9:52pm: The Tigers expect Castellanos to miss a minimum of four weeks, according to manager Brad Ausmus (Twitter link via Beck). As a result, Castellanos will go to the DL and McGehee will take his place on the Tigers’ roster, tweets Beck.
9:16pm: The Tigers anticipate a three- to four-week absence for Castellanos, reports FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). Toledo pulled McGehee out of its lineup in the wake of Castellanos’ injury, per Jason Beck of MLB.com, so it appears he’ll head to Detroit.
8:23pm: In what could be a blow to the Tigers’ playoff hopes, third baseman Nick Castellanos left the team’s game against the Mets on Saturday with a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal of his left hand, tweets Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. Castellanos sustained the injury when Mets righty Logan Verrett hit him in the hand with a fifth-inning pitch.
Castellanos, 24, has cooled down offensively over the past couple months, but he has still slashed an easily above-average .286/.331/.500 with 18 home runs in 432 plate appearances. Those numbers represent a breakout for the formerly well-regarded prospect, who hit .254/.304/.407 in a combined 1,174 PAs from 2014-15. Castellanos also struggled mightily at third in each of those seasons, which has continued this year. Among FanGraphs’ 20 qualifying third basemen, Castellanos ranks 18th in Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-6.8) and dead last in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-10). Still, given his nearly league-minimum salary of $536,500, Castellanos’ work at the dish this year has provided the postseason-contending Tigers significant surplus value.
While it’s unknown how much time Castellanos will miss, a stint on the disabled list seems like a strong possibility. That would leave the Tigers with Mike Aviles and Andrew Romine as fill-in options on their 25-man roster, and they also have longtime major leaguer Casey McGehee in Triple-A Toledo, as their depth chart shows. Castellanos is far superior to the three of them, though, and the fact that he’s now hurt after the non-waiver trade deadline passed only adds to Detroit’s misfortune. If the Tigers search for third base help via the trade market this month, it’s worth noting that the Athletics’ Danny Valencia rates highly on MLBTR’s Steve Adams’ list of the top 20 August trade candidates.
Oh Great! Another opportunity to keep Mike Aviles in the lineup. Please get healthy fast, Nick! McGee is not the answer. So glad JD is back, just in time.
Curious who’s on waivers for 3B. Castellanos has only been a little above average, especially with his okay defense. I feel like he can be easily replaced (no hard feeling Castellanos).
Little above average? What part of 18/52/286 is slightly above average?
Not sure if it’s pure coincidence, but David Freese was taken out of tonights game and wasn’t seen on the bench.
Freese according to game recap was removed due to elbow discomfort
Michael Fulmer for Yunel Escobar
Sounds solid
No.
Not sure Tigers would trade Fulmer for ANYONE at this point.
Yea I was joking. They would be stupid to. All the rage these days is controllable young starting pitcher and that is exactly what he is
He also could just be the AL Rookie of the Year !!
Noooooooooo. They were finally healthy and now Nick is hurt. That stinks
Uribe?
Headley? (Yankees pay most of his salary)
Kung Fu Panda? (Red Sox pay most of his salary)
What else?
Isn’t Sandoval out for the year?
Danny Valencia,Trevor Plouffe(if he returns healthy and not rusty),Yunel Escobar or they could try to bring back Brandon Inge!!
Good catch. I could see Freese being moved.
Kung fu Panda has eaten himself out of the league.
Love Uribe but don’t think Tribe will deal with the Tigers at this point.
Solarte
Uribe DFA’d and hitting .200 wasn’t he?
Could this be what the Yankees press conference with A-Rod tomorrow is all about? (Sorry. What else to do but try to laugh when you want to cry. Come on Casey!)
A-Rod to the Tigers please. If nothing else, he would provide entertainment and some pop to the lineup. If the Yankees release him, he is still better than McGehee or Aviles at this point.
But hasen’t played 3B in a while.
If Saturday’s defensive lapses by Aviles is any indication we need to go get a 3B replacement ASAP. Why is Aviles even here? He can’t field, he can’t run and he certainly can’t hit. Why wasn’t Romine in yesterday? We need two 3B. One to replace Nick and one to replace Aviles. How good would Rajai Davis look in LF instead of that overpaid bum Upton?
Aviles is here because we need a utility guy, Aviles can play LF, RF, SS, 2B, 3B, and CF if necessary, notice I never said well, but he can play those positions and has before.
I’m a big fan of Romine, he can play all 9 positions, (hell hes pitched) he’s also a great guy, a decent base runner and hitting .222 which isn’t great but for a sparse player but it’s good for him and growing
And J-UP isn’t a bum he’s just playing in a non HR friendly park like Chase, this was evident in Petco, if he can’t hit home runs then he’s not much use in the average category.
Adonis Garcia of the braves? He might maki it to the Tigers.