Cubs get Castellanos for Lange and Richan

[itisallpartoftheplan]

Edited July 31, 2019 by itisallpartoftheplan

[Brian]

hey it is something at least.

[Andy]

hey it is something at least.

He was the best bat realistically available, so I'm pretty impressed they managed to get him.

[Cubswin11]

Excellent, a much more solid deadline with this move.

[Bertz]

[tweet]

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[tfarks]

Sweet. Feelings on trade deadline improve dramatically.

[Post Count Padder]

Not thrilled about giving up those guys but Lange hasn't shown anything and Richan is a few years away. Gotta do it.

[squally1313]

 

[Cubswin11]

Drafting soft tossers who don’t top 88 finally pays off!

[Tryptamine]

Not thrilled about giving up those guys but Lange hasn't shown anything and Richan is a few years away. Gotta do it.

 

I think Lange's upside is Kintzler at this point and Richan's is probably back of the rotation starter. A bit more than I thought but definitely not going to sweat it.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm not going to gnash teeth over the individual players, but I'm again bummed that we're still on this multi-year track of frittering away prospect currency on so many rentals. It doesn't help that I am not a very big Castellanos believer, hard to get too over the moon over a position player that is the worst defender on the roster and not in the top dozen or so hitters against RHP.

[Sammy Sofa]

[Bote McBoteface]

I'm not going to gnash teeth over the individual players, but I'm again bummed that we're still on this multi-year track of frittering away prospect currency on so many rentals. It doesn't help that I am not a very big Castellanos believer, hard to get too over the moon over a position player that is the worst defender on the roster and not in the top dozen or so hitters against RHP.

 

Does Castellanos not move into a platoon with Schwarbs? Or does he play right and move Heyward to Center?

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm not going to gnash teeth over the individual players, but I'm again bummed that we're still on this multi-year track of frittering away prospect currency on so many rentals. It doesn't help that I am not a very big Castellanos believer, hard to get too over the moon over a position player that is the worst defender on the roster and not in the top dozen or so hitters against RHP.

 

Much as the galaxy-brained solution to the Cubs being better is that Kris Bryant simply needs to decide to make fewer outs, the easy answer to these trade woes is for Theo and co. to decide to get better at making baseball guys. D'UH.

[squally1313]

I'm not going to gnash teeth over the individual players, but I'm again bummed that we're still on this multi-year track of frittering away prospect currency on so many rentals. It doesn't help that I am not a very big Castellanos believer, hard to get too over the moon over a position player that is the worst defender on the roster and not in the top dozen or so hitters against RHP.

 

Does Castellanos not move into a platoon with Schwarbs? Or does he play right and move Heyward to Center?

 

Ideally it's a platoon, but that relies on some combination of Bote, Garcia, Happ, Almora, and eventually Zobrist being able to fill an outfield spot/3B, second, and center. So I can see him getting more starts than just the soft side of a platoon.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm not going to gnash teeth over the individual players, but I'm again bummed that we're still on this multi-year track of frittering away prospect currency on so many rentals. It doesn't help that I am not a very big Castellanos believer, hard to get too over the moon over a position player that is the worst defender on the roster and not in the top dozen or so hitters against RHP.

 

Does Castellanos not move into a platoon with Schwarbs? Or does he play right and move Heyward to Center?

 

That probably depends on a number of things, from how well Happ and Bote play, to if and when Zobrist comes back. Castellanos being a nothing against RHP is bad either way, because even if you aren't overextending him, he's a guy who's easy to game plan around in late innings and he lacks a defining tool like Daniel Murphy's contact ability to help smooth that out.

[Cubswin11]

I'm not going to gnash teeth over the individual players, but I'm again bummed that we're still on this multi-year track of frittering away prospect currency on so many rentals. It doesn't help that I am not a very big Castellanos believer, hard to get too over the moon over a position player that is the worst defender on the roster and not in the top dozen or so hitters against RHP.

 

Does Castellanos not move into a platoon with Schwarbs? Or does he play right and move Heyward to Center?

I’m guessing he’s closer to full time starter than platoon guy, he probably sits vs some RHP. I think I’d send Bote down for ~2 weeks for him and see if Bote can hit a mini reset.

[Little Slide Rooter]

In related news, this is actual footage of Tony Kemp’s time with the Cubs:

 

[Cubswin11]

I'm not going to gnash teeth over the individual players, but I'm again bummed that we're still on this multi-year track of frittering away prospect currency on so many rentals. It doesn't help that I am not a very big Castellanos believer, hard to get too over the moon over a position player that is the worst defender on the roster and not in the top dozen or so hitters against RHP.

 

Does Castellanos not move into a platoon with Schwarbs? Or does he play right and move Heyward to Center?

 

That probably depends on a number of things, from how well Happ and Bote play, to if and when Zobrist comes back. Castellanos being a nothing against RHP is bad either way, because even if you aren't overextending him, he's a guy who's easy to game plan around in late innings and he lacks a defining tool like Daniel Murphy's contact ability to help smooth that out.

He has a career 103 wRC+ vs RHP. That’s better than a lot of the Happ/Bote/Descalso/etc bunch has been for some time.

[Cubswin11]

In related news, this is actual footage of Tony Kemp’s time with the Cubs:

 

Huh?

[Sammy Sofa]

In related news, this is actual footage of Tony Kemp’s time with the Cubs:

 

 

What in the world.

[Cubswin11]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[squally1313]

In related news, this is actual footage of Tony Kemp’s time with the Cubs:

 

 

Assuming we keep 13 pitchers...

 

1. Willy

2. Vic

3. Rizzo

4. Baez

5. Bryant

6. Heyward

7. Schwarber

8. Castellanos

 

That leaves four spots for

 

1. Garcia

2. Bote

3. Almora

4. Kemp

5. Happ

 

My guess is Garcia goes back down given Kemp's ability to play second. Zobrist doesn't see Wrigley until the rosters expand. We've see the last of DeScalso (and hopefully Russell).

[Tryptamine]

I very much doubt Castellanos is getting platooned. He's going to be an everyday bat. Also, I agree that Robel is going to be headed back to Iowa with the Kemp trade.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

Does Castellanos not move into a platoon with Schwarbs? Or does he play right and move Heyward to Center?

 

That probably depends on a number of things, from how well Happ and Bote play, to if and when Zobrist comes back. Castellanos being a nothing against RHP is bad either way, because even if you aren't overextending him, he's a guy who's easy to game plan around in late innings and he lacks a defining tool like Daniel Murphy's contact ability to help smooth that out.

He has a career 103 wRC+ vs RHP. That’s better than a lot of the Happ/Bote/Descalso/etc bunch has been for some time.

 

Bote or Descalso, sure. But I'll take most every lefty over him against RHP(Caratini, Rizzo, Robel, Schwarber, Heyward, Happ, Zobrist when he comes back) plus the obvious Bryant, Baez, Contreras; and there's more than a few situations where I'd rather have Kemp or even potentially Almora(if contact was goal #1). It's not that he's completely unhelpful, I know I'm being a little harsh in the characterization. But I don't see this as any different in terms of impact as Kemp or Maldonado, and not a 'big bat' or major acquisition in the sense that even Murphy was.