Cubs Extend Castro, 7 Years/$60MM

[Funketown]

The deal has a $16MM option. It covers his four arbitration seasons and buys out three FA seasons along with the option to buy out a fourth. This seems like an extremely good deal for the Cubs, even if Castro is more of a .280/.320/.420 type of player.

 

I don't see a breakdown yet, but I imagine it could be something like $4MM-$6MM-$8MM-$9MM-$11MM-$11MM-$11MM.

[HiAndTight]

The deal has a $16MM option. It covers his four arbitration seasons and buys out three FA seasons along with the option to buy out a fourth. This seems like an extremely good deal for the Cubs, even if Castro is more of a .280/.320/.420 type of player.

 

I don't see a breakdown yet, but I imagine it could be something like $4MM-$6MM-$8MM-$9MM-$11MM-$11MM-$11MM.

 

 

 

Yeah, this is a very smart deal. Pretty basic deal for Theo. Seems to me he made a lot of deals like this in Boston with a lot of his guys. There are obviously always exceptions(if Scott Boras is your agent).

 

Hell, this is just a pretty basic deal for any GM around baseball. If you have an elite SS, and I think despite some of Castro's issues, ie, his lack of concentration, his lack of elite defensive skills, Castro is still clearly among the elite group of Shortstops(I'd still rather have Profar over him Crew07), I think most teams would be happy with this type of deal, and most what...22(?) year old kids would love this type of certainty.

 

With a modicum of common sense(which is sadly lacking in professional athlete when it comes to their finances) he should be set up for life, and in 20-30 years be worth 100 million dollars easily even if he splurges and spends on cars and a couple nice houses even without a second contract.

 

But...we all know how that goes.

 

 

Anyway, good move for the Cubs, I wish they'd have held off for another couple years so they'd have to pay a lot more, but that was always unlikely.

 

It's one of the things I love above how the Brewers go about business. They've done this time and time again.

 

And I'd rather sign every guy who is a top prospect, or has a couple great years and has 4 years left, to sign them to that 5-6 year deal. If you look at it, if you sign guys like Lucroy, Braun, Gallardo(I thought they should have signed Weeks earlier) then the Hall type deals, if we'd have signed McGehee(whom I admit I never liked, just using him as an example) and Axford, then you may have a couple who are overpaid, but in the long run, you're saving a lot of money instead of trying to sign them when they go to free agency).

[jerichoholicninja]

Is Castro really an "elite" shortstop or are we just assuming he's going to become one because he's so young? I don't think this a bad deal, especially for a team like the Cubs, but I don't think this is in any way a bargain.

[igor67]

I feel compelled to point out that many think these players are leaving money on the table when they sign these type of deals, but the risk here is a two way street. How excited would the Cubs be to have had Geovany Soto due another 30 million in the next couple of years? There are plenty of other examples as well Rocco Baldelli. Our own might Casey would have been a disaster. Prospects are always a nice case in point, look no further than Dylan Covey who under the best circumstances (which are a long shot at this point) might break even with the deal he turned down. Unfortunately Boras corporation can spread the risk of any individual player losing value and continually role the free agent dice. Players operating on his advice however have no such luxury.

[Bazinga]

Is Castro really an "elite" shortstop or are we just assuming he's going to become one because he's so young? I don't think this a bad deal, especially for a team like the Cubs, but I don't think this is in any way a bargain.

 

As Cub fan I agree with the notion that Castro isn't an elite shortstop right now. But this extension he signed means Theo and company believes he will become an elite SS very soon. Either way, this is one smart move by the Cubs, something you could not or would say about previous Cub regimes.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

It bums me out to see the Cubs doing smart things. Even if Castro isn't "elite" (depending on how one defines it), he should be a top quartile SS for the life of the contract. I'm worried the Cubs could wind up dominating the division in the second half of the decade.

[HiAndTight]

Well, he's 22 years old, a two time all-star, a .300 career hitter in three full seasons, and still has a lot of room to grow.

 

He's struggled a little bit this year, but his age 20 and 21 seasons combined he hit .304/.343 and a .766 OPS in about 285 games. When you look around at SS play right now, I'd place him in that elite category overall.

 

I remember when arguing for Profar was a SS who had a set of skills no other SS in the game had, argued vehemently that Castro did and was a better bet and it seemed like others agreed.

 

Either way, the comment regarding Soto for the Cubs, If you have enough really high ceiling young players and you sign them to these types of deals, the amount of money they're leaving on the table makes up for a player or two not "hitting." For instance when we had Hardy, Hart, Weeks, Prince, Braun and Gallardo. We signed Gallardo and Braun(I left Prince out as he wasn't going to sign) if we signed all of them to long term deals(not for 7/60, but early on in their careers like with Braun) then we'd still have saved money despite losing out on Hall and McGehee(had he signed).

 

 

If I was the Rays, I'd be trying to sign Moore, Hellickson, Jennings and perhaps a couple others to long term contracts now and risk a couple becoming a bust because if a guy like Moore pans out, you could have a player who is one of the most overpowering and more dominant pitchers in the game locked up if he pans out while Hellickson and Jennings could both become regular all-star types.

[Funketown]

Even if Castro is mediocre he'll be worth every penny of the $11 million he'll be getting in his three bought out FA years. I haven't watched him a ton but it doesn't seem like people are calling for him to be moved from SS in the near future.

 

As a Brewers fan if you told me I could have an average fielding SS who could put up a consistent .270/.310/.410 line for $11 million per season I'd be fine with that. Going forward I expect Castro to be a bit better than that.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned on TV at all last night but after a Brewer struck in the second or third inning, Vitters threw the ball into right field while they were throwing it around. I think the reason the throw was so bad was because Starlin had his head in the clouds and was staring off somewhere into center field and Josh didn't want to hit him with it. I wonder if he might have ADHD or something. It seems impossible for a professional ballplayer to do as many stupid things as he does.

[HiAndTight]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned on TV at all last night but after a Brewer struck in the second or third inning, Vitters threw the ball into right field while they were throwing it around. I think the reason the throw was so bad was because Starlin had his head in the clouds and was staring off somewhere into center field and Josh didn't want to hit him with it. I wonder if he might have ADHD or something. It seems impossible for a professional ballplayer to do as many stupid things as he does.

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you're referring to specifically with Vitters throwing the ball into RF as I didn't see it, but it's very possible he's got ADHD. Or he's just 22 and gets bored when the stakes aren't very high, or he's just not that mature yet....it's something he obviously has to fix.

 

But I think the .270/.310/420 line someone posted as though they'd be thrilled to have that, I think we're going to have that in Segura by the way, but I think that's the floor on Castro(which may have been the point being made). I think he has the skills to be a solid defender at SS and a .310/.355/.475 hitter. Lets keep in mind, again, he's still just 22.

 

But I agree with the premise. Even if he doesn't perform like he did his first two seasons, with the SS position the way it is right now, he's certainly a very valuable player.

[HiAndTight]

I feel compelled to point out that many think these players are leaving money on the table when they sign these type of deals, but the risk here is a two way street. How excited would the Cubs be to have had Geovany Soto due another 30 million in the next couple of years? There are plenty of other examples as well Rocco Baldelli. Our own might Casey would have been a disaster. Prospects are always a nice case in point, look no further than Dylan Covey who under the best circumstances (which are a long shot at this point) might break even with the deal he turned down. Unfortunately Boras corporation can spread the risk of any individual player losing value and continually role the free agent dice. Players operating on his advice however have no such luxury.

 

 

I think you're comparing apples to oranges here.

 

Baldelli very well may have been a superstar if not for an illness that ultimately ended his career.

Soto was never an elite prospect and didn't start out his career with back to back AS type seasons, so if they'd have signed him after his ROY season, you wouldn't be talking about a contract nearly this big, and if they'd have signed him after his third season, they'd have regretted it. But I think that's still a smarter way to go about it. If Rizzo continues to hit well this year and then puts up another big year next year, he'd be another guy if I where the Cubs I'd sign.

 

But what I don't understand if why you're talking about prospects. When you have 405 games played and a WAR of 8 in about 2 1/2 seasons, you're not a prospect anymore. The only prospect you mentioned was Covey, and there you're talking about a 2 million dollar risk, hardly a big deal, and he certainly doesn't fit into this discussion IMO.

 

And as far as Boras spreading out the risk, so to can the Clubs if you have enough impact talent coming up together.