Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Yankees No Longer Pursuing Rusney Castillo

According to NorthJersey.com, the Yankees are no longer in the hunt for Rusney Castillo, as his asking price of around $10 million a year is apparently too rich for the Yankees.

Although the idea that it's too much money doesn't sit well with me, I'm not at all upset about not signing the Cuban 2B/OF.

For one, he's not Yasiel Puig or Jose Abreu. Castillo is not a "can't miss" prospect. And yes, I said "prospect", because until you play in Major League Baseball, that's all you are. And while the aforementioned Puig and Abreu could have been considered "top" prospects, Rusney Castillo is a second-tier prospect at best.

Another reason I'm not sad by this news is because of youngsters like Rob Refsnyder and Tyler Austin. Those two guys, who are among the better prospects in the Yankees organization, could very well man 2B and RF in the near future.

It's never a good thing to miss out on even a decent prospect, but the Yankees taking themselves out of the Rusney Castillo sweepstakes is not a head-scratcher.

8 comments:

  1. I have 2 opinions on this. One, the Yankees have made worse international investments than this. (Igawa, and I Irabu to name a couple.) And the second is that I'm not sure it will block our prospects for next year. Remember, we have to replace Ichiro, Headley, and Jeter next year. And with players like Tex, Beltran, and Arod, who knows how much DL time we need to cover.

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    1. Unless we have our 3rd baseman back and playing most every game, we only will need a fill-in 3rd baseman....ergo, Mark Prado, Super Sub!
      I am not so sure they will cut Headley, he has been great at 3rd and has been more than well at 1st also.
      I wounder who we trade Cisco and/or Romine for this winter?

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    2. Unless I read that wrong, Ken, Headley is a free agent after this season. No need to cut him.

      On that note, I'm leaning towards trying to sign him. His ceiling far exceeds what he should get as far as a contract this offseason.

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    3. I love his glove and as you pointed out, he is better than what he has shown this year so far. Re-sign him, it makes sence to me!

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  2. I want to agree with Jeff on this one. Castillo gives Joe Girardi options and that's never a bad thing to have. The kid is an athlete and played center field in Cuba so it's not like he would be tied to a single position. And while I acknowledge, and agree, that we already have that in Martin Prado I will counter with the fact that the scouting reports are always very sketchy, and pretty inaccurate, when it comes to these Cuban guys.

    Cespedes, Puig, and Abreu were not Cespedes, Puig, and Abreu before they made their way to the major leagues. I'm not entirely mad over the lack of the signing but if it's $10 million that is keeping the Yankees away than I cannot say I am entirely happy with it either. Especially when he signs a deal significantly less than that in the end.

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    1. While I can't say that I heard about Puig much before he signed, we heard plenty about Abreu and Cespedes to know that they were better bets then than Castillo is now.

      And you're right... the scouting reports out of Cuba are sketchy, so we have to trust that the Yankees scouts and others who saw him work out last week have a better grasp of the type of player he can be than we do. That could mean he's worth a $25 million commitment, but not a $50 million one.

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    2. I may have remembered wrong about Cespedes, because the person running the MLBTR chat things Castillo will get more than Yoenis did.

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  3. Bryan

    you are correct, Headley is a free agent at the end of this season. While his bat has been sub par I'd still like him back in 2015. His glove is amazing and he is a switch hitter. His .250 ish average is better than what we could get on the free agent market unless you want defensive disasters in Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez.

    Was it Puig or Cespedes that garnered all that attention with his video that went viral all over the web and Youtube? He was jumping all over crap and such. it was Cespedes, wasn't it? My point being we were the favorites to sign Cespedes and got out bid. I don't simply want to get out bid again if Castillo is worth it.

    And Castillo probably gets more if teams see him as a center fielder, even for two or three seasons, or an infielder rather than a corner outfielder. Just how the market goes I guess. Being 27 doesn't hurt either. I think a lot of his market is for playoff teams who could have him for just money and stash him on the playoff roster.

    Oh and Abreu was supposed to be good but I don't think anyone had him as one of the leaders in the AL in Home Runs and running away with (thanks to the Tanaka injury) the Rookie of the Year Award. Just like Cespedes bat was good and his arm was plus plus but I don't think anyone had him being as good as he has been.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)