A thought out of left field to make the Red Sox a powerful contender
COMMENTARY
If you were one of the few holding out some lingering hope that the Red Sox’ $72.5 million investment in Rusney Castillo might indeed pay some dividend with 5 1/2 years remaining on his contract, this season hasn’t been kind to your cause.
The 28-year-old former Cuban star has been terrible for the Triple A Pawtucket Red Sox, hitting only .231 with seven runs batted in. Castillo has been working on hitting curveballs and sliders with Pawtucket hitting coach Rich Gedman, and it has thus far translated to 16 strikeouts, five walks, and a .573 OPS over 20 games. He’s managed to hit .189 over his last 10.
Hence, trying to determine Castillo’s role with the parent club is a colossal waste of time.
In a perfect world, Castillo would have matured into his major league role by now, nearly two years from the day the Red Sox discovered they — in retrospect, foolishly — outbid everybody else for the guy’s services. Instead, Boston, fresh off a 14-7 win over the Oakland A’s Tuesday night that lifted the team into a virtual first-place tie with the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East, leads the AL in runs scored with 170, even with the employ of a serviceable, yet imperfect platoon of Brock Holt and Chris Young in left field.
If the Red Sox headed into spring training depending on a tandem of Castillo-Jackie Bradley, Jr.-Mookie Betts to cement the outfield for 2016 and beyond, only two-thirds held up their ends of the bargain.
It seems clearer with each passing game that Castillo won’t be the full-time solution in front of the left-field wall, leaving the Red Sox either holding out hope that the soon-to-be-22-year-old outfielder Andrew Benintendi is on a fast track to the big leagues (which he is on anyway), or looking at the trade market, even in mid-May with the team seemingly proving itself to be a contender.
Look elsewhere for talk about the odds of the Sox landing Mike Trout, a scenario that has been suggested in recent days in part thanks to Los Angeles’ fade from relevance with a 13-18 start. Not happening. Unless, of course, the Red Sox offer Xander Bogaerts, Betts, Bradley, Yoan Moncada, Rafael Devers, and Benintendi. Even then, it’s unlikely the Angels would pull the trigger. Nor is it any certainty that the Red Sox would want them to.
Someone like Colby Rasmus, who comes to Fenway this weekend for a four-game series with the Houston Astros, could be a guy who could add some extra power to a lineup that leads the AL in home runs with 34 (only three of those have come from the left-field position, all courtesy of Holt). The 29-year-old Rasmus has hit seven for the last-place Astros and is a free agent at the end of the year. He’ll be on the block at some point.
Then there’s the fascinating possibility of Ryan Braun.
It’s been almost three years since the Milwaukee Brewers’ outfielder served a suspension for his role in the Biogenesis scandal, and it seems as if the 32-year-old is back to putting up MVP-type numbers batting .363 with seven home runs, 24 runs batted in, and a 1.035 OPS. The Brewers are already 12 games in back of the 24-6 Chicago Cubs, and might be looking to unload the remainder of the $105 million, five-year contract extension he signed with the team back in 2011, keeping him under contract through 2020.
Braun makes $20 million this season, and each of the next two before the contract dips to $19 million, then $17 million before a $15 million mutual option in 2021, when Braun will be 37 years old.
For a team that will (presumably) be losing slugger David Ortiz to retirement at the end of this season, Braun presents an intriguing possibility for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski if the Brewers are indeed interested in unloading.
Yes, there’s the testosterone factor to consider, but if Red Sox fans choose to balk on Braun for that matter, it’s presumably done so with the belief that their team’s closet is clear of skeletons, a foolhardy notion of utopia for sure. Even considering that the last two full seasons were “down years” for Braun in his return to the game under a watchful eye, he still managed to hit a total of 44 home runs and drive in 165 with an .815 OPS. He’s on pace for 35 home runs and 122 RBI in 2016.
Braun has only played in eight games at Fenway Park, but the right-handed power hitter has three career home runs in Boston. Insert him into the fifth spot in the Red Sox’ 2016 lineup, and you’re looking at what would be the best 1-9 in the American League.
Move him up to the fourth spot in 2017 with the absence of Ortiz, and you’ve got a lineup seemingly more able to handle the departure of its central icon.
Braun has a no-trade clause that includes every team but six (Angels, Dodgers, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Padres, and Giants). But that could just as easily be lifted as picking up the option year. Braun’s sordid past might also keep the price tag down for Boston. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs suggests the Brewers may be lured by a deal that includes catcher/outfielder Blake Swihart, as well as proposing Milwaukee take one of Castillo or Pablo Sandoval in a bigger swap in order to help offset the cost of the remainder of Braun’s deal. The Red Sox would also receive catcher Jonathan Lucroy in such a scenario.
It’s evident that Swihart isn’t going to get the full time he needs to develop at catcher in Boston, where Dombrowski seems content to use him in order to solve the team’s outfield hole.
Perhaps, in an indirect way, he will.
Holt has been fine (.281, .771 OPS after hitting his third home run of the season Monday night), but has taken most of the at-bats from Young in the split with the Red Sox having faced a dearth of lefties so far this season. Young is hitting .250 with a .900 OPS against left-handed pitchers, but over a mere 16 of the 34 at-bats he’s been afforded. With 89 at-bats, Holt has more than doubled Young’s time at the plate.
But a guy like Ryan Braun would lift the Red Sox to another level.
If you’re still set on Rusney though, seats at McCoy Stadium should still be cheap over the next five years.
The best seats in Fenway Park
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