Much of Red‘offseason has been focused on moving players (ie negotiation Raisel Iglesias, without contest Archie Bradley) instead of adding, and eyebrows went up last month when it was reported that Luis castilloThe name of was appearing in trade negotiations. There was no indication that these conversations were serious, however, and Reds vice president / general manager Nick Krall vehemently denied the matter to reporters (including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com) According to Krall, speculation about a Castillo trade is “completely false. We intend to have [Castillo] as a member of our rotation for 2021. “
Castillo and the Reds recently agreed to a $ 4.2 million contract that avoids arbitration for 2021, and the right hand is still under the team’s control until 2023, thanks to another two years of eligibility for arbitration. Between that accessibility, Castillo’s three years of control and the ability to rotate, there’s really no urgent reason for Cincinnati to move Castillo. Since the Reds appear to be focusing on cutting payroll this winter, an argument could be made that Castillo could be attached to an agreement that would get a bigger contract (ie Mike Moustakas, Nick Castellanos) out of books, but that would seem like an extremely extreme move. One could imagine that Castillo would not be traded unless the Reds were changing course entirely and now looking to rebuild.
More pitch notes from across the league …
- Julio TeheranTuesday’s showcase will include another Mato Sports Management client, such as Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link) reports that Anibal Sanchez will also be playing for scouts. Like Tehran, Sanchez is trying to recover from a tough 2020 season, as Sanchez posted an ERA of 6.62 out of 53 entries for Nacional last year. The Phillies were recently associated with Sanchez, but it has been a quiet winter for news about the 36-year-old. Considering that Sanchez was still showing solid results in 2019 (for World Series champion Nats, no less), his market may start to recover if scouts like what they see on Tuesday. O Red Sox will have scouts available to see Sanchez and Tehran, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets.
- Speaking of Red Sox, Manager Alex Cora noted that his team is still exploring more rotation additions. “I’ll keep saying this until April 1st [Opening Day], this puzzle is not completed. We have to be patient, ”Cora said in an interview on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (audio link) That said, Cora is also pleased with the Boston group’s current group of pitchers, saying the Sox has more depth of pitch now than it did in the 2019 or 2020 seasons. “Gradually, the front office did a good job during last year’s season and [in] the off season to add some quality weapons, some intriguing weapons, ”Cora said.