Tigers right fielder Nicholas Castellanos has hired the Boras Corporation to represent him moving forward, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports (Twitter link). The chance in representation comes just months before he’s slated to become a free agent for the first time.
Castellanos, 27, was previously represented by SportsMeter, making the switch an interesting one. SportsMeter and the Boras Corporation are the two agencies representing the game’s top two unsigned free agents in Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel, respectively. Boras Corp is obviously among the game’s largest agencies and has a longer track record, though both outfits in this equation had some misses this offseason. In addition to the fact that Keuchel remains unsigned, both Martin Maldonado and Gio Gonzalez have left Boras Corp in the past month due to apparent unhappiness with their own open-market experiences.
[RELATED: MLBTR Agency Database]
That said, there are certainly some parallels between Castellanos and another prominent Boras client: J.D. Martinez. Beyond the fact that both have patrolled right field at Comerica Park, each is a defensively challenged slugger. Bat-only players have not been in particularly high demand of late, so a relatively limited market is to be expected. Castellanos can’t match Martinez’s track record at the plate, but he will have age on his side; the former will be selling his services beginning with his age-28 season, whereas the latter didn’t become a free agent until he’d already turned 30. That’s not to say that anyone should expect a $100MM+ contract for Castellanos in free agency, but the fact that the Boras Corporation has successfully brokered a sizable contract for a player with a similar skill set quite likely held some appeal in this case.
There is still nearly a full season left for Castellanos to demonstrate some improvements in his glovework. The DRS grading system has smiled upon his efforts thus far, though UZR remains unmoved. If he can prove himself to be even a palatable performer in right field, the slate of potential suitors might expand appreciably. Clubs with interest in the bat will surely have their scouts take a close look to see whether — and for how long — Castellanos can be trusted on the outfield grass.
here we fing gooo…
Gio about to yell at him on twitter
This doesn’t seem like a smart move considering his player profile and the recent market.
youtube.com/watch?v=IoyvvEWHodk
wat.
Means he’s leaving Detroit, if he wasn’t before.
My intentions are pure, Kayrall; Im trying 2 be funny. I’m not as funny as you, but I can try 😉
Anyway as the # posters here increase, you a great constant. Big fan.
-x (hope Im successful in gettin my ac back ;-(
Thanks
You won’t be.
He just left the guy who repped albies for his extension…..Also reps Kimbrel. You could make some anti-Boras arguments but I can already give you some anti sports meter arguments without the list of successes.
first the fing
#letthespioldrottenbratsplay
now a guy that should be thankful vs arrogant…nick…bra….bad move
Go back to the 70’s, Stu.
People didn’t want to trade for him so joining Boras means he is the most expensive Happy Meal in the steak house.
Double LOL!
That’s a perfect analogy
So good.
Wait… MLBTR was saying Castellanos was “unplayable” as a RFer. Unplayable, yet he has played 14 of his 15 games in RF. Oh, they also said Cabrera was blocking his play as DH…. Cabrera has played 10 games at DH. That leaves 7 games where someone else was dh’ing. MLBTR should just be MLB-Make Sht Up.
Prob shouldn’t take “unplayable” so literal, it means “probably shouldn’t be playing that guy there, but sure go ahead if you want bad defense”, which is what Castellanos is. Dude is probably a 1B, he might have a better path to employment if he played there and mashed.
Thank you!
I don’t know exactly what you are referring to, but obviously the Tigers can play whomever they please wherever they like. And loads of unqualified players have been thrown into the outfield before. It’s a question of how much pain you’re willing to incur on defense … much like you have to suffer through issues at the plate to get Billy Hamilton’s glove and legs.
That said, Castellanos’s track record in the outfield is well-established and exceedingly poor. We haven’t been wrong to point to that. Maybe he’s able to improve? We’ll see. If not, it’s a massive factor in his market outlook.
To be fair. He was drafted as a SS. Brought up as a 3B. Played last year in RF, his first as an OF in probably his entire life. He was abhorrent last year, but let the guy get acclimated before saying he’s unplayable somewhere after 175 games.
Forgot 2017 post trade deadline. 225 games.
Michael Morse was a SS as well … bodies and assessments can change, I guess. Castellanos actually had plenty of time in the outfield before last year. Saying “unplayable” is obviously not literally true, but by the metrics he was more or less the worst defensive player in baseball last year.
When MLBTR was talking about Castellanos being unplayable, they were saying the Tigers had to trade him to an AL club… pretty sure you guys meant unplayable when you said it.
Wasn’t Bryce Harper worse? Isn’t Nick doing better this year? He improved last year also. Could he be trending toward being a mediocre RF? Or does everyone need to focus on the negative?
If he wore a Yankee jersey you guys would be drooling over him. How many DH’s do they have? Stanton? Andujar? Sanchez? Frazier? Voit? Ford?
If he wore the pinstripes, he’d be Jeter albeit a better hitter and defender. Was Manny being Manny hitting his CF as a cutoff unplayable? There are soooooo many bats that play up to mlb when the gloves don’t. Morse, being one. Castellanos is learning the entire concept. Put Alex Gordon in CF and see what happens.
P.S. Love the site and the discourse it enables. Not hating at all, just differing opinions.
He also played outfield quite a bit in the minors because they thought he was gonna be blocked by miggy for third base. Then when miggy moved back to first castellanos was able to move back to third. However he had multiple years in the minors to work on the outfield, not to mention a full year and a half in the majors. I’d say it’ll be pretty tough for him to improve much more on his outfield defense
51 games at Erie in 2012, and 130 games at Toledo in 2013. .980 and .987 fielding, respectively. other than the fall league and a handful of games here and there. When contrasted with his entire career, I would not call this playing the outfield “quite a bit”.
He only played part of one minor league season in the OF before getting called up. He has been learning in the pros. Miggy was already playing 1b until he moved back to 3b because they signed Fielder. Until that surprise, Miggy was not blocking him.
Exactly, “unplayable” is not a very good word to use. Don’t recall Bryce Harper (worst UZR rating in baseball) being called that. If you can hit, people look past that. Having the “pleasure” of watching Nick every game, he is getting better in RF. People have learned not to run on him. Helps having Jacoby Jones in CF
I for one, enjoy the site. I’m certainly getting my money’s worth. It’s pointless attempting to defend yourself for someone who will never get it, Mr. Todd. Anyone who has played the game understands the nature of the post. Others may only be rustling leaves defending a player they hold in high esteem. If Castellanos was a personal favorite, I could see where the comments could sting. I’d like to think that we are all mature enough here not to make things personal but I seem to be proven wrong on a daily basis.
Thanks Jeff! You got it!
Agree Jeff. Some people just take a word, like Unplayable and run it to the furthest literal sense. It’s crazy.
Manny Ramirez played LF for years as a terrible outfielder. Jose Canseco played LF and RF as the same. Mark Reynolds was as bad as it gets playing 3b and he did it for a WHILE.. Adam Dunn wasn’t exactly graceful playing the OF either.
Playing people in the field is a necessity in one of the leagues in order to get the bat into play people.. Until the DH is implemented MLB-wide.
See above….
Nick is +1 OAA so far this year and Bryce Harper, who was worse than Nick last year, is already a -2. You could keep current on the stats instead of simply repeating the same tired take.
Dumbest comment 2019???
When you say unplayable I don’t expect you to mean a player who is among the leaders at his position in fielding percentage and assists. He obviously has issues with recognition from having only played one season in his life in the outfield and that not in right. He also must have positioning problems from inexperience and bad defensive coaching last year. That doesn’t make him unplayable. I’m sure the Boros team will be able to clear this misconception up.
Who wants to bet he still will be unemployed in May 2020?
He will sign… He won’t have a draft pick attached. No way the Tigers offer him almost $20 mil for one year.
Tigers most likely WILL make Nick a QO. Not only have they been operating under that assumption given the asking price for him in trade this off season, but Bora$$ almost always takes his clients to the free agent market. So of course you are going to make him a QO and get at least something for him. Unless they trade him first.
But I thought no one was asking for him because the Tigers wanted the farm plus a first born…..
They were asking more for Castellanos than they got for JD? Sounds like some crazy MLBTR Rumors. Why would they make a QO? They are looking to save money. That’s $20 mil for a guy who is over paid at $13 mil. He will definitely take the $20 mil.
Doc66: No, they won’t. Have you not been paying attention to the Tigers lately? You think
AA wants to pay anyone $18 mill? And according to everyone on this site there will be no market for him. How and why would he refuse the QO?
Nick is a Fan Favorite and excellent teammate. He can hit on a team needing hitters. Plus, they can afford to make the offer. Only in Detroit will he help sell tickets. He will be a ho-hum acquisition to most other teams. He is the exact opposite of Bryce and Manny. If he turns down the QO, he may as well take next year off.
There is a good chance the tigers DO extend a QO because boras will tell him to turn it down. The tigers will pray he doesn’t sign it but I think they do try and offer it to him unless he has a down year.
Free agent least likely to have a job next March front runner.
Agreed. Boras’ luck for less than top tier talent hasn’t been so good past few offseasons, especially for those who are seeking paydays larger than they’re likely to get. Lots of teams that could use a corner outfielder this past offseason knew they could have likely had him for the right trade piece and passed. This makes me assume he’d likely look to get above Khris Davis’ extension deal, and I think he’d probably be lucky to get that.
It’s not luck. The market has significantly changed and Boras needs to adapt.
I’m guessing he did not see how good boras did for moustakas
Not sure if that’s going to make a difference in this FA climate and Castellano’s defense metrics.
4.4 WAR in 5 full seasons. If 1 WAR goes for 8 million in free agency he is worth around 7 million per season. Boras is gonna be asking 15+ mill per season. Good luck finding a job sir.
“If 1 WAR goes for 8 million in free agency he is worth around 7 million per season.”
This literally never happens in reality, please refrain from using false metrics like that.
Scott Boras is that you?
Fangraphs has 1 WAR valued at 8 million in free agency.
You don’t understand how fangraphs’ WAR Value metric works at all. In fact, fangraphs specifically asks people not to use the metric the way you’re trying to use it.
Value = The total salary / the total WAR generated by players who were signed as free agents.
This doesn’t mean teams are willing to pay $8M per expected WAR of production. It means teams have signed some really bad free agent contracts. i.e. Chris Davis produced -3.1 fWAR at a cost of $23MM. Players like him and Albert Pujols ruin any predictive use for the “Value” metric. Value is like ERA. It’s what actually happened, but it’s often pretty weak when used for predicting. Contracts are negotiated with predicted or expected value, more like FIP and there isn’t any metric for that.
That said, the going rate for expected WAR right now seems to be right about $6MM / WAR. The average cost per WAR (total MLB salary / total WAR) is $4.5MM, meaning teams are willing to pay a premium for free agents, but I guarantee you, no team will pay remotely close to $8MM per expected WAR right now.
WAR is overvalued dollar wise. And what’s with punishing DH’s negative
WAR for NOT playing the field? That’s illogical…..
Pitchers get WAR while not batting. Why shouldn’t DH’s get WAR while not playing the field?
Given his prior agency repped Kimbrel and albies I don’t know if there was anyway to go but up. Boras definitely wasn’t the strongest choice for the type of player he is but I can’t blame him for leaving sportsmeter.
If there was any hope that the TIgers and Castellanos were going to have a meeting of the minds and ink an extension, that is now out the window with him moving to Bora$$.
But I get it from Nick’s perspective. Bora$$ may be a jerk, but has the best track record in getting his clients paid.
Not for the middle class.
Not lately…..
Except for Detroit’s history of signing Boras’ clients.
It was Boras’ ability to get Mr I to sign his clients to which you refer. He no longer has that option.
As a Tiger fan I’m delighted though this is a disastrous decision for the player. He’ll turn down a qualifying offer if made: it would be bizarre to risk such an offer on a player objectively worth far less. Castellanos will not be playing baseball this time next year.
Why would he turn down the QO in this market? That is certainly more than he is going to get in a contract, but it is for just one year. Still better than sitting at home until June. He could cash in for one season, and hope things pick up after the 2020 season.
Tigers will offer a QO so they get a draft pick when he turns it down (if someone signs him). Nick wants a larger contract that’s why he hired Boras. Nick doesn’t want to be a Tiger anymore.
Oh looks like he’ll take a low end 1 year deal at the end of FA period after the way boras has been handling not top tier FA he’s over exaggerates his clients market like no tomorrow..
Yea, that’ll help! I can see him getting a minor league deal after a free agent winter of Boras saber rattling…..
The Martinez contract was a universe ago. A new normal has begun. Japan, Castellanos?
Obviously this clown pays zero attention of what’s going on around him…..
Like the contracts for Harper, JD, hosmer and Xander’s extension.
Boras is a risk for sure but it’s an upgrade and there is an upside with boras, not all negative
Guess he doesn’t like playing baseball until May.
He made a huge mistake hiring boras. He’s a one dimensional DH who has a limited market if he hits free agency
He might have a larger market than most people realize. MLB and MLBPA were talking about going DH league-wide this year, 2019. That didn’t happen cause it was too close to the season, but the writing is on the wall and there is a chance they could come to an agreement and for the 2020 season it could be a DH league. If that happens Castellanos would have 15 new DH-needy teams looking for a potential hitting DH. If that happens I also expect J.D. Martinez to opt out cause there will now be 15 new teams to compete for his services… stranger things have happened…
No team wanted Castellanos at the absurd asking price set by the Tigers (top 50 MLB prospect). The Tigers shopped the absolute hell out of him and interest was minimal.
Castellanos can do quite a bit for his stock this year if he can hit at or improve upon last year’s production since he has no track record outside of last year as an elite or even excellent bat. If his bat slips back to where it was previously, his market will collapse and he’d be lucky to get a 1 year $15MM deal like Moustakas took.
Moose did not take a 1/15. He got less than 17 over the last 2.
Nick Senzel= Bust
All the chats had Castellanos as a prime trade candidate. Now he switches agents and he’s “unplayable.” Seems legit.
How is Nick Senzel a bust? Maybe I missed something, but what does this have to do with anything?
This is complete nonsense. And the inclusion of Senzel couldn’t be any more out of left field.
So he’s going to turn down the QO and then have to wait until June to get a decent offer. Boras has lost his touch.
If they’re dumb enough to give Castellanos a QO when they likely will not be competitive that’d be something. He’ll have no trade value on that salary and they won’t be good enough to need him. Now, if he turns that down he’d be a real fool.
I don’t think the Tigers asked for an outrageous return in trade for Nick Castellanos. They just haven’t found a matching trade partner to give the Tigers the right MLB ready player they can use now. Castellanos is an excellent hitter and is better than most prospect ever hope to be. Since the Tigers need his bat now more than they need someone else’s young prospect. They’re better off keeping Castellanos for now and drafting their own young prospect when the QO is rejected.
Castellanos hasn’t helped himself. He has stated that he’s “too lazy” to work on his defense. That’s not exactly team worthy material.
why would any player say that they are too lazy to work on defense. Please share the link because that doesn’t seem likely
He said that during a TV interview last season.
I dont know why in the world you think nick castellanos is a lock to even receive a QO. Let alone reject it. As if hiring boras means this guy will automatically be looking for 10 years at a 20 million AAV.
It’s too early to draw any concrete conclusions but his K rate is up. He has an unsustainable .408 BABIP to post a 107 WRC+. That won’t last and quite frankly if this guys is only a slightly better than league average hitter there’s no shot in hell he’s getting a QO. I will say his defense is better thus far but I’m not sure anyone is signing him to play RF the next 5 years. We’ll see how that goes the rest of the year. I believe he needs to have a repeat season of last year offensively to even have a shot at getting QO’d.
The Tigers can afford him, and he’s a draw in Detroit. They will make the QO
making a QO to nick is throwing good money after bad.
goodbye nick…say hello to japan
I think people are not taking into account the strategy behind giving a QO. The QO is clearly being exploited to get something in return for a player who is going to walk regardless. In this case, Nick and Boras will want to explore free agency and all of its turbulence. The tigers knowing that, will probably send a QO and expect/hope he turns it down. The flaw in the system is that most teams offering the QO don’t want the player long term, or even for that one year, and are just looking for the pick. Only 6 out of 80 players have accepted it and it’s starting to impact their free agency.
or is boras a bluff and they are hoping for a qo?
That would be low key sneaky. I like that. Honestly NC has final word, so if he has a down year and still gets a QO id take it and rebuild value.
Cue Castellanos being unsigned on opening day next year while he clings to a demand of a year $125m deal and then complains about greedy owners.
5-year*
Why is this news? Who cares who the agent is? How about “Castellanos to shop at Whole Foods”. Or “Castellanos to switch banks”.
Great move. Another guy who will over play his hand. No whining when you don’t get the contract you ask for.
It’s news because ESPN says it is.
“Why is a guy who is about to be FA changing his agent news?” Gee I don’t know. It’s a total mystery.
Watching Nick in RF in Toronto first series of the season, he definitely improved defensively.
Boras ain’t the Boras he used to be. He’s been getting his clock cleaned by these younger front office guys. Yes, I know he had some large deals over the last couple of years, but he’s a shell of what he use to be and has cost his clients millions of dollars. Probably because he makes negotiations all about him rather than his clients.