AUG. 9: The Yankees are ready to begin negotiating with Castillo, who worked out at their minor league complex Friday, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. The Yankees would want to use Castillo as a second baseman, with the outfield as a backup plan, King writes.
AUG. 6:Â While touring Wrigley Field on vacation, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith learned that the Cubs held a private workout for Castillo today (Twitter link).
AUG. 3: Castillo’s workout for the Mariners has been postponed and is expected to be rescheduled, tweets Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN.
JULY 29: Castillo, who worked out for the Phillies today, has set up a private workout with the Mariners on Sunday as well, reports MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (on Twitter). His one-on-one workout with the Red Sox is still set for Friday.
JULY 28, 8:29pm: Ben Badler of Baseball America writes that the Yankees indeed have a private workout scheduled with Castillo.
7:33pm:Â General Manager Jeff Luhnow says the Astros may schedule a one-on-one workout with Castillo, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com.
7:24pm:Â A source tells Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (on Twitter) that only the Phillies (on Tuesday) and the Red Sox (Friday) have private workouts set up with Castillo. Â However, private workouts are in the works for the Yankees and other clubs.
Unsurprisingly, the Twins are not among the teams looking to line up a workout with Castillo, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. Â Minnesota likes Castillo, but the expected asking price is too rich for their blood.
3:11pm:Â Reports indicated that 28 of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams were represented at Rusney Castillo’s showcase over the weekend, and Ben Badler of Baseball America has the latest on the 27-year-old Cuban free agent. Castillo will have private workouts with the Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies this coming week, and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets that the Orioles are also arranging a private workout.
Badler lists the White Sox, Mariners, Giants, Blue Jays, Cubs and Braves as other potential suitors. Because multiple teams have interest in getting a deal worked out quickly, however, there aren’t likely to be any further private workouts before a deal gets done, Badler writes. Additionally, Badler has posted some video footage from Castillo’s weekend showcase.
Multiple sources indicated to Badler that the Red Sox had the largest contingent on-hand Saturday for Castillo’s showcase. He notes that Jackie Bradley has more upside at the plate, and Mookie Betts might factor in as a corner outfield option in the long-term due to the presence of Dustin Pedroia, but Boston could be intrigued by Castillo as a corner option as well. He did play right field in Cuba, Badler adds.
The Yankees, meanwhile, could weigh the possibility of trying Castillo at second base, though they could have a corner spot open alongside Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner as well. Castillo played second base (and some third base) back in 2009-10, but scouts at the showcase weren’t overly impressed with his glovework as an infielder.
Center field is Castillo’s best position, Badler writes, so it stands to reason that the Phillies could view him as an upgrade over the light-hitting Ben Revere. Playing Castillo in center field allows him to maximize his best tool — 70-grade speed.
While the White Sox are very well-versed in the Cuban market — as evidenced by the presence of Jose Abreu, Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo on their roster — the presence of countrymen on their roster won’t influence Castillo, Badler hears. His decision will come down to financial terms.
Badler adds that the Giants also had a very strong presence at Castillo’s showcase, and he makes sense for them as their system has thinned following a trade for Jake Peavy and their continued interest in Ben Zobrist. The Cubs also had “a team” of evaluators on-hand to witness Castillo, who would bolster an already enviable crop of hitting prospects.
Michael 22
Jackie Bradley has more upside at the plate than Castillo? That ain’t good.
Stonehands
JBJ has actually been hitting over the last month or so, I don’t know if it will last, but it has to be a postive sign
LazerTown
I have heard this numerous times this year. .207/.218/.425 isn’t anything to write about.
Anthony Cunningham
Amen here. I figured this must be a misprint (more upside in the field?). Bradley was hitting much better, but then went into an 0-21 with 10 K stretch. So yes, if Bradley has a higher ceiling, then Castillo must have a pretty low one at this point.
stl_cards16
The way Bradley has hit so far has nothing to do with his ceiling.
Knockdown
Total side note but I went back and read the comments two years ago when the dodgers signed Puig. A lot of people laughing at the dodgers scouting dept. and a lot of claims that Puig would only be half of what cespesdes and Jorge soler would be.
One of the few guys who logically looked at the whole situation was the user above me. Tip of the cap to you sir.
stl_cards16
Heh. Thanks, that seems like so long ago. Maybe I’ve been around too long.
bobbybaseball
As usual, the Cubs are kicking the tires, but they won’t buy if the price gets too high.
Bob Bunker
Yeah like Soler?
bobbybaseball
I think he will cost more. But good point.
Tko11
Go get em Sox!! Seems like he had an off year last year but still put up a decent OBP. Ohh and he can also pull a car in case anyone’s battery dies.
karkat
Players who were good and then had off years are our favorite players to get. Sometimes they even end up being good again. Sometimes.
Lefty_Orioles_Fan
Hey, I thought Red Sox Types and their Car Batteries NEVER fail! =P
SFGiantsfan_10
Please Sabean, go out and get this guy. I know you’ve signed Carbonell already and all so you’re probably done with int. free agents, but I feel like this guy can be a good player, or at very least hold down the fort when Pagan gets hurt again. (Spoiler: he will next season)
tesseract
Jeter farewell tour or Castillo welcoming tour?
TheReturnOfMrBlanks
Padres new GM should make a push to get him, all we need are bats.
schaddy24
Great to see he was having a workout in Wrigley. An 2015 opening day outfield of Rusney, Alcantara, and Soler would be a huge step up over what we have now.
bigbadjohnny
Cubs sneaking in……team up with Soler…….very possible.
i'm me ..
the Astros have loads of money to spend. he would fit with the youth movement in Houston and that quest for the World Series in 2017
Eric deCaro
JBJ is not close to Castillo offensively from what the experts say. JBJ is a 4th outfielder and/or a defensive replacement. This guy has a chance to be stud. The Sox absolutely need to go after this guy. They miss out on way too many good to great international players. I
Zac R.
The Red Sox don’t really need him especially if their scouts don’t believe he’ll be an all-star type player. They just got Craig & Cespedes to go along with JBJ who can’t hit yet but plays a stellar defense. Also our top prospect in Mookie Betts looks like a good candidate to play the outfield as well.
baseball52
“None of these Cuban guys can play second base.”
“We’ll teach one of them.”
“Which one?”
VAR
It seems like the Yankees should maybe try something crazy. Like signing an actual second baseman to play second base for their team. It may just work.
Frittoman626
Drew has played a good 2nd base, so who cares if he isn’t a real 2nd basemen?
VAR
Drew is a phenomenal defender, and not an outfielder. And he’s what like the fourth guy you’ve played there this season and the first one to stick? Not really a great track record for converting players to second base.
Stratocaster
Not as if there have been a lot of options. They played Brian Roberts there most of the season, and he was awful. I expect they’ll bring in guys to compete with Refsnyder in spring training.
cscd1111
I want to be this kids agent I have no experience but with big market teams slobbering at this kids feet experience will not be necessary.
East Coast Bias
Look at my boy BNS working while on vacation.