Tag: Sam Travis

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.

Less Than a Week After Cutting Hanley Ramirez, Red Sox Place Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia on the DL

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Solid plan guys. I understand keeping Hanley Ramirez may have just been a fit issue with fellow 1B/DH Mitch Moreland absolutely crushing the ball lately (.305 and 10 HRs), but you couldn’t find a way to make it work?

As much as I don’t want to see JD Martinez in the outfield, you know he wants to play the field so rotate him out there and get Hanley at 1B or DH and just wait out his recent cold streak. He was only hitting .259 with 6 dingers, but he was still the Sox No. 3 hitter. The guy can rake like no one else when he gets going so to just dust him because the *Boston Red Sox* are worried about $22 Million next year is insane.

In a hilarious turn of events the move blows up in their faces not even a week later with both Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia going on the DL. So now we’re relying on Brock Holt and Blake Swihart. Oh and the Sox also called up Sam Travis who was hitting a cool .213 in Pawtucket. Forgive me if I’m not jumping at those options over Hanley.

The Sox also signed veteran 1B free agent Adam Lind too, which would have been awesome if it were 2009. He’ll be emergency depth as the Sox have stashed him at Pawtucket while paying him what I can only assume is the veteran minimum. So its peanuts for a guy, who in fairness, did hit .303 in 301 plate appearances for the Nationals last year. I guess if you’re the Sox you’d rather pay a guy $500,000 to hit just above the Mendoza line than risk locking yourself into $22 million next year.

But have the Sox been penny wise and pound foolish? I would expect Mookie to not miss much time, but its impossible to say what will happen with Pedroia. He’s coming off an invasive knee surgery and will soon be 35-years-old. When healthy he’s still very productive and a tough out, but he’s rarely been healthy recently. Pedroia has played in more than 105 games just once in the last 3 seasons so thats not exactly confidence inspiring. Ideally the Sox would have another bat that could play 2B to fill in for Pedroia rather than trying to mishmash Hanley into the lineup around two other guys that play the same position. However, the Sox don’t have that luxury this year as Eduardo Nunez has crashed back to Earth hitting .259 with just 17 extra base hits on the year.

So long story short? Don’t cut guys that can swing the stick for no other reason than to maybe save a few bucks next year. Not if you’re the Boston Red Sox. Unless of course John Henry and co. are stuffing cash under the mattress to go after a guy like Bryce Harper or Manny Machado this offseason. If thats the case then I’ll print this blog out and eat it with a nice lemon zest for flavor.

PS – Its possible the Sox got rid of Hanley because he was just a total cancer in the clubhouse. I don’t know whether thats true or not, but Ken Rosenthal strongly implies that was a big reason. If thats the case, then do what you gotta do.

“Some with the team believe the removal of Ramirez from the clubhouse will create more room for others to assert themselves and become leaders,” Rosenthal said in a video on FOXSports.com. “One player who is a top candidate to assume such a role? J.D. Martinez. Dustin Pedroia is the only other prominent veteran among the team’s position players and he is back on the DL.”