The White Sox re-signed catcher Ramon Castro to a one-year, $1MM deal with a club option for 2011, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. MLB.com's Kelly Thesier says the deal pays $800K in 2010 and has a $1.2MM club option/$200K buyout for '11. She notes that the Sox designated catcher Cole Armstrong for assignment to make room for Castro.
Castro, 34 in March, was traded with cash by the Mets to the White Sox in May of '09 for Lance Broadway. Castro hit .219/.292/.406 in 171 plate appearances on the season, catching about 400 innings. A December 14th report that Castro signed with the Blue Jays proved to be inaccurate. The Padres were another club known to be interested in Castro. The backup catcher market still includes Brad Ausmus, Jose Molina, and Mike Redmond.
The White Sox have added over $29MM in new contracts this winter, acquiring/re-signing Mark Teahen, Juan Pierre, J.J. Putz, Mark Kotsay, Omar Vizquel, Freddy Garcia, Castro, Andruw Jones, and others.
Pierzynski and Flowers. Why do we need a 3rd?
You really wanted Flowers to be a backup catcher and stop developing? How does that make sense?
Especially since this is A.J.’s last year in his contract and if he improves more can be an affordable option at the plate and that is more money we can use to sign players next year.
I like this. I don’t think Castro is as bad as last season’s numbers suggest. Now Ozzie has a right-handed hitting catcher to complement A.J.
What are you talking about? Tyler Flowers is pushing this spring to even possibly start over Pierzynski this year and he’s a righty.
Calm down dude. It’s just an opinion.
Flowers is still only a prospect with very little major league experience. Signing a veteran to backup A.J. in case Flowers isn’t ready is not a bad idea.
I think you read it a lot angrier than I meant it. I said “What are you talking about?” not “What are you talking about?!?!?!”. I still don’t understand having 3 catchers on a team that has bullpen issues. Give that extra spot to Freddy Dolsi or some other bullpen guy.
The point is there won’t be three catchers on the roster. Flowers more likely than not will start the year in AAA. Unless he mashes in the spring and forces Kenny’s hand.
Flowers will not be competing for a starting job, why even think he will start over AJ, thats insane…..The plan since the end of the season has been to get a back up catcher and let flowers develop another year in the minors, we will see him at the end of the season when we add onto the roster. JUST like we did in 09
“Tyler Flowers is pushing this spring to even possibly start over Pierzynski this year and he’s a righty.”
Are you serious? The last thing we need is take another lefty out of the line up. On top of that A.J. was had the 3rd best AVG in the majors for a catcher.
There is nooooooo way that he was going to start at catcher in 2010 if A.J. is still on this club.
Flowers looks ready to take over as their starting catcher. While Pierzynski did hit .300 in 2009, his .330 OB was hit-fueled (he only had 5 more BB’s in 2009 than in 2008 when his OB was .312).
I am trying to see the logic where a guy who hit a combined .290 in AA and AAA is better than a guy who hit .300 in the majors. On top of that A.J. caught 30% more games than he did in 2009.
I still don’t see the logic in him being ready to take over. Let me know where you get that crack you have been smoking.
If we were to take your logic, then no prospect would ever be ready to be in the majors. Tyler Flowers is a top tier prospect. Between AA/AAA in 2009, Flowers posted a .423 OB, .516 SLG, and .939 OPS. Unlike most other catching prospects, he has pop now–which is pretty exciting. Sure, more seasoning couldn’t hurt, but it doesn’t mean if he wasn’t blocked by Pierzynski, that he wouldn’t be a serviceable major league catcher.
I am not saying that if we was not blocked by A.J. he wouldn’t be a serviceable catcher. There is just no way anyone can say that he is better than A.J. right now.
And even if Flowers was slightly better they would still let him develop which would increase his talent and they are paying A.J. anyways.
Yeah, I wasn’t saying that Pierzynski should be Flowers’ backup, but rather, if a) they were to trade Pierzynski or b) Pierzynski wasn’t in the picture for some reason, I think Flowers could step in and produce.
Yeah, I wasn’t saying that Pierzynski should be Flowers’ backup, but rather, if a) they were to trade Pierzynski or b) Pierzynski wasn’t in the picture for some reason, I think Flowers could step in and produce.
I am not saying that if we was not blocked by A.J. he wouldn’t be a serviceable catcher. There is just no way anyone can say that he is better than A.J. right now.
And even if Flowers was slightly better they would still let him develop which would increase his talent and they are paying A.J. anyways.
If we were to take your logic, then no prospect would ever be ready to be in the majors. Tyler Flowers is a top tier prospect. Between AA/AAA in 2009, Flowers posted a .423 OB, .516 SLG, and .939 OPS. Unlike most other catching prospects, he has pop now–which is pretty exciting. Sure, more seasoning couldn’t hurt, but it doesn’t mean if he wasn’t blocked by Pierzynski, that he wouldn’t be a serviceable major league catcher.
I am trying to see the logic where a guy who hit a combined .290 in AA and AAA is better than a guy who hit .300 in the majors. On top of that A.J. caught 30% more games than he did in 2009.
I still don’t see the logic in him being ready to take over. Let me know where you get that crack you have been smoking.
Flowers isn’t going to break with the big club unless he has a huge spring and looks like a DH option. It doesn’t make sense for him to be a backup when he should be getting regular ABs.
Agreed, I wouldn’t mind them having him start in AAA for maybe a month and if he’s tearing it up, bring him up to DH. That is, if we don’t sign a DH.
Agreed, I wouldn’t mind them having him start in AAA for maybe a month and if he’s tearing it up, bring him up to DH. That is, if we don’t sign a DH.
jermaine dye could wind up coming back to chicago if his market continues to shrink. platoon him and quentin in RF.
and DH. Personally id prefer Damon in right batting in the 2-hole.
Wow, 29 million on that list of players? That is kind of stunning. That is a list of replacement level players with very little upside. (Outside maybe Putz)
Yes KW has not really impressed this offseason. You could make an arguement that he did much of his work in the fall (Rios & Peavy). The starting pitching is going to have to be really good because there offense may be even worse than last year – and it was bad last year.
Yes KW has not really impressed this offseason. You could make an arguement that he did much of his work in the fall (Rios & Peavy). The starting pitching is going to have to be really good because there offense may be even worse than last year – and it was bad last year.
The Roman Castro trade was pointless and stupid. We lost out on that!
How? Lance Broadway did nothing for the Mets and then got released…
He barely got a chance too. Check out his winter ball stats.
I agree. Castro sucks! Glad we got rid of him. Broadway is still young and full of potential.
Well anybody could have had Broadway after the mets non tendered him. He signed a minor league deal with the Bluejays in December.
Well anybody could have had Broadway after the mets non tendered him. He signed a minor league deal with the Bluejays in December.
I agree. Castro sucks! Glad we got rid of him. Broadway is still young and full of potential.
He barely got a chance too. Check out his winter ball stats.
hahaha wow 29 million on those guys, plus another 60 on rios. great job KW.
$29 Million is the contract totals. Not $29 million just for 2009. I really don’t think he could have done a much better job with the money available and the type of free agents.
JJ Putz for 1yr/3m > Brandon Lyon 3yr/15m
Juan Pierre 2yr/8m > Mark Derosa 2yr/12m (especially since we only pay 3m in 2009)
Freddy Garcia 1yr/1m > Brett Myers 1yr/5.1m
Andruw Jones 1yr/500k – How can you argue with that?
All the other signings are pretty much ok, not great, but ok.
Exactly, alot of people here think we dropped around $29 in this years salaries for all these players. Even without alot of upside most of these signings are relatively low cost/low-medium upside signings besides extending Teahen which I didn’t really understand. Williams probably didn’t have the greatest off season but saw this free agent crop for what it was and didn’t want to invest heavy money in this group of players. With the several players he probably did like (Figgins, Matsui, etc) apparently not fitting into his budget.
Exactly, alot of people here think we dropped around $29 in this years salaries for all these players. Even without alot of upside most of these signings are relatively low cost/low-medium upside signings besides extending Teahen which I didn’t really understand. Williams probably didn’t have the greatest off season but saw this free agent crop for what it was and didn’t want to invest heavy money in this group of players. With the several players he probably did like (Figgins, Matsui, etc) apparently not fitting into his budget.
$29 Million is the contract totals. Not $29 million just for 2009. I really don’t think he could have done a much better job with the money available and the type of free agents.
JJ Putz for 1yr/3m > Brandon Lyon 3yr/15m
Juan Pierre 2yr/8m > Mark Derosa 2yr/12m (especially since we only pay 3m in 2009)
Freddy Garcia 1yr/1m > Brett Myers 1yr/5.1m
Andruw Jones 1yr/500k – How can you argue with that?
All the other signings are pretty much ok, not great, but ok.
this move is simply to delay arbitration for Flowers (and thus save some $ down the line). Flowers will start at AAA and be up after a couple of months.
this move is simply to delay arbitration for Flowers (and thus save some $ down the line). Flowers will start at AAA and be up after a couple of months.
wow people need to chill – catcher is not just about hitting. Having the same guy back who has experience in working with our staff is invaluable. I think we owe our management the trust and respect they deserve. They know what they are doing. And to think that Quentin, Rios, and Teahan are not going to improve over last year’s batting stats….?!?!?!?!?
wow people need to chill – catcher is not just about hitting. Having the same guy back who has experience in working with our staff is invaluable. I think we owe our management the trust and respect they deserve. They know what they are doing. And to think that Quentin, Rios, and Teahan are not going to improve over last year’s batting stats….?!?!?!?!?
There is no chance of Tyler Flowers making the team this year. ANYONE who saw him attempt to play catcher last year would never confuse him with a MLB player.
There is no chance of Tyler Flowers making the team this year. ANYONE who saw him attempt to play catcher last year would never confuse him with a MLB player.
the giants should’ve signed him…? now what catchers r there
lemme chek the free agent list
It makes sense to sign castro as a back up and keep flowers in the minors 1 more year so the sox can keep him under team control for another year. Do u really want to lose fully developed flowers a year early after 2015 rather than keep him one extra year just so he can back up pierzynski? I dont. Let him catch most every game for Charlotte this year and then be ready to dominate next year with the bat and the glove
i really wanted the cubs to sign castro cuase i think he could competre with geovany soto for the starting job
christ.. no one cares.
Maybe Flowers will be part of a package to get Adrian Gonzalez.
God help the White Sox if A.J. gets hurt. Flowers is not ready and Castro couldn’t hit a bull in the ass with a banjo.
I rather have Redmond, Molina or even Ausmus than Castro.
I really hope he can hit this year. I wish they would have been able to get Blanco because Castro really looked horrible with the bat. I know he is a back up but it seems that we could have found someone better. Hopefully Flowers tears it up this year so they wont pick up that option next year.
at 1.2m? i doubt it, whether flowers hits or not. aj’s contract is over after this season.
even ozzie doesn’t have the balls to start castro 120+ games.