Rusney Castillo Conundrum

[Rasputin]

It's been pointed out to you about a billion times that every thing we have heard suggests that it very much was a decision to either spend on Moncada or put the money in something non team related.

You don't have to like it. You're certainly entitled to have whatever opinion of the man you like, but your continued refusal to accept this fact is ridiculous. John Henry is under no obligation to spend his money in ways you approve of.

This conversation is boring so I'm going to talk about Castillo.

I think Castillo has the inside track on the RF job.

I just don't buy the talk of moving Ramirez to first. The transition to left had been terrible and I think transitioning him to first would be worse and we can afford to have a butcher at first. I think he stays in left until Papi retires.

I think you go with Ramirez, Betts, Castillo, with JBJ as a fourth OF that gets more time than a regular fourth OF. He should spell the starters a lot and go in for defense a bunch.

Of course all this is predicated on both Castillo and JBJ performing, but everything we day is predicated on someone performing.

And, of course, if JBJ runs with the chance he's getting now, he's going to be the favorite.

 

[nattysez]

Via RedSoxStats on Twitter:
Since being sent down Castillo has multiple hits in 3 of 4 games, 6-17 .352, 2B, HR, BB, K, 2 SB

I hope he's also learning comportment or whatever the heck Farrell claims he wasn't showing in the majors.

 

[radsoxfan]

Via RedSoxStats on Twitter:
Since being sent down Castillo has multiple hits in 3 of 4 games, 6-17 .352, 2B, HR, BB, K, 2 SB

I hope he's also learning comportment or whatever the heck Farrell claims he wasn't showing in the majors.

 
 
The hitting stats are nice... but to address your second point, I think we need to go more in depth.  Has Rusney been making enough unnecessary outs on the bases and proving he knows every possible way to botch a hit and run?
 
Once he shows he can keep up with the 2015 Red Sox in those areas, Farrell will deem him ready to contribute to this years major league team. 

 

[JohntheBaptist]

Via RedSoxStats on Twitter:
Since being sent down Castillo has multiple hits in 3 of 4 games, 6-17 .352, 2B, HR, BB, K, 2 SB

I hope he's also learning comportment or whatever the heck Farrell claims he wasn't showing in the majors.

I'm dubious he's learned anything playing in games down there, obviously pretty much all learning comes from the bench on the big club.
 
With luck he'll find away to pick up some essential tools stuck away on the field playing games.

 

[kieckeredinthehead]

You guys if they brought him up he'd just be replacing De Aza who's basically just a fifth outfielder on this team. Not enough playing time.

 

[nattysez]

You guys if they brought him up he'd just be replacing De Aza who's basically just a fifth outfielder on this team. Not enough playing time.

 
DeAza has started all but 4 of the 15 games the team has played since June 11, which would be plenty of playing time.  

 

[rembrat]

kieckeredinthehead was being sarcastic. He's a part of your circle jerk.

 

[kieckeredinthehead]

kieckeredinthehead was being sarcastic. He's a part of your circle jerk.

Not at all. Sure, a few weeks ago I posted that I was confused why De Aza was playing over Castillo and JBJ, but a bunch of people pointed out that he was in all the games because of circumstance and once Pedroia and Mookie and Victorino and Napoli and Ortiz and Ramirez were back to playing full time De Aza would be on the bench. I'm a believer now. Rusney is a prospect and needs to be in AAA so he can adjust to major league pitching. De Aza is a retread who has no future with the team and we as fans should be afforded the opportunity to watch him play as much as possible before the season ends. He is going to lead this team on an epic run.

 

[nattysez]

kieckeredinthehead was being sarcastic. He's a part of your circle jerk.

 
What seems like ongoing mishandling of a $72mm asset strikes me as something worth harping on.  There's a LL interview with CHB today where he says that there's no reason to evaluate how the team is doing until late July that might be more your speed.

 

[Plympton91]

Alejandro De Aza for his career against right handed pitchers is at .273 / .334 / .418     If Jackie Bradley Jr. ever puts up a line like that half of SoSH will be arguing that he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.  
 
As long as Castillo is playing everyday in AAA, I don't see the issue.  The Cuban leagues are probably the equivalent of high-A or maybe AA.   Having him get 300 ABs in Pawtucket is not at all the end of the world.
 
As I noted upthread, the Red Sox have a very imbalanced roster right now.   Castillo may be more valuable to them as a trade chip this offseason --whether for a 1B or a P--than he is on the field.   If they end up going into next season with Ramirez, Betts, Bradley, De Aza as the 4 outfielders, and Castillo part of a package for Hamels, then so be it.   Raking in AAA isn't going to damage his trade value.

 

[nattysez]

Rob Bradford on how the Sox scouted Castillo and how Baird feels about where Castillo stands now.  The working presumption of the article is that Castillo is not the player the Sox thought he was.  The article doesn't address why Bradford and/or the Sox feel so confident about that conclusion given the number of major league at-bats he's had, but the last quote below sounds pretty bad to me.  The appropriate answer to "Is Castillo playing the way you expected him to up to this point?" would seem to me to be "He hasn't had a ton of at-bats, so we're expecting big things from him in the near future as he gets more at-bats and 'adjusts to the league's adjustments,' like any young player."  But Baird's response was more like "Well, you live and learn in this business."  Hopefully this was Bradford being misleading/trying to stir the pot in terms of the way he rephrased his question before quoting Baird's answer, because otherwise....crikey.
 

Did the Red Sox do due diligence on Rusney Castillo?
At this point, with the outfielder living life as a member of Triple-A Pawtucket three months into his first pro season, and two weeks shy of his 28th birthday, the question continues to be surfaced.
There's no better person to try and clarify the conundrum than Allard Baird.
"We feel," the Red Sox vice president for player personnel said, "he's going to be a good player for us."
Baird was primary person charged with the responsibility of identifying if Castillo would be worth the investment, having led the charge when it came to analyzing the outfielder's potential and worth to the organization.
 

 

The frustration that has come with judging Castillo's game to date comes from a few of his failures at the major league level. Before being sent down to Pawtucket, he was susceptible to the low and inside fastball, usually resulting in a bevy of ground balls.
His big swing has also led to an inability to use his speed to get down the first base line, while also leading to too many attempts to pull the ball. For the Red Sox, this hasn't come as a surprise.
"Overall, I do think at times he can get a little long and when he does get long, like most hitters, it becomes a little bit more challenging for him," Baird said. "Going back to the adjustment portion of it, at the major league level pitchers are going to look for a weakness and when they find it they're going to bang away until you prove you can make that adjustment.
 

 

So, after 116 major league plate appearances, and 106 more in the minors, is Castillo where Baird thought he would be at this point?
"That's tough to say," he said. "We're very realistic. We've gone into this market trying to be very aggressive in terms of learning about the style of play, learning about the way the lifestyle is in Cuba, what motivates the player, and then the challenges they face coming over to the States. It's a constant learning process for us, and I think we have been very aggressive with the help of [Red Sox general manager] Ben [Cherington] and ownership to try and learn as much as possible."
 

 

[Heating up in the bullpen]

I'm not reading into what you are. In the quotes you posted, I see Baird saying they still think he will be a good player, and I see him inferring that Castillo has to adjust to the way he is being pitched. As to the last quote, it sounds more like an assessment of the FO's process rather than their expectations of the player. They're still trying to figure out how a Cuban player translates to MLB. He's not answering the question asked (if it was actually asked and not, as you say, a misleading context by Bradford). Like so many things in the media that seem like all smoke and no fire, I'd say "Move along, nothing to see here."

 

[Rasputin]

 
What seems like ongoing mishandling of a $72mm asset strikes me as something worth harping on.

Oh for fucks sake, the guy sat on the bench for a week. It's not the end of the fucking world.

 

[MikeM]

Oh for fucks sake, the guy sat on the bench for a week. It's not the end of the fucking world.

 
The guy is also a soon to be 28 year old sitting in AAA, who came at a projected and record breaking value which was heavily influenced by a prior decision we made on another player. Instead of, say....more so on it's own merit. Missed out on the guy with a history of Barry Bonds'ing it up down there? No problem. You can always more or less jump the next hype train, going all in on pure scouting and SSS evaluations to project yourself an immediate replacement (even if he does fall short on the tool the last guy had and what's arguably the safest to project - power).
 
As far as shrinking that grey area goes, what's to stop these players from putting on a best behavior display if/when they know ahead of time that such a heavy evaluation emphasis is going to be placed on that short period of time? Not exactly cutting the science down to a reassuring level imo. 
 
It may not be the end of the world, but it's not ranking in the realm of ideal either. For me this article just further highlights what a high stakes crapshoot these signings really were, and why i believe the money being pumped into those type of ventures would be better spent on or towards higher probability payouts at the MLB level atm. 

 

[Rasputin]

The notion that they just three money at Castillo because they lost out on Abreu even though they hadn't scouted him well enough is almost certainly bullshit.

The Sox certainly could have fucked this up and there's no guarantee Castillo is ever going to be a decent player, but there is no way in hell that Ben Cherington--not to mention John Henry--authorized the spending of seventy million dollars without bothering to scout the guy first?

 

[NDame616]

 
The guy is also a soon to be 28 year old sitting in AAA, who came at a projected and record breaking value which was heavily influenced by a prior decision we made on another player. Instead of, say....more so on it's own merit. Missed out on the guy with a history of Barry Bonds'ing it up down there? No problem. You can always more or less jump the next hype train, going all in on pure scouting and SSS evaluations to project yourself an immediate replacement (even if he does fall short on the tool the last guy had and what's arguably the safest to project - power).
 
As far as shrinking that grey area goes, what's to stop these players from putting on a best behavior display if/when they know ahead of time that such a heavy evaluation emphasis is going to be placed on that short period of time? Not exactly cutting the science down to a reassuring level imo. 
 
It may not be the end of the world, but it's not ranking in the realm of ideal either. For me this article just further highlights what a high stakes crapshoot these signings really were, and why i believe the money being pumped into those type of ventures would be better spent on or towards higher probability payouts at the MLB level atm. 

 
As we know, no GM has EVER screwed up a free agent signing and a guy was a bust after signing huge contract....

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

 
As we know, no GM has EVER screwed up a free agent signing and a guy was a bust after signing huge contract....

Yeah, It's a real good thing that hasn't happened to the Sox recently, right?

If that had happened, the Sox might be stuck in the cellar for a couple years and Increasingly have to rely on rookies and the farm system to dig their way out...

 

[grimshaw]

 
The guy is also a soon to be 28 year old sitting in AAA, who came at a projected and record breaking value which was heavily influenced by a prior decision we made on another player. Instead of, say....more so on it's own merit. Missed out on the guy with a history of Barry Bonds'ing it up down there? No problem. You can always more or less jump the next hype train, going all in on pure scouting and SSS evaluations to project yourself an immediate replacement (even if he does fall short on the tool the last guy had and what's arguably the safest to project - power).
 
As far as shrinking that grey area goes, what's to stop these players from putting on a best behavior display if/when they know ahead of time that such a heavy evaluation emphasis is going to be placed on that short period of time? Not exactly cutting the science down to a reassuring level imo. 
 

It was only record breaking because of a market correction though.  What would Puig make if more teams were in tune with the Cuban market and got a do-over today?  He's probably a 25 million/yr player, and Abreu a notch below that.  Those guys were absolutely pilfered, whereas Castillo is being paid like a league average player.  Sure, the length of the deal might stick in some people's craw (mine), but spending 10.5 mill per is hardly going all in.
 
We need to adjust our expectations that he just needs to be a 4th OF to earn his money.  Maybe Allen Baird envisioned him as an impact player, and that's a valid point of contention and very much up in the air, but the deal will not be a bust if he is just an ok player.  A disappointment among the fan base, maybe, but we don't run the team.
 
And with the cost of a win going up with inflation, it wouldn't be shocking if teams were paying 8-10 million per WAR 5-7 years from now by the end of the deal.  It's frustrating that he hasn't hit the ground running, but he's not going to sink the franchise if he doesn't work out.

 

[grimshaw]

 
He's being paid the going rate of a league average player as a free agent, though. There are tons of league average players making far less than the going rate of $ / WAR. If you were going to give a FA that kind of money, you'd (generally) have a pretty good idea of what kind of production you'd get...I assumed they signed Castillo with the idea that there was at least a decent chance he'd be far better than average.

One would hope you'd have an idea, but we don't really know that yet (or if Baird has early onset Alzheimer's). 
 
I had mentioned established guys like Markakis, Headley, LaRoche etc. who are being paid slightly more than that who have reached the league average phase or worse age of their careers.  Castillo may well out perform those guys over the next few years based on those guys' collectively modest production. And all of those guys will be at his age or older when their contracts expire.

 

[iayork]

 
The Sox are paying Victorino, Ortiz, Napoli, Hanley, Sandoval, Castillo, Craig, Uehara, Porcello, Masterson, Breslow, and Mujica a total of $137M and those guys have combined for -0.3 WAR. 

They paid Victorino, Ortiz, Napoli, Uehara, and Breslow for a World Series win and a couple seasons of suck.  In my mind, that's a fine deal.  
 
We all know that that's how baseball contracts work: Overpay the end of the contract in order to get top talent at the front.  The Sox managed to set that up with short contracts for the most part, so this is accelerated relative to the usual pattern, but it still is the usual pattern.
 
There's no doubt that last year and this year are painful, and I'm not convinced that the Sox management picked up quickly enough on changing trends in baseball.  But make sure you spell out what you're demanding: Three years of a fairly OK team, instead of one spectacular team followed by two bad ones.  

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

It was only record breaking because of a market correction though.  What would Puig make if more teams were in tune with the Cuban market and got a do-over today?  He's probably a 25 million/yr player, and Abreu a notch below that.  Those guys were absolutely pilfered, whereas Castillo is being paid like a league average player.  Sure, the length of the deal might stick in some people's craw (mine), but spending 10.5 mill per is hardly going all in.
 
We need to adjust our expectations that he just needs to be a 4th OF to earn his money.  Maybe Allen Baird envisioned him as an impact player, and that's a valid point of contention and very much up in the air, but the deal will not be a bust if he is just an ok player.  A disappointment among the fan base, maybe, but we don't run the team.
 
And with the cost of a win going up with inflation, it wouldn't be shocking if teams were paying 8-10 million per WAR 5-7 years from now by the end of the deal.  It's frustrating that he hasn't hit the ground running, but he's not going to sink the franchise if he doesn't work out.

Fourth outfielders make $10 million a year these days, with seven year guaranteed contracts?  Yikes.

 

[Plympton91]

Fourth outfielders make $10 million a year these days, with seven year guaranteed contracts?  Yikes.

 
The valuation of Castillo as a $10 million player was partly tied up in the Red Sox need, at the time, for a major league centerfielder.  If he can play league average defense in CF, and hit .260 / .300 / .400, then he'd be a starter for someone.  That someone may no longer be the Red Sox, given the emergence of Betts and the resurrection of JBJ, but they need to make sure that they build his value to the point that other teams see it.  Having him play CF for Pawtucket regularly and hit well there, then come up and platoon in RF for September and do well, would probably be enough.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

Fourth outfielders make $10 million a year these days, with seven year guaranteed contracts?  Yikes.

This thread almost blew up from Castillo being used as a 4th OF for a week when Panda was out and we were shorthanded thus delaying his return to Pawtucket.....I can't even envision the responses if he was a 4th OF for 7 years!!

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

 
The valuation of Castillo as a $10 million player was partly tied up in the Red Sox need, at the time, for a major league centerfielder.  If he can play league average defense in CF, and hit .260 / .300 / .400, then he'd be a starter for someone.  That someone may no longer be the Red Sox, given the emergence of Betts and the resurrection of JBJ, but they need to make sure that they build his value to the point that other teams see it.  Having him play CF for Pawtucket regularly and hit well there, then come up and platoon in RF for September and do well, would probably be enough.

And that's what's so worrisome here.

If the ability of the pro scouting team to appropriately value external players who might be plugged into apparent MLB roster holes is poor, that will likely skew the GM's decision when comparing those options to internal candidates who might fill the MLB team's holes, whether to pending Sox free agents, or to prospects coming up through the system.

 

[grimshaw]

Fourth outfielders make $10 million a year these days, with seven year guaranteed contracts?  Yikes.

Nick Markakis signed a 6 yr deal for 66 million in 2009 and earned 10 WAR over that time.  He was considered a bust - yet with inflation he has re-signed for 4 more years at 44 with the Braves knowing full well what his track record was.  He wasn't signed with the intent he would be a 4th outfielder, but that's pretty much exactly how he produced. 

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

Nick Markakis signed a 6 yr deal for 66 million in 2009 and earned 10 WAR over that time.  He was considered a bust - yet with inflation he has re-signed for 4 more years at 44 with the Braves knowing full well what his track record was.  He wasn't signed with the intent he would be a 4th outfielder, but that's pretty much exactly how he produced. 

So we should be satisfied that the Sox spent $72 million on a guy whose upside might be Nick Markakis?  Yikes again.

 

[nvalvo]

So we should be satisfied that the Sox spent $72 million on a guy whose upside might be Nick Markakis?  Yikes again.

No. He's saying we paid Nick Markakis-type money. If Castillo's better, it's a good deal.

 

[glennhoffmania]

Didn't Markakis' deal buy out all of his arb years plus three years of FA?  That's not really comparing apples to apples, and I don't think that one example is all that useful to begin with even ignoring that factor.  You're comparing a guy coming off of three pretty good ML seasons with a guy who's never faced ML pitching.

 

[grimshaw]

Didn't Markakis' deal buy out all of his arb years plus three years of FA?  That's not really comparing apples to apples, and I don't think that one example is all that useful to begin with even ignoring that factor.  You're comparing a guy coming off of three pretty good ML seasons with a guy who's never faced ML pitching.

You mean one good season?
2012 - 1.6 WAR
2013 -.2 WAR
2014 2.5 WAR
 
Anyhow - no I wouldn't personally wouldn't be satisfied with those numbers over the course of the deal, but that's the fan in me, as opposed to them making a profitable deal.
And I do think they are expecting much more, which as mentioned upthread, would be more troubling.

 

[MikeM]

It's not like that recent Markalis deal didn't come with it's own share of critics either. 
 
I wouldn't want us to be the team that is out there handing Nick Markalis a 4/44 deal to begin with, much less am going to view it as some huge justification point in signing Castillo here. 

 

[glennhoffmania]

You mean one good season?
2012 - 1.6 WAR
2013 -.2 WAR
2014 2.5 WAR
 
Anyhow - no I wouldn't personally wouldn't be satisfied with those numbers over the course of the deal, but that's the fan in me, as opposed to them making a profitable deal.
And I do think they are expecting much more, which as mentioned upthread, would be more troubling.

 
What?  I was referring to the three seasons Markakis had leading up to his six year deal.  If you want to use WAR, he was at 2, 4.1 and 6.  Isn't that more relevant if you're going to compare the two contracts?

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

No. He's saying we paid Nick Markakis-type money. If Castillo's better, it's a good deal.

No, he said "he just needs to be a 4th outfielder to earn his money" and then cited Nick Markakis as somebody the market valued at a similar price (albeit for shorter years).  I don't see how the Braves doing something stupid with Nick Markakis is supposed to prove the Sox did something wise with Rusney Castillo, especially if, as mentioned above, they already seem to be second guessing their evaluation of him. 
 
And I would hope that a competent front office could pick up fourth outfielders for less than $10 million a year.

 

[grimshaw]

No, he said "he just needs to be a 4th outfielder to earn his money" and then cited Nick Markakis as somebody the market valued at a similar price (albeit for shorter years).  I don't see how the Braves doing something stupid with Nick Markakis is supposed to prove the Sox did something wise with Rusney Castillo, especially if, as mentioned above, they already seem to be second guessing their evaluation of him. 
 
And I would hope that a competent front office could pick up fourth outfielders for less than $10 million a year.

 Whether or not you think the Braves made a stupid move with Markakis, or the White Sox did with LaRoche (2yrs 21), or the Rangers did with Rios (1yr/11), or the Mets did with Cuddyer (2 yrs 21), or the Yankees did with Headley (4 yrs/44), the market has been set.  The upside to Castillo is that he's 28, whereas the youngest guy in those aforementioned deals is Markakis at 31.
 
I mean ya, Seth Smith, Chris Young, Scott Van Slyke, Wil Venable, Brandon Barnes etc.  Those guys are going to outperform some regulars on the cheap, but let's at least see what Castillo does the rest of the year. 
 

 
What?  I was referring to the three seasons Markakis had leading up to his six year deal.  If you want to use WAR, he was at 2, 4.1 and 6.  Isn't that more relevant if you're going to compare the two contracts?

i was talking about his contract this season.
Anyhow - I've beaten my points to death so will stop here.

 

[BrooklineSoxFan]

Brian MacPherson ‏@brianmacp  1m1 minute ago
Rusney Castillo is with the Red Sox in Toronto. It's not clear whether he's being activated or being held in reserve pending Hanley Ramirez.
https://twitter.com/brianmacp/status/615946292871720960
 
Looks like he's possibly back up with the team again. Either Hanley is DL-bound or we're sending JBJ down.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

 

Brian MacPherson ‏@brianmacp  1m1 minute ago
Rusney Castillo is with the Red Sox in Toronto. It's not clear whether he's being activated or being held in reserve pending Hanley Ramirez.
https://twitter.com/brianmacp/status/615946292871720960
 
Looks like he's possibly back up with the team again. Either Hanley is DL-bound or we're sending JBJ down.

 

 
Has to be Hanley to the DL.  Too soon to bring Rusney back for anything other than as a DL replacement.

 

[Eddie Jurak]

I'd rather have seen them bring Shaw back. Castillo and Bradley need to play.

 

[Yelling At Clouds]

I'd rather have seen them bring Shaw back. Castillo and Bradley need to play.

 
In theory, both of them can. We might even get to see the Castillo-Betts-Bradley defensive outfield everyone was so excited about.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I'd rather have seen them bring Shaw back. Castillo and Bradley need to play.

 
Problem is their need, if indeed Hanley is headed to the DL, is an outfielder and they're running short of outfielders on the 40-man roster.  Nava, Brentz and Victorino are the only others aside from Castillo, and they're all on the DL.
 
Victorino is looking likely to be ready by the end of the week (he's playing his fifth rehab game tonight in Portland), so if they do activate Castillo, it will only be a short term thing.

 

[nattysez]

 
In theory, both of them can. We might even get to see the Castillo-Betts-Bradley defensive outfield everyone was so excited about.

 
Farrell just yesterday expounded on his love for deAza, so I doubt he's suddenly going to sit him in favor of Castillo.  My bet is that the Sox are going to have Castillo ride the pine for a few days, then bring ShaneVic back over the weekend and send Castillo down again.   
 
Edit:  Typed too slowly...

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

 
Maybe. It seems possible that, if / when Victorino is ready, they keep Castillo over Bradley.
 
Bradley may have a few more days to show that he can hit. 

 
Not sure why it would be Castillo over Bradley.  As a lefty, Bradley is the better platoon fit with Victorino.  I also can't picture them bringing up JBJ only to send him down a week later in favor of the guy he replaced.  A week is not much of a look-see for a guy they want to see prove he has turned the corner at the plate.

 

[nattysez]

 

Pete Abraham ‏@PeteAbe  15m15 minutes ago
Rusney Castillo with the #RedSox. Not on roster. Taxi squad in case Hanley has a setback.

 
 
It's like they're intentionally trying to see how few ABs they can get him this year.   

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

 
 
 
 
It's like they're intentionally trying to see how few ABs they can get him this year.   
 

 
He can only stay on the "taxi squad" for 24 hours before they have to activate him or send him back to the minors.  The impact, overall, is minimal if he doesn't stay.  And as I said earlier, what other option do they have to replace Hanley?  Castillo is the only healthy outfielder they have on the 40-man roster who's not already on the 25-man roster.

 

[moondog80]

What exactly is the taxi squad?  The can't just fly him up to Toronto, let him in the clubhouse, and put him up in a hotel just in case?

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

 
 
 
 
It's like they're intentionally trying to see how few ABs they can get him this year.   
 

 
Or they are still trying to field the best 25 man roster they can under the circumstances.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

What exactly is the taxi squad?  The can't just fly him up to Toronto, let him in the clubhouse, and put him up in a hotel just in case?

 
Taxi squad is a term used to describe exactly what you said: bringing a player to the team's location on an emergency/just-in-case basis, letting him work-out/practice with the team, but not adding him to the active roster.  The only limitation is that the player can only remain on the "taxi squad" for 24 hours.  If he's not activated in that 24 hour period, he has to be sent back to his minor league team.
 
Castillo is in Toronto in case Hanley fails to take BP, or has an adverse reaction to BP (swelling in his hand/wrist, for example), and has to be placed on the DL.  Basically, the Red Sox don't want to continue effectively having a 2-man bench like they've done for the last five days.  Either Hanley will be available if needed tonight, or he'll be put on the DL and Castillo will be activated.

 

[Harry Hooper]

He's usually up on the details, but Dale Arnold embarrassing himself with his asking "Why not just call up Craig to be the reserve OF/1B?"
 
hint: ideal gas law    majors/minors contract terms and salary cap

 

[E5 Yaz]

 
Taxi squad is a term used to describe exactly what you said: bringing a player to the team's location on an emergency/just-in-case basis, letting him work-out/practice with the team, but not adding him to the active roster.  The only limitation is that the player can only remain on the "taxi squad" for 24 hours.  If he's not activated in that 24 hour period, he has to be sent back to his minor league team.

 
It got its name because that is how Rusney will be returning to Pawtucket

 

[nattysez]

 
He can only stay on the "taxi squad" for 24 hours before they have to activate him or send him back to the minors.  The impact, overall, is minimal if he doesn't stay.  And as I said earlier, what other option do they have to replace Hanley?  Castillo is the only healthy outfielder they have on the 40-man roster who's not already on the 25-man roster.

 
I understand that this is a relatively small, one-to-two day issue, and it makes sense given the situation Ben has created.  It's just crazy that the one guy who really needs as many ABs as possible is getting jerked around like this.  
 
In other semi-related news:
 
 

Rob Bradford ‏@bradfo  5m5 minutes ago
Farrell hinted at Victorino, De Aza platoon in RF when Victorino returns, which will likely be Friday

 
 

Pete Abraham ‏@PeteAbe  5m5 minutes ago
Hanley Ramirez will take BP on the field today. Decent chance he starts on Wednesday sounds like.

 
So it sounds like JBJ will be heading back down, along with Castillo.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I understand that this is a relatively small, one-to-two day issue, and it makes sense given the situation Ben has created.  It's just crazy that the one guy who really needs as many ABs as possible is getting jerked around like this.

Such is the life of a minor leaguer with options. I'm not sure one day off really qualifies as "jerking around" but whatever.
 

So it sounds like JBJ will be heading back down, along with Castillo.

Assuming Hanley is good to go, that makes all kinds of sense.  As much as it would be nice to see JBJ get an extended run with regular playing time, he's not going to get it if Hanley and Victorino are on the roster and healthy enough to play every day.  Better he get regular playing time in Pawtucket than at best platoon time with Victorino.

 

[nattysez]

Such is the life of a minor leaguer with options. I'm not sure one day off really qualifies as "jerking around" but whatever.
 

Assuming Hanley is good to go, that makes all kinds of sense.  As much as it would be nice to see JBJ get an extended run with regular playing time, he's not going to get it if Hanley and Victorino are on the roster and healthy enough to play every day.  Better he get regular playing time in Pawtucket than at best platoon time with Victorino.

 
"Jerking around" referred to him being sent up and down throughout the year, not getting playing time when he's up, etc.  This is hardly an isolated incident.  
 
Treating a 28 year-old $72mm investment like he's Randy Kutcher, shuttling him between Pawtucket and Boston constantly and giving him sporadic playing time seems like a good way to retard his development, but others obviously disagree.