i'm trying to dream too. The past couple of week have my frustration meter pegging in the red. I apologize. We all want the same result and I need to be more patient. FYI, I'm not confident can.Snodgrass'Muff said:
Rusney Castillo Conundrum
- Thread starter soxhop411
- Start date
MuzzyField said:
I'm not dreaming either. I was merely listing another possibility for why Castillo is on the major league roster and not starting.
I'm at a loss as to how Blake Swihart needs to come out of the game against a LHP, Rusney is on the bench, tying run at the plate, and Farrell elects to bat... Sandy Leon?
Batting Rusney would still leave Leon to come in defensively and Xander on the bench in case of injury (with Holt moving wherever necessary), so I don't buy any "the bench would be too short" excuses.
Batting Rusney would still leave Leon to come in defensively and Xander on the bench in case of injury (with Holt moving wherever necessary), so I don't buy any "the bench would be too short" excuses.
Based on his non-playing time. I'm not confident in the current path of development he is on. What is Ben's answer?Snodgrass'Muff said:
Rudy Pemberton said:
Assuming a worst-case scenario, they're about to need another catcher as well as someone to replace Panda (assuming Shaw and Holt will share time at 3b). If Castillo was too good to be sent down, but not good enough to play more than a couple of innings per game, I shudder to think about the detritus they're about to call up.
That said, assuming Holt's going to play some third coming up, I assume this thread will be moot. Farrell's out of OF to play ahead of Castillo if Holt plays 3b.
derekson said:
You're right -- complete goof on my part. So much for a moment of optimism.
As the pitching matchups currently line up (according to ESPN.com), the Sox don't face another lefty starter in the month of June, so I'm not sure when Castillo will start again unless Mookie or Hanley needs an off-day and Farrell wants Holt to play third (or doesn't want him to play CF).
So, he's not rusting... The real value is not quite what Ben and the brains projected. He just needs to catch the ball and hit the ball.HomeRunBaker said:
It's time to send him down to get some ABs with the PawSox.
Bring up JBJ and give him a real shot.
Here is an article from SoE advocating just that:
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/131665794/boston-red-sox-should-promote-jackie-bradley-jr
Bring up JBJ and give him a real shot.
Here is an article from SoE advocating just that:
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/131665794/boston-red-sox-should-promote-jackie-bradley-jr
He's also played a role in each of those games. Panda's injury may require Holt to play 3rd on a full-time basis.....a couple days to see how the roster shakes out isn't going to do Rusney any harm. A couple days to gather himself may be a good thing too.nattysez said:
HomeRunBaker said:
45 actually, 17 games played, 10 started:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=castiru02&year=2015&t=b
Byrdbrain said:
I agree with this idea. And if the Red Sox call up Bradley, don't let John Farrell mismanage him this time. Instead, Bradley goes in the lineup and stays there even if he goes 0-4. This team is terrible anyway, might as well figure out if Bradley should be the starting RF in 2016.
Yup. Alejandro fucking DeAza is just another guy. This team, for all its pretensions, is in last place, comfortably in last place. By this same logic, "Gotta win tonight's game!" we would have watched Dustin Pedroia's slow start and never played him again. What ever happened to showing some patience with a young player? You have to do that some of the time even if you're a contender, never mind a last place team for the second year in a row. And the Rusney Castillo argument applies just as much to JBJ.
JBJ is hitting .312/.387/.466 in AAA. That's pretty good and indicates that he can probably be at least okay in the majors given that he's a fantastic outfielder. What the fuck does Alejandro fucking DeAza bring to the team that JBJ doesn't? But it's tough to show when you get starts on May 10, 13 and 16 against R.A. Dickey, a white hot Sonny Gray and Felix Hernandez. That's more like being the guy who your manager intentionally fucks over to give the right starts to someone else. How dare JBJ not instantly produce multiple hit games and show explosive power given such a cushy showcase for his talents!
This is one of the problems when you've got a manager who, whether he or his bosses want to admit it, is on the hot seat. Such a manager tends to fuck over the team's long term interests to win THIS game because THIS game has become like a playoff or World Series tilt for him.
JBJ is hitting .312/.387/.466 in AAA. That's pretty good and indicates that he can probably be at least okay in the majors given that he's a fantastic outfielder. What the fuck does Alejandro fucking DeAza bring to the team that JBJ doesn't? But it's tough to show when you get starts on May 10, 13 and 16 against R.A. Dickey, a white hot Sonny Gray and Felix Hernandez. That's more like being the guy who your manager intentionally fucks over to give the right starts to someone else. How dare JBJ not instantly produce multiple hit games and show explosive power given such a cushy showcase for his talents!
This is one of the problems when you've got a manager who, whether he or his bosses want to admit it, is on the hot seat. Such a manager tends to fuck over the team's long term interests to win THIS game because THIS game has become like a playoff or World Series tilt for him.
HomeRunBaker said:
He needs at-bats. "Playing a role" does not equal at-bats. Unless you think that this team -- currently 10 games out in the division, 8 games out of the WC, and 10 games under .500 -- is a championship-level team that "needs" to have Castillo on the bench and not playing, rather than giving him ABs in the minors, I don't know how anyone can defend the current handling of Castillo.
And I should add that I have no idea whether Castillo is actually any good -- that's part of the issue here. He needs ABs for the Sox to determine whether or not he's a guy who should be counted on for the future. The fact that Farrell claims that they need to see if he's able to adjust to the league's adjustments to him, then sits him for 5 games, is incomprehensible.
Rudy Pemberton said:
De Aza has been, remains, and always will be a spare part. To waste Castillo's development time, or to block JBJ, for the sake of giving the bulk of the time to a spare part isn't just bad roster management, it shows a lack of a sense of priorities.
This isn't a season where winning a few extra games matters at all. I understand if they don't want to risk exposing JBJ further before the trade deadline; there's a debatable reason for this. But to keep Castillo on the bench for De Aza isn't justifiable ... not when the organization has made this sort of commitment to him
If it wasn't about the money no one would be bitching as loudly about playing time. Many wanted to rush him to the major leagues because of that. He was going to be "The Savior". Hasn't worked out quite that way yet. It's not all on JF. I'm sure there are many voices involved in the discussions.Rudy Pemberton said:
Rudy Pemberton said:
Then if they are looking to punish him, doesn't a trip back to Pawtucket kill two birds with one stone? He gets regular PT but at AAA and when he learns to play the game right, he can get another try.
Agreed. We're past the point of it being about Castillo needing to play over DeAza- reasonable people can disagree on that. What theyre doing makes no god damn sense and the attempts to justify it are very strange in a head in the sand sorta way.DanoooME said:
Stop. No one called him "the Savior." Its a discussion about not wasting assets.mauidano said:
"I'm sure there are many voices blah blah." Way to stick your neck out, man.
Fair point, I was in that camp for a while but now I'm too the point where even 50% PT for JBJ would be better than AAA. Between Castillo scuffling and normal rest for everyone else, that shouldn't be hard, getting him that time.Rudy Pemberton said:
Which just circles back to the obvious point.... Why do we care about playing de Aza? The Red Sox are 30-40, with a horrible run differential. No need to make sure a spare part is getting ABs in that situation.Rudy Pemberton said:
The Red Sox have a high priced OF sitting on the bench and a former highly touted prospect doing well in AAA. It's kind of insane not giving one of them 75% of the starts in RF. Even if they think de Aza gives them a marginally better chance to win right now, I still don't see the logic given their position.
Furthermore, I think it's clear what de Aza is. If there is even a tiny chance of this team turning things around this season, they need a significant improvement in performance. Even if the probability is low, I think both JBJ and Castillo have more upside than de Aza. May as well hope for a 90th+ percentile performance from one of those guys for the rest of the season (while accepting the low floor possibility), rather than cling to de Aza's mediocrity.
radsoxfan said:
I'm not seeing the logic either. Well, unless internal evaluations there have amounted to a mixture of buyer's remorse and skepticism, where we end up seeing both get shipped out once the re-tool for 2016 dominos start falling in the upcoming weeks.
In that respect, i guess you could make the argument that the short term rewards wouldn't be worth the potential risk of seeing their current stock value plummet. Given i could see the outside appeal being there for Bradley, and maybe the same for Castillo + prospects in the event a team was looking to dump a larger Hamels' type contract we'd possibly have an interest in.
Yeah, I said this in the Farrell thread, but even if you are ignoring the players' future development and 100% set on competing THIS YEAR, it still makes sense to play JBJ or Castillo regularly because they definitely have more upside than de Aza. There is a non-zero chance one of them "figures it out" and can be a pretty good asset the rest of the year. There is a much lower chance De Aza is significantly above average -- he probably won't be terrible, but he's not going to be great.radsoxfan said:
"The money" is indeed the reason I want Castillo to be playing -- not because I'm worried about wasting it but rather because it implies that he has a significant amount of talent.
Farrell's strategy only makes sense if he is literally managing to win every single game as if it's his last. Which maybe he is, but the organization needs to be on the same page here.
Sitting for 5 games out of 162 is incomprehensible? I know this is SoSH where every day is Game 7 but geez take a deep breath.....once Panda returns if De Aza is going to get those OF reps then we can send Rusney down next week. To think a team with this much talent that is 8 games out should pack in the season in June is what is truly incomprehensible. We are still competing to win games and locking Rusney off the roster for 10 days when we need a 4th OF today doesn't really make a ton of sense. Once Panda returns and Holt is available then we can make that move.....not today or yesterday.nattysez said:
The flip side of this is that maybe the reason he is not playing despite the money is that the Sox now think they bungled on his talent.Toe Nash said:
I'm convinced De Aza was the other shoe dropping in response to the O's picking up Lavarnway this off season.
Something something Pats/Jets metaphor.
I really think it's just Castillo eating some humble pie. There is nothing that says he has to play just because he's being paid 10mill. It clearly wouldn't have mattered how good his spring was because he completely outplayed Victorino and was sent down anyhow. He just hasn't earned any playing time. But unlike a prospect needing to perform to stick around, Castillo isn't going anywhere.
Something something Pats/Jets metaphor.
I really think it's just Castillo eating some humble pie. There is nothing that says he has to play just because he's being paid 10mill. It clearly wouldn't have mattered how good his spring was because he completely outplayed Victorino and was sent down anyhow. He just hasn't earned any playing time. But unlike a prospect needing to perform to stick around, Castillo isn't going anywhere.
Would you say the same thing about Justin Masterson? I mean, he's making about a million less.Toe Nash said:
10.5 mill dollars is a 1-2 win player 10.5 million dollars no longer equates to someone you have to play every day. The market is the market.
Billy Butler got 3 yrs/30 mill this off season as a comparison from the tight ass A's, and he was a terrible baseball player last year (and this year).
Nick Markakis isn't anyone's idea of an all-star nor is Chase Headley and each signed for 4yrs/44,
Adam LaRoche has earned 2 WAR combined the past two seasons and signed for 2yrs/25/
Brock Holt has way outplayed all of those guys and could probably make more than that on the open market right now if he were a free agent.
Philip Jeff Frye said:
That still means he should be in AAA, putting up numbers that might generate trade interest without eating the whole contract.
No logical argument exists for Castillo to be riding the bench in the major leagues. As JtB said, arguing otherwise is simply putting your head in the sand.
What does playing a marginally-above replacement player like de Aza in RF for the majority of the non-Holt starts mean, according to the FO?
1) JBJ needs to stay in AAA and get regular ABs. He hasn't demonstrated what they need him to do in order to start, but he also isn't a marginal enough piece that his development is worth disrupting.
2) Rusney does not need to stay in AAA and get regular at bats, he's either good enough that the pitchers there don't challenge him or he's not going to improve there enough to justify the benefits of exposing him to MLB preparation, coaches, players, etc.
3) The other (non-JBJ) outfield options are pretty terrible, so Rusney is the best backup OF option present. Whatever you do lose in development at AAA for Rusney is worth the improvement to the MLB team in having him as a backup.
4) They still think they're in it enough that marginal wins from de Aza over Rusney are worth setting back Rusney's development a little bit.
Not sure how this all computes.
1) JBJ needs to stay in AAA and get regular ABs. He hasn't demonstrated what they need him to do in order to start, but he also isn't a marginal enough piece that his development is worth disrupting.
2) Rusney does not need to stay in AAA and get regular at bats, he's either good enough that the pitchers there don't challenge him or he's not going to improve there enough to justify the benefits of exposing him to MLB preparation, coaches, players, etc.
3) The other (non-JBJ) outfield options are pretty terrible, so Rusney is the best backup OF option present. Whatever you do lose in development at AAA for Rusney is worth the improvement to the MLB team in having him as a backup.
4) They still think they're in it enough that marginal wins from de Aza over Rusney are worth setting back Rusney's development a little bit.
Not sure how this all computes.
O Captain! My Captain! said:
The key assumption that makes Boston's treatment of Castillo incongruous... is that him not playing, is at a cost to his development, and vice versa. Perhaps it is not so cut and dry?
They've been around Castillo for a while now. Perhaps they see what he needs to work on as being more off the field than on it? As a professional athlete, most of the work he (or any of these guys) is doing happens behind the scenes.
Maybe he isn't preparing well. Maybe they think his issues are more a matter of receiving the highest level of instruction. Maybe they think they'd rather have Castillo taking 1 PA against the sliders he never saw in Cuba rather than 2 PA against some Anthony Ranaudo of the universe?
There's a lot of reasons why the Sox brass could possibly not agree with the blanket statement that Castillo's reduced role is at a cost to his development, and thus why it could very well compute.
JBJ hitting competently in AAA is only increasing his trade value, while exposing him in the Majors could very well decrease it.
Castillo isn't being traded anywhere, anytime. His trade value is irrelevant.
The best bet on increasing Bradley's future value is to keep him in Pawtucket and avoid having him suck again on the big stage.
Castillo isn't being traded anywhere, anytime. His trade value is irrelevant.
The best bet on increasing Bradley's future value is to keep him in Pawtucket and avoid having him suck again on the big stage.
geoduck no quahog said:
Maybe I'm wrong but I'm skeptical that he'll have any real trade value, any more than say Will Middlebrooks did. And if the downside is we lose a chip that could have gotten us a decent backup catcher, then I think JBJ has more value here giving him another crack at the majors.
Any player that doesn't have a stupid contract has real trade value. Scouts should covet Bradley's fielding ability and if they think he has a chance of hitting Major League pitching consistently, something of commensurate value should come back. The risk of Bradley being called up during a losing season and OPS'ng .500 is too great to take that chance. If the Red Sox have no intention of trading him, fine - nothing to lose.
Yes, there's a chance that Bradley could increase his value on the big club during the second half, but I'd say that chance is less than 50-50. It may have to wait for September or another outfield DL injury.
Yes, there's a chance that Bradley could increase his value on the big club during the second half, but I'd say that chance is less than 50-50. It may have to wait for September or another outfield DL injury.
I just commented on the JBJ part of this in the JBJ thread... I don't buy the trade value argument for JBJ.
But I also don't buy the idea that sending Rusney to AAA is worthless because they don't care about RC's trade value.
The most obvious risk factor for Rusney was that he hadn't played in years... I don't see how benching him with the big team is going to get him back in the baseball groove. It seems like a squander of the entire investment to bench him and keep him in the bigs.
But I also don't buy the idea that sending Rusney to AAA is worthless because they don't care about RC's trade value.
The most obvious risk factor for Rusney was that he hadn't played in years... I don't see how benching him with the big team is going to get him back in the baseball groove. It seems like a squander of the entire investment to bench him and keep him in the bigs.
I understand that argument completely. The other side of it could be that they think Castillo benefits more from being around (Caribbean) veterans and major league coaches. Hell, for all I know (which is nothing), he was a disruptive influence in Pawtucket and they couldn't wait to get him out of there.
What I do know (next to nothing) is that there has to be a logical reason for doing what they're doing. Team's don't act irrationally.
What I do know (next to nothing) is that there has to be a logical reason for doing what they're doing. Team's don't act irrationally.
The Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Jets may be teams that have acted irrationally of late. The Yawkey Red Sox certainly acted irrationally in not giving a chance to Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. Selling babe Ruth? Back to the near present, how about hiring Bobby Valentine?geoduck no quahog said:
Sean McAdam @Sean_McAdam
Appears Rusney Castillo has been optioned to Pawtucket.
To make room for third catcher Erik Kratz.
Appears Rusney Castillo has been optioned to Pawtucket.
To make room for third catcher Erik Kratz.
MikeM said:
Maybe he just needs a season of at-bats in the minors to acclimate to US Baseball. 1 season isn't make or break for Castillo.