Phillies Sign OF Nick Castellanos 5 Yrs, 100 Million

[Patchmk88]

Outfielder Nick Castellanos and the Philadelphia Phillies are in agreement on a contract, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan ( @JeffPassan ) March 19, 2022

Source confirms: Castellanos in agreement with Phillies on five-year, $100M contract. First to report: @JonHeyman . Analysis on Phillies and Castellanos from Jayson and Matt earlier in the day…. https://t.co/knrlhTb3Jd

— Ken Rosenthal ( @Ken_Rosenthal ) March 19, 2022

[Austinfan]

So next year we're going to owe a lot of money to players 30 or older.
With a barren farm system.
Why do I think 1993, not 2006?

[julio]

Why do I think 1993, not 2006?

1993 was a heck of a ride, Austinfan.

[xogfog]

Plus, the 1993 team was made up of a lot of cast offs and no stars. This team has proven players with the potential to hit a lot of balls out of the park including 2 time MVP and a Cy Young finalist.

[bigegypt0417]

Farm system is not barren.

[zambonir]

'93 Phillies or 2009 Yankees, either way, I'll take it. Plus we traded exactly zero prospects for JT (the second time) Harper, Wheeler, Didi and now Schwarber and Castellanos (except a draft pick). It will be a ride, and where the roster ends up in 2025 will be the same either way. If the next crop of hitters actually develops they can afford to eat some of this $ and if they don't they would have been in a bind anyway.

[baseballoldie]

Wouldn’t surprise me if Castellanos has an opt out after a year or two although giving up a draft pick would suggest not.

[LoneStarPhan]

Phillies To Sign Nick Castellanos

MLB Trade Rumors post says the signing costs the Phillies two draft picks (second and fifth highest) and one million dollars in international money.

Phillies sign slugger Nick Castellanos, bolster lineup, blow past luxury tax

Jim Salisbury (in above) reports that there is no opt-out or no-trade clause.

[andyb]

MLB Trade Rumors post says the signing costs the Phillies two draft picks (second and fifth highest) and one million dollars in international money.

This is the higher penalty for teams paying the luxury tax. Conceivably this could be reduced to just a 2nd and $500K if we got under the threshold. We are something like $6 million over but might need to drop $10 million to be under for the season. Moving Didi while only picking up like $5 million of salary would do it, though that would cost a prospect so may not be worth it.

[andyb]

On second thought, I think 2 draft picks and one million of international money is wrong. The Phillies are not a luxury tax payer yet. That calculation won't happen until the end of the 2022 season after the July draft. Pretty sure it will be just a second and $500K because it has to be calculated on 2021.

[julio]

On second thought, I think 2 draft picks and one million of international money is wrong. The Phillies are not a luxury tax payer yet. That calculation won't happen until the end of the 2022 season after the July draft. Pretty sure it will be just a second and $500K because it has to be calculated on 2021.

I think this is correct. The 2022 draft is (apparently - nobody’s seen the text of the CBA or the new MLB Rules yet) being conducted per the prior CBA’s rules, and as I recall, it’s the prior-year CBT calculation that determines draft penalties. I can check the old rule later this morning.

The mlbtraderumors article was less than clear - at one point, it said the penalty would be 2nd round pick and $500k in international bonus money; at another point, it cited the higher, tax payer level penalty. Looked like “article by committee.”

[Squire]

Bummed to lose a 2nd round pick and the international money but I don't disagree with the notion that we can't really waste the Harper/Realmuto hoping to build a farm system for their age 35 years. Have always liked Castellanos since the 2010 draft when we should have taken him instead of Biddle.

[saycheese]

I have to say I am really surprised and say pleasantly surprised they signed Castellanos. Is our defense great no but at this point I am fine with that. I do wish if they knew they were going to do this they would have got a defensive centerfielder (and that still could happen). One that could cover a ton of ground kind of like when we had Victorino or even way back when Garry Maddox was here. I do think these moves this week make this team a better team than last years version. How much better hard to say. They will need to have some thing go their way like their starting pitching needs to stay healthy. The bullpen needs to preform better than last season and they could. Hand,, Famila and Kneble are the type of guys who can bounce back and be dominate. Overall I am thrilled they didn't sit on their hands here. Yes they are over the Luxury tax for now. They are not so far over that they can't get back under again. The hope would be that Didi shows he is healthy through say the first month of the season and they can move him and some of his salary and get back under if they want to. Either way they are paying between 1-2 million depending on accounting right now in the tax. Certainly something Middleton can do

[Austinfan]

I think this pretty much requires a trade of Hoskins in a year or two.
Too many players who's best position is DH, followed by 1B.

If Bohm can handle 3B, it makes things a little easier going forward, but they need Rojas/Muzzioti to take over CF - someone has to cover those corner OFs.

On the other hand, if Ortiz emerges at Lehigh this year, we can put him in CF and simply go with the refrain:
"defense, we don't need no stinkin' defense"

[Dirk41]

LOVE this move. HATE the Schwarber one.

With what Correa got from the Twins, would much rather have given him that money. Our defense will not only be bad, but atrocious. Castellanos is one of the 3 worst defenders in the game. Still have glaring, season crippling holes to fill and Correa would have filled two of those (defense and lead off hitter)

[bkeich]

Our pitchers are really going to need to strike out 27 every game.

Another very good hit, can’t catch the ball signing.

We will set the modern baseball record for negative defensive runs. I don’t know what it is, but it is in serious danger.

Castellanos is the reigning “worst defensive runs” since he entered the league at -93 runs. I suspect we will dominate the top (bottom) 10 of that list. Other than Realmuto, Harper is the next best fielder on the team, he is about average. The other 7 are between very bad and worst at their position. I am assuming they can pick up the ball once it stops rolling, but until then ….

Ahh, the joys of watching Lonnie Smith and the Bull play LF. We may look back at their exploits in the field fondly.

[julio]

I think this pretty much requires a trade of Hoskins in a year or two.

Hoskins will hit free agency after the 2023 season. Given these signings, he probably doesn't get a contract extension.

[rpmcmurphy]

I understand the concerns about the defense, but wow - I am shocked that our tightwad Phillies blew past the tax. Besides, defensive concerns are what late inning replacements are for, after we’re ahead 13-8.

[bkeich]

Yea, but we can’t replace everybody. Honestly, most of the time you only have maybe 1 bench spot that you could use for defense in any game,most others were used during the game.

That said, yes, we should have a great offense. Don’t know that this will work, but it should be fun (and probably frustrating sometimes) to watch.

[donaldorc]

We gonna rake! Probably will be a lot of 10-9 games.