Tag: Baseball Reference

Congratulations to My Good Friend Rusney Castillo On Making His Second Straight Triple-A All-Star Team

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Rusney Castillo, now 31-years-old, is sneaky having one of the best seasons a Pawtucket Worcester Red Sox player has ever had. He just earned his second straight All-Star nod down in Triple-A and is batting a league leading .323 and if he keeps that up he’d be the first PawSox player to win a batting title since Wade Boggs did it in 1981. May he rest in peace.

This is just another stark reminder of how badly the Red Sox have bungled their roster and their payroll over the past several years. It’s not even all payroll luxury taxes the Sox are afraid of either, its just old fashioned money that John Henry is probably sick of spending. According to Spotrac the Sox currently have $164 million in salaries on the Active Payroll, $36 million in salaries on the Disabled List, and $42 million in RETAINED Salary. Thats $1 million to Allen Craig, $22 million to Hanley Ramirez, and $18 million to Pablo Sandoval. All of whom are obviously no longer on the Red Sox. Woof.

Oh and Manny Ramirez is making $2 million from the Sox this year in Deferred Salary as well.

While Rusney is only a career .262 hitter in 337 plate appearances at the major league level, it’s a goddamn shame the Sox can’t won’t call up a guy hitting the cover off the ball in Triple-A solely because of his salary.

The contract they gave him based off an out of context And 1 Mixtape was absurd, which is why he currently makes $11 million to play at McCoy Stadium. BUT to refuse to bring up a guy who is challenging for the Batting Title in Triple-A because of money is an unthinkable move from a franchise as rich as the Boston Red Sox. He could bat .400 and they wouldn’t call him up because they don’t want to go into the luxury tax.

Yup, I would much rather have Tzu-Wei Lin (career .230 hitter), Tony Renda (career .183 hitter), and Sam Travis (career .250 hitter) coming off the bench in September and October.

Oh well, here’s to you Rusney Castillo, friend of The 300s, Triple-A All-Star, and the highest paid person in the history of Rhode Island.

Three Years Ago Today the Red Sox Signed Colossal Bust Rusney Castillo

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Man time flies. Three years since the Red Sox dumped a 7-year $72.5 million contract in Rusney Castillo’s lap on a whim. And this is why you do not get hyped about a player over a goddamn YouTube video.

Did we learn nothing from Yi Jianlian AKA “The Chairman“? Rusney Castillo looked like he was gonna be a 5-tool stud that the Sox plucked out of Cuba. We’d pair him with Yoenis Cespedes, Hanley Ramirez (and maybe even Giancarlo Stanton?) to form the Cuban Missile Crisis. Right? Well actually not a single one of those guys plays OF for the Red Sox today. Rusney turned out to be a complete bum and has taken up residence as the highest paid player in Minor League Baseball (I chose not to fact check this).

Over parts of 3 seasons in the big leagues Castillo is a career .262 hitter in 317 at bats with 7 HR, 35 RBI and 7 Stolen Bases with a .301 OBP. As a potential 5-tool player, Castillo proved to actually not have a single one of those tools.

Baseball Reference pegs his 162 game average season at .262/.301/.379 with 11 HR 57 RBI 74 Runs and 11 SB. All of that for the cool price of $72.5 Million. And he’s still got THREE YEARS left on his contract at $11M, $11M and $14M. At least Pablo Sandoval made a few DL trips as an excuse. What. A. Disaster.

PS – Rusney Castillo has a .286 career batting average in the minors over 800+ at bats. The $72 Million player can’t even hit .300 playing against kids in Rhode Island.