Castillo relegated to Pawtucket

[kazuneko]

Seems like this deserves it's own thread:http://m.redsox.mlb.com/news/article/169586152/brock-holt-to-play-left-field-vs-righties
Apparently the team isn't going to demote Castillo to the minors, but with Chris Young on the roster it's not even clear that there would be much of a bench role left for Castillo. As it stands, Castillo would seemingly only get starts when another OF needs a day off and/or when the Sox are facing a RHP and Holt is playing in the IF. Is there a trade coming? With Castillo's bloated contract it might be difficult to pull off but at this point you'd have to think that is an increasingly likely scenario.

 

[Van Everyman]

I just read CHB's piece on him (I know, I know), but this is kind of depressing. I recognize that he's been terrible this spring, but when Toolsney has been on, he's looked great. And candidly, after the JBJ/Grady/etc. disasters of the last few years, I have zero faith that spring training means a damned thing.

Does no one in the organization think he just needs more ABs?

 

[Montana Fan]

Cripes, could Cherington be any worse? Hanley is looking like the best contract of the Sandoval, Castillo, Ramirez, Porcello, spending spree.

 

[Sprowl]

Castillo could be a pinch-runner, defensive replacement and backup outfielder for the short term, but he's had multiple opportunities to grab the job as a starter, and been found wanting. Toolsney went fishing, now the Sox are cutting bait.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

This looks like a mistake to me. Holt is nothing special: 98 OPS+ in 2014, 96 OPS+ in 2015. He's hardly the kind of guy you have to move guys in order to make room for in the lineup. He has decent OBP but his power is non-existant. He doesn't steal bases, he's not a standout defensive player.

And the kicker is, over the last couple of years Holt has a reverse split. 682 OPS against RHP in 2014, 763 against LHP. 701 OPS against RHP last year, 807 vs LHP. So you're not even getting a huge platoon advantage either.

I could see benching Castillo if there was CLEARLY a superior option. But there really isn't. There must have been something that the Sox' brass saw in Castillo, so I'm not sure why this action is being taken, particularly for a non-impact player like Holt.

 

[The Talented Allen Ripley]

I could see it if Shaw was part of the platoon as a way to keep his bat in the lineup, although he had a reverse split since getting called up last year. The Sox have been working him in LF lately. As SJH says, it's not like Holt makes the most sense.

 

[YTF]

I know you're going to need someone on the bench, but would Castillo and The Sox be better off if he were in AAA playing everyday to see if he can get his shit together?

 

[bosockboy]

I suspect Holt is a place holder until they can acquire a legit LF bat at some point during the season

 

[Maximus]

Cripes, could Cherington be any worse? Hanley is looking like the best contract of the Sandoval, Castillo, Ramirez, Porcello, spending spree.

BC did a nice job on drafting positional players but was terrible with major league player evaluation / contracts and drafting and developing impact arms.

 

[snowmanny]

Cripes, could Cherington be any worse? Hanley is looking like the best contract of the Sandoval, Castillo, Ramirez, Porcello, spending spree.

Unless you count Moncada.

Edit: and Craig deserves a mention in that spree as well.

 

[bellowthecat]

Brock Holt as the starting LF against RHP makes no sense to me. Super sub? Definitely. Backup plan if Bogaerts or Pedroia go down? Sure. But the bat won't play in LF and the defense won't make up for it.

Career vs RHP: .270/.327/.358, BB% 7.5, K% 16.4, .322 BABIP, 87 wRC+
His performance against them in 2014 and 2015 are only slightly better (89 and 90 wRC+ respectively).

If the plan wasn't to give Castillo another 100-200 PAs no matter what then the Sox should have done a better job finding someone to hit against RHP. Holt and his below average bat is totally unreasonable considering the resources of this team. I expect there has to be more to this situation like a trade or a demotion to AAA for Castillo because this scenario doesn't make sense.

 

[Sprowl]

Holt goes on extended hot streaks at the bat. Perhaps the Sox are hoping that his spring training success will carry on a few months. It's not usually that difficult to find a corner outfielder.

Cripes, could Cherington be any worse? Hanley is looking like the best contract of the Sandoval, Castillo, Ramirez, Porcello, spending spree.

He shoulda stuck with mid-market character signings (Napoli-Victorino-Dempster-Gomes-Uehara). Welp, we'll always have 2013.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

even if they doubt Castillo's offense - and this makes clear that that's the case - surely his defensive abilities more than make up the offensive difference with Holt who's a mediocre fielder at best and not much of a hitter to boot.

I really don't understand this.

 

[Sampo Gida]

I guess Holt in LF against RHP'ers makes sense if Shaw is the very day 3Bman. If not, I don't agree, he does not have the bat to get that many PA in LF. I also don't like seeing JBJ platooned in CF with Castillo, which is what it sounds like since that's the only way to get Castillo playing time. Of course, maybe Castillo will be traded to someone like the Padres for a SP'er (a prospect or two would need to be included). If not, I would think it would be best if they sent Castillo down and had kept someone like Murphy

 

[Sampo Gida]

Cripes, could Cherington be any worse? Hanley is looking like the best contract of the Sandoval, Castillo, Ramirez, Porcello, spending spree.

Boy, has any GM ever had a worse 6 month stretch than Ben did from July 2014 until January 2015. Pablo, Hanley, Porcello, Craig, Castillo for Lackey, Cespedes and almost 400 million (including Porcellos extension which came in March).

 

[Pilgrim]

I like Chris Young, but this highlights how odd it was to sign a lefty masher OF for the final bench spot.

For all his flaws, Rusney does have as 119 RC+ against lefties. They could have a pretty nice situation if they had found him a real platoon partner, rather than the terribly miscast Brock Holt.

 

[Ale Xander]

Holt was great in the 10th man role. Why fix what's not broken?

Be a little more patient with Rusney and if he shows he still can't perform, give more at bats to the Panda/Shaw loser and Young and/or bring up the next man up from Pawtucket

The position of Ted/Yaz/Rice/Greenwell/Manny is going to Holt? makes no sense

 

[geoduck no quahog]

There's got to be something more than meets the eye going on.

The first oddity is that (if I'm reading things correctly) Castillo didn't play a single game in LF this spring.

Young: 16
Murphy: 15
Rosario: 7
Hudson: 2
Longhi: 2

In the meantime - he was 3rd in ab's for spring. So they were giving him opportunities. In this case opportunity to prove he was the worst hitter on the spring team.

Something doesn't smell right.

 

[mauf]

They made a similar decision last season (benching him instead of sending him to AAA), which made even less sense back then, as he was ostensibly trying to knock off the rust.

Castillo started to get playing time -- and responded with competence, though certainly not brilliance -- pretty much exactly when Farrell took his leave of absence. I don't want to make too much of a thin slice of data, but as someone who is mildly annoyed that Farrell is still here, I'm concerned this decision is driven by personality conflict and not by the merits.

 

[nattysez]

In theory, this is a smart way to maximize Holt's traditionally hot first half (lifetime .803 OPS in the first half, .600 in the second), then letting him move to a lesser role when the inevitable decline happens. Unfortunately, I suspect the chances of Farrell wisely managing playing time for JBJ, Chris Young, Holt and Rusney is pretty much nil. I don't think it's a coincidence that the 2013 Red Sox had only one regular starter play fewer than 116 games (WMB, and they solved that problem by plugging in Xander every day).

I've been a Rusney partisan for some time, but they did give him half of August and all of September to distinguish himself last year and he failed to do so. He's not going to improve riding the pine, but I'm not sure there's necessarily all that much chance of him improving anyway. The handling of Rusney feels a little like the handling of WMP, except that there's no good reason that they're not letting him go back down to the minors to work on his hitting.

 

[Harry Hooper]

There's got to be something more than meets the eye going on.

The first oddity is that (if I'm reading things correctly) Castillo didn't play a single game in LF this spring.

Young: 16
Murphy: 15
Rosario: 7
Hudson: 2
Longhi: 2

In the meantime - he was 3rd in ab's for spring. So they were giving him opportunities. In this case opportunity to prove he was the worst hitter on the spring team.

Something doesn't smell right.

Playing in CF and RF was possibly an attempt to maximize potential interest in Castillo among other clubs?

 

[pjr]

There's got to be something more than meets the eye going on.

The first oddity is that (if I'm reading things correctly) Castillo didn't play a single game in LF this spring.

Young: 16
Murphy: 15
Rosario: 7
Hudson: 2
Longhi: 2

In the meantime - he was 3rd in ab's for spring. So they were giving him opportunities. In this case opportunity to prove he was the worst hitter on the spring team.

Something doesn't smell right.

Castillo played left field in games I was at 3/7 against the Rays and 3/14 against the Pirates.

 

[twibnotes]

I'll join the chorus...don't like this move. In addition to the solid points already made, I would add the fact that this move may signal to other teams that the Sox have lost faith in Rusney, thus reducing his trade value further. Unless they have something in the works, I'd rather see Castillo getting a chance to demonstrate some value.

 

[Auger34]

They made a similar decision last season (benching him instead of sending him to AAA), which made even less sense back then, as he was ostensibly trying to knock off the rust.

Castillo started to get playing time -- and responded with competence, though certainly not brilliance -- pretty much exactly when Farrell took his leave of absence. I don't want to make too much of a thin slice of data, but as someone who is mildly annoyed that Farrell is still here, I'm concerned this decision is driven by personality conflict and not by the merits.

Completely agree. IIRC, the same thing happened with JBJ.
I have a very bad feeling that the majority of ABs in LF and CF will go to Holt and Chris Young while Bradley and Castillo ride the pine

 

[kazuneko]

Really strange decision. Benching him (rather than demoting him to AAA) not only prevents him from getting the playing time he will need to reach his potential it also lowers (if that's possible) his trade value. At least if he raked in AAA maybe some team might see him as having potential, but as a player with a large contract, limited ABs and no discernible role Castillo will be impossible to pawn off as anything other than a salary dump. The Sox's willingness to do this appears to indicate that they don't really see him as having any chance of becoming a productive player - an odd turn considering that he was the odds on favorite to start in LF before his 49 spring training ABs.

 

[Rasputin]

This is the first thing that actually makes me think there might be a late trade in the offing.

It doesn't make much sense for all the reasons stated above.

 

[Pilgrim]

Speier:

Worth noting: Whereas Castillo proved one of the least productive hitters in the majors against righthanded power pitchers in 2015, posting a .220/.250/.220 line with a .470 OPS (286th of 291 players) against pitches from righties at 93 mph or higher, Holt finished the year in the top 25 percent of hitters in average (.304) against such pitches, with a .304/.375/.392 line against them.

Why does that matter? The Indians rotation is likely to feature three righthanded starters during the season-opening series (Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar) who average 93 mph or better on their fastballs.

 

[Van Everyman]

So he's going to win the starting job back in a week?

 

[Yelling At Clouds]

I'm guessing they're keeping Rusney up so they can plug him in the outfield should the need arise for Holt to play the role of Holt and step in for Pedroia, Xander, or Sandoval. What I'm wondering is why not make the decision on Rusney while David Murphy was still hanging around camp? Then you could demote Castillo if you didn't want to play him and not have to mess with Holt and still have a competent platoon outfielder around to keep the lights on until you make a deal (Bruce? Cargo? Reddick? Return of de Aza?)

 

[Rasputin]

What the hell would the roster even look like?

If Holt is a platoon LF with Young, and Castillo is on the bench...the bench is Young, Shaw, Castillo, and a catcher? So Holt is both the starting left fielder and backup middle infielder?

Young starts against every lefty, Holt gets most righties, and Castillo plays when JBJ, Betts, Bogaerts, or Pedey need a day off?

I guess that can work but we'd have to not fuck around with any Holt injury. He's either back the next day or he goes on the DL because we wouldn't even have an emergency backup at second or short.

I don't like this. It's awkward.

 

[jimbobim]

What the hell would the roster even look like?

I don't like this. It's awkward.

Just wait till Shaw is named the starter at 3b later this week, and you have Sandoval ,who is a near useless bench option,joining Castillo in Farrell's "urgency/hotseat doghouse". It seems like under the guise of early season "urgency" Farrell is getting to go with the "grit" that he wants and damn whatever the individual consequences are.

He's pretty objectively mishandled Holt by playing him too much the last two years. One hopes that having 27 mill in excess personnel on the pine will avoid that.

Ideally, Castillo wouldn't be ignored on Farrell's bench and he'd get worked in late in some ways. Sadly, I don't think that's how he's ever going to hit.

 

[Koufax]

I treasure Holt. His highest and best use is that of utility player. This will not turn out well.

 

[DeadlySplitter]

Hopefully Holt has one of his hot months to start off, then when he cools down Castillo can slide right in (but he really should be in AAA until then, not riding pine)

 

[Clears Cleaver]

Holt is a temporary fix until they can trade Castillo and/or Panda and find a real LFer or 3B. Maybe the answer is Shaw/Young platoon in LF.

How they start the season at 3B/LF is likely not how they finish it. or even finish May.

 

[Walt Droopo]

A little early to be writing off Castillo...don't 'ya think? How about some AB's in his ML Life before he gets tossed out to the wolves?

 

[Al Zarilla]

Completely agree. IIRC, the same thing happened with JBJ.
I have a very bad feeling that the majority of ABs in LF and CF will go to Holt and Chris Young while Bradley and Castillo ride the pine

Why do you say that? At least WRT Bradley, that only happens if he goes on one of his long can't hit a lick modes, which I really hope are a thing of the past. I think all of the Sox brass want to give Bradley a lot of rope this year. Castillo, do others feel the Sox were desperate to sign a Cuban player after Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu did so well early on? I do.

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

Yeah, I don't like the sound of this and it seems destined to end badly.

With all the time Rusney's played CF this spring, it seems like Farrell might just think he's been given the keys to not one ill-advised platoon, but three.

Bradley-Castillo
Holt-Young
Shaw-Sandoval

DDski has some serious work to do on the phones, to clean up this mess of a roster.

 

[Plympton91]

I think. Holy an be a really good defensive outfielder, and I'd Castillo is going to put up a sub-300 OBP then he could become a wrench in the lineup. I can see the reason for this. Holt cools off when he's overused, but if the platoon him that should give him lots of days off.

Sucks that Castillo seems to be thrown to the side. I don't understand why you'd keep him as a backup instead of playing everyday in Pawtucket. But, he does have the ideal skills for a 5th outfielder. Can play any outfield position well and can pinch run along with occasional power. I guess if you consider the contract a sink cost--and you should--then this might be Rusnay's best use for the 2015 Sox.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Castillo, do others feel the Sox were desperate to sign a Cuban player after Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu did so well early on? I do.

Not remotely. They've signed Cuban players before, some pretty damn good ones. This was not a peer pressure move.
They saw an opportunity in Castillo, and either their scouting was bad or his game is translating to MLB slower than they'd hoped.

 

[glennhoffmania]

Holt is a temporary fix until they can trade Castillo and/or Panda and find a real LFer or 3B. Maybe the answer is Shaw/Young platoon in LF.

How they start the season at 3B/LF is likely not how they finish it. or even finish May.

If this is the plan, then I seriously question what the hell is going on when they're changing the roster construction plan at the end of March. Going into the season feeling like they need to find a starting 3B and/or a starting LF is pretty inexcusable.

 

[pokey_reese]

I agree that this is a questionable decision, but after the last few years, is it really that surprising? DD and JF (the latter in particular) need to get off to a good start, plain and simple. If JF thinks that Castillo needs more seasoning or ABs or whatever, he isn't going to risk having him learn on the job when the games count. Another poor Apr/May and JF is likely out the door, given that his potential replacement got a long look last year with notable success and the same roster.

To be clear, I think that it's a misuse of Holt and Castillo, but I can see where JF would rather have a Apr/May/Jun/Jul split of .700/.700/.700/.700 from Holt than a .600/.650/.700/.750/.800 from Castillo.

 

[mauf]

I think. Holy an be a really good defensive outfielder, and I'd Castillo is going to put up a sub-300 OBP then he could become a wrench in the lineup. I can see the reason for this. Holt cools off when he's overused, but if the platoon him that should give him lots of days off.

Sucks that Castillo seems to be thrown to the side. I don't understand why you'd keep him as a backup instead of playing everyday in Pawtucket. But, he does have the ideal skills for a 5th outfielder. Can play any outfield position well and can pinch run along with occasional power. I guess if you consider the contract a sink cost--and you should--then this might be Rusnay's best use for the 2015 Sox.

If Castillo was on the last year of a bad contract, I'd be all in favor of this move, for the reasons you state. With him under contract through 2019, however, I think you have to look for a way to extract more value than this. If he's not ready to be a platoon player in The Show, send him to AAA.

Of course, once the first injury presses Holt into service elsewhere, it's likely Castillo claims the platoon LF role we thought he'd have all along. It's the process here -- and the similarity to last year's failed plan -- that makes me concerned.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Of course, once the first injury presses Holt into service elsewhere, it's likely Castillo claims the platoon LF role we thought he'd have all along.

Shhhhh ... none of that sanity in here

 

[nvalvo]

I agree that this is a questionable decision, but after the last few years, is it really that surprising? DD and JF (the latter in particular) need to get off to a good start, plain and simple. If JF thinks that Castillo needs more seasoning or ABs or whatever, he isn't going to risk having him learn on the job when the games count. Another poor Apr/May and JF is likely out the door, given that his potential replacement got a long look last year with notable success and the same roster.

To be clear, I think that it's a misuse of Holt and Castillo, but I can see where JF would rather have a Apr/May/Jun/Jul split of .700/.700/.700/.700 from Holt than a .600/.650/.700/.750/.800 from Castillo.

This is why you either commit to your manager or can him. I hate feeling like the interests of the club and the manager aren't aligned.

 

[grimshaw]

I'm not really seeing the issue in getting one of their 6 best players in the lineup.
Castillo's one advantage, his glove, would make a negligible difference over Holt's, due to it being LF and not RF anyhow.
Is there an argument that Holt isn't the best of those three LF options?

Rusney's contract means nothing to me either. He's making about 5% of the payroll with that AAV, he'll be 29 and has demonstrated no improvement in pitch recognition. I get he hasn't played as much as everyone would like to see him - but a 4th OF with speed very well could be his ceiling.

He has more value to a crappy team with crappy defensive OF.

 

[mauf]

This is why you either commit to your manager or can him. I hate feeling like the interests of the club and the manager aren't aligned.

This was an exceptional case. DD was new in town. He didn't want to fire the World Series winning manager, who happened to be fighting cancer. So while I agree with you 100% in the abstract, I can't say I would've handled it differently in DD's shoes.

 

[mauf]

He has more value to a crappy team with crappy defensive OF.

Fine. Send him to AAA and let him build some trade value (or lessen his negative value). Don't bury him on the bench in Boston -- it makes no sense.

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

Making Holt the everyday left fielder just seems like such a mistake. He's the poster child for valuable utility player who just doesn't look nearly as good as an everyday player. He wears down from too much playing time and sticking him in left minimizes his versatility while maximizing his offensive mediocrity.

I was reasonably optimistic about this season, but as somebody pointed out above, if we're already chucking a significant portion of our offensive game plane (ie wishcasting a rebound from Fatso Panda and growth from Castillo) before Day 1, that's a pretty bad sign.

 

[simplicio]

Maybe Chili thinks he can still do something with him? Lowering that awful GB rate (along with the near double league average DP%) could go a long way toward alleviating his hitting problems. And in the mean time he's a fine defensive sub/5th OF. That's optimistic supposition there, cause otherwise yeah, I really don't know why they wouldn't want him getting more regular reps in AAA.

Having Shaw available to cover 1st and 3rd this year, along with the increased flexibility of the outfield will hopefully mean less stress on Holt at least.

 

[jasvlm]

The point being lost in this discussion is the message being sent by Farrell (and by the organization, Dombrowski in particular): The best players will be on the field, regardless of their contract status or tenure in the league. I will stipulate that Holt's stats against RHP don't merit making him the large half of a LF platoon, and he certainly lacks the upside of someone like Castillo (who may not have much of an upside at all, at 28, but still), but he's performing at a higher level in spring training, and also outhit Castillo in 2015, and the message being sent is unmistakable-the guys getting it done will play. I have to believe that someone like Sandoval is very convinced that the team is dead serious about this new policy, and he's battling for his starting job with Shaw, a marginal prospect who may have turned a corner in his development. What is clear is that Shaw raked in the majors in the last 1/3 of the season, and Sandoval did nothing to merit keeping his job-either at the plate or in the field.
I have to believe that establishing this policy as the Red Sox philosophy under Dombrowski is far more important-and impactful-than the marginal gain/loss in the productivity of the LF situation. If it leads to a trade of Castillo or Sandoval, so be it, but both guys know that their future is no longer determined by the size of their paychecks, and that competition and on field productivity will carry the day.
Bravo, I say. Roll with the best talent, regardless. What a concept.