Cubs Designate Erick Castillo, Tyler Payne For Assignment
The Cubs have designated catchers Erick Castillo and Tyler Payne for assignment, as relayed by Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (Twitter link). Additionally, Johneshwy Fargas, Tyler Ladendorf and Joe Biagini — each of whom were selected to the majors as COVID-19 replacements — have been removed from the 40-man roster and returned to Triple-A Iowa.
Castillo and Payne are both longtime organizational veterans who got late-season cameos with Willson Contreras dealing with a hip issue. Both 28-year-olds got their first big league calls in the last week of the regular season, with Castillo picking up a couple of hits. Neither player was regarded as a high-level prospect and neither has a strong offensive track record in the minors. It’s not surprising they were removed from the roster rather quickly, then, although both did at least get into an MLB game.
Both Castillo and Payne will go on waivers in the coming days. Should they pass through unclaimed, they’d each have the right to elect minor league free agency as players with seven-plus seasons of minor league experience. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either player re-sign with the Cubs on a minors pact for 2022, as they’ve each only played in the Chicago organization throughout their pro careers.
Fargas, Ladendorf and Biagini are all soon to become minor league free agents themselves. That trio was brought up at the end of the year while the Cubs dealt with coronavirus spread in the clubhouse. Players selected as COVID replacements needn’t be passed through waivers to be removed from the 40-man, although they’ll all have the requisite minor league service time to test the open market this winter anyhow.
Cubs Select Erick Castillo
The Cubs are selecting catcher Erick Castillo to the big league roster, the team informed reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). Fellow backstop Austin Romine is headed to the COVID-19 injured list in a corresponding move.
Castillo is an organizational veteran, having joined the Cubs as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela during the 2010-11 international signing period. He has spent the past decade-plus climbing the minor league ranks, and he’ll be rewarded for his perseverance with his first major league call at age-28.
The right-handed hitting Castillo has never appeared on an organizational prospects list at either FanGraphs or Baseball America. That’s largely thanks to a general lack of production at the plate. Over nine minor league seasons, Castillo owns a .212/.281/.264 line with six home runs. He’s a .197/.288/.236 hitter in brief action over parts of three Triple-A campaigns. Clearly, Castillo won’t bring much power potential to the plate, but he’s generally done well to put the ball in play throughout his professional tenure. He’ll be on hand to back up Willson Contreras over the season’s final four games.