Reds sign OF Nicholas Castellanos to four-year deal

[GAC]

The increase in offense from Winker to Cast is not nearly the bang you could get by replacing Barnhart or Galvis. That's where you can make hay. After Shogo, Winker, Senzel, Aqunio, you're already covered offensively in the OF

I look at it more "collectively"...what the combined effort (improvement) these additions will bring to offensive production. Not "resting" on one, or even two, players shoulders. IMO, it will be improved.

It's obvious the Reds have been looking at the catcher position ever since they showed interest in Realmuto. Then interest rose with Gandal as he opted out in Milwaukee. It didn't happen, and I'm really not that "upset" over it. Grandal will be 32 after this next season, and plays a very physical demanding position. I have no problems with the Sox paying him a $18.25M/year for the next four years. Would the Reds have had to top that to get him? No thanks.

The Braves signed what was considered one of the top FA catchers in Travis d’Arnaud (age 31) (2 yrs/$16M). He spent 7 years with the Mets and put up a slash-line of .242/.307/.719. We got that from Casali last year, plus a .741 OPS. Barnhart struggled offensively for sure. But was it because of an oblique injury that later shelved him for a month? Because he came back with a vengeance..... .315/.411/.522 (mid July-end of August). That version of Tucker Barnhart can play on my team every day.

I think the Reds can do fine with Barnhart/Casili behind the plate for now. Especially from calling the game (defensive) standpoint.

We know the Reds are going to have to answer the SS question here some time this season because Galvis is a FA after '20. Not impressed with him. Galvis is the type of player one looks at and kind of shrugs his shoulders and goes UHH. He'll do until some thing better is found.

Looks like the Orioles have reached a 1 yr deal with SS Iglesias for $3M. Yeah, I'd rather have Jose at SS over Galvis. And while they had no way of knowing this, they could have saved $2.5M too LOL

[JFLegal]

they really would have saved just $1.5 million (because there was a $1M buyout for galvis) but i agree with your point. i would rather have iglesias than galvis.

what i really want though is a difference maker at shortstop. and i think the reds will deliver one.

[Ron Madden]

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@ctrent
Here's the thing about Castellanos' opt-out and why it could be good for everyone:
• If Castellanos chooses FA (he probably had a good year), the Reds make the QO.
• If he takes it he basically gets same salary on shorter deal.
• If he declines, Reds get a pick

[Griffey012]

Yeah, Schebler would be the one to go. Even if Siri doesn't hit much, he still would have value in L'Ville as a near GG-level emergency reserve CF & PR at the very least. Keep him for the duration unless somebody offers something for him straight-up or as part of a package.

If the Reds get to the point where Jose Siri needs to be called up to the bigs, they better be making a trade or signing some washed up veteran FA. As many others have pointed out, Siri just can’t hit. Even the likes of Lewis Brinson hit well at AA/AAA before.

[REDREAD]

I am pleasantly surprised the Reds pulled this off.
For the record, I approve this deal.

The "opt outs" are a little bit annoying though. Still, pretty low risk that an OF has a career ending/altering injury. If the only downside is that the 3rd and 4th year he's playing below what his pay is.. I am ok with that to "go for it" this year.. Note, this is not criticizing the move.

[redsfandan]

Question for the baseball minds. How do you feel overall about this contract. Does this work out to be a 1 year deal if he produces incrementally better than his overall year last year? If he is on par with last years production, is the feel on this board he would stay in the contract? There position player free agent market appears to be strong next year which may benefit us with this deal. Just wanted to see thoughts from the board on this.

I think he may stay regardless of how he and the team do. How much he likes Cincinnati will matter.

[REDREAD]

The interesting thing about the QO, is if he doesn't have an absolute monster season, an MVP caliber season, the QO will likely put him back to exactly where he was yesterday. Maybe even in a worse position than he was yesterday.

Its an interesting structure to a contract where it puts power in the players hands after one year, but that decision can have serious consequences unless the player far outperforms his projections.

Not really though.. the penalty for signing a free agent with a QO is not nearly as severe as it once was.
Clubs that get revenue sharing lose their 3rd pick (not 3rd round, 3rd pick)... Teams without revenue sharing lose their 2nd and 5th picks.. That's not going to deter any club from signing Castillanos if he has a monster year and the market is healthy http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/qualifying-offer

Under the old rules, losing your first round pick was a big deal. Under the new rules, the pick loss is not that big of a deal.


Here's how the compensation works (Same link)

The Draft-pick compensation is also based on the financial status of the free agent's former team.

If a free agent who rejected a qualifying offer signs a contract that is worth at least a guaranteed $50 million in total value, and his previous club is one of the teams that receives revenue sharing, said club will be given a compensatory pick immediately following Round 1 in the next year's Draft. If such a club loses a free agent for a contract worth less than a guaranteed $50 million in total value, the club will receive a compensatory pick after Competitive Balance Round B (which follows the second round).

[REDREAD]

That’a exactly why I care about next year and beyond.

I don’t want the last 20 years of no playoff wins, and the last five years of sucking result in one good year, then 20 more years of futility.

But let's be honest 757690... what happens in 2020 and 2021 really has no bearing on the future.
It all depends on ownership's desire to win.
Ownership did not care about winning for about 5 years, so we sucked.
Now they care about winning, so we will be good, at least for 1-2 years.

Having or not having Senzel, Aquino, Greene, Lodollo, etc really isn't the thing that moves the needle.
We can keep all of them and still stink in the future if ownership is not commited to winning.
Likewise, we can trade them all this year, and if ownership wants to field a good team in 2014, they can make it happen.

That's why I no longer care about holding prospects as much. Sure, I pull for them to do well, but in today's game, you just can't build a contending team from the farm. You need an ownership willing to spend money. If you don't have an ownership wanting to win, it makes no difference how good your farm is.

[REDREAD]

Who to drop from the 40? Assuming no trade happens before Cast signs, we have too many outfielders. If we keep Senzel, the guys who are capable of playing some CF are Shogo, Senzel, Jankowski, Siri and Schebler.

If I could go back in time I wouldn't sign Jankowski.

I would DFA (in order) Jankowski, Siri, Schebler.

If Reds secretly know they are trading Senzel I might put Siri first.

I also think Romano should be considered but Reds seem to like him more than I.

My guess is that a position player will be dropped.
Romano is a bad pitcher, but the Reds need bodies for the bullpen.
I hope there's some moves for more relief pitching, but if there is not, I expect Romano to make an appearance in Cincy sometime in 2020 (unfortunately).

[DocRed]

I am pleasantly surprised the Reds pulled this off.
For the record, I approve this deal.

The "opt outs" are a little bit annoying though. Still, pretty low risk that an OF has a career ending/altering injury. If the only downside is that the 3rd and 4th year he's playing below what his pay is.. I am ok with that to "go for it" this year.. Note, this is not criticizing the move.

I'm OK with the opt outs at this point since we will likely get a Comp A draft pick out of it. I also think it's very possible that Castellanos would accept a QO as well since teams have shown their reticence to give up draft picks to sign free agents. After what happened last year with Keuchel and Kimbrel I think Agents are now advising their clients to take the QO to get that off their books ala Abreu and Odorizzi this year.

[DocRed]

Live pressor on TV and below now...

Couple takeaways...Dick Williams is really tall and Scott Boras is really old (plus I was wondering why Les Miles was on the stage for a second).

https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/nick-c...oduced-by-reds

[Phoenix2]

Boras must be insanely rich.

[TRF]

I'm wondering. Regardless of whether Siri clears waivers or not, he's at a similar crossroads in his career that Aquino was last year. Now he does not have all the same events, but he does have a few. If he clears waivers, he's likely slated for AAA, so he'll be hitting the same ball used in MLB. Now, why that ball is not used at EVERY level is weird to me, apparently it is not, and he'll likely see a bump in power because of it. He's confronting the idea he is no longer worth a 40 man roster spot. He's in an analytics/sports science based development system.

He has everything to gain, nothing to lose. And he's a plus defender in CF. He's a year and a third younger than Aquino. With Siri, like Aquino it isn't about the tools. They have those in abundance. It's about development and the ability to adapt. The Reds have adapted their development programs, and Aquino seems to have embraced that. Can Siri? Who knows, but it's real curious that the Reds opted to keep a 27 year old with 62 Career HR's, 30 of which came last year in a season in the PCL unlike every other season he's had. He's not going to stick on the 26 man, so the Reds should have just offered him back, unless they know something more than what the numbers say.

[DocRed]

Boras must be insanely rich.

For a second I thought he was the owner

[JaxRed]

Siri had 100 at bats in AAA with the major league ball. He hit no homers. And batted .186