reliever!?! Maybe he will sign Claudio??
At this point he needs to put the pedal to the floor & get some ball players that will help this team.
I am usually a patient guy but enough is enough…get busy!!
Another bullseye for Spendlow Breslow. You got rid of Sale and signed a guy whose is a third starter at this point. You still need pitching. Right now this starting pitching staff is worse than last year. This guy was a waiver wire release. We are acting like paupers here.