Castellanos to Reds 4 years 16M a year?

[Ennder]

Didn't seem sure on contract yet. Gonna be an interesting season in the Central. Not sure how he fits in, kind of like our Avisail signing.

 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Feels like Cincinnati is in a race to be MLB's Washington Redskins.

[Ennder]

Most of their deals make sense though. There is a chance that the pieces just don't fit together but there is a chance that it works too. I think a lot depends on Trevor Bauer. If they get the ace version of him they could be scary. Thing is he has only shown that version once. So strange to see a pitcher with that long of a track record with only a single season under his career ERA line.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Apparently they have made Senzel available via trade now. I don't think the Reds have any idea what they are doing.

[JimH5]

The Reds look for real.

 

Strong rotation and lots of power.

 

I put them in contention for the division.

[Bulldogboy]

Reds are clear favorites to win division to me. Things happen and they obviously have to do it on the field but they have the pieces. They are striking just as the Brewers and Cubs have decided to take a year off from trying to win big. Good for their fans. It feels like it's been forever since they have been good but they have such a rich history. Another mid market team investing in the product the fans pay to see. Interesting concept.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Reds are clear favorites to win division to me. Things happen and they obviously have to do it on the field but they have the pieces. They are striking just as the Brewers and Cubs have decided to take a year off from trying to win big. Good for their fans. It feels like it's been forever since they have been good but they have such a rich history. Another mid market team investing in the product the fans pay to see. Interesting concept.

 

And they are going to have plenty of spots available on their bandwagon this year after being terrible for the last 6 years, and 16 of the last 20. The Reds have become known for sitting out on free agency and passing up on big moves to vault themselves into competitiveness. Calling a one-year shopping spree "investing in the product" to take a backhanded slap at the Brewers is pretty inaccurate.

[Ennder]

I mean projection systems still don't have them as a clear favorite so I think that is projecting a little extra on them. They are right in the same range as everyone else now. Making up 15 games in the standings takes a lot more than people realize.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Reds are clear favorites to win division to me. Things happen and they obviously have to do it on the field but they have the pieces. They are striking just as the Brewers and Cubs have decided to take a year off from trying to win big. Good for their fans. It feels like it's been forever since they have been good but they have such a rich history. Another mid market team investing in the product the fans pay to see. Interesting concept.

 

This is so over the top. Must be really amazing to be a Reds fan this year. They won the Central in January. Makes me wonder why they didn't "decide" to win it for the last six years instead of averaging 69 wins a season.

 

And yeah, I'm sure the Cubs and Brewers are actively taking a year off from winning. I bet that's exactly the conversation going on behind closed doors.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I think this sets the Reds up really well to get a ton of calls starting in late June by contending teams looking to add starting pitching depth at the deadline. I'm not buying this roster gelling enough to truly be the class of a division - no matter what the Brewers/Cubs/Cards have or haven't done yet this offseason.

 

They were everyone's darlings to make a jump in the division standings last offseason and it got them 75 wins. The teams in front of them are still good teams with talent - making a 10-15 win jump from 75 into playoff contention is a bigger hurdle than going from mid 60's to mid 70's.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Deal is the same at Moose's 4 years/$64 million.

 

Obviously Moose brings much better defensive value. But Castellanos has youth on his side. If I were Stearns, I would have made that deal. Oh well.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

They'll eventually have a good season. It might be 2020. I'm just fully exhausted of the Mark Attanasio is scamming the fans angle, the and idea that they should be anointed division champions today is laughable.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

Yeah this definitely puts the Reds in the mix. Don’t see them being prohibitively favorites though. The Cardinals clearly are taking the largest step back of the top 4 teams, IMO. Us and the Cubs are right there with the Reds for the top 3. Think the Cubs are being sold short a bit. Their whole offense is still in prime years, they project to have the most offense WAR in the division. Our offense projects about the same as the Reds based on ZIPS. Even with adding Castellanos.

[Bulldogboy]

Reds are clear favorites to win division to me. Things happen and they obviously have to do it on the field but they have the pieces. They are striking just as the Brewers and Cubs have decided to take a year off from trying to win big. Good for their fans. It feels like it's been forever since they have been good but they have such a rich history. Another mid market team investing in the product the fans pay to see. Interesting concept.

 

This is so over the top. Must be really amazing to be a Reds fan this year. They won the Central in January. Makes me wonder why they didn't "decide" to win it for the last six years instead of averaging 69 wins a season.

 

And yeah, I'm sure the Cubs and Brewers are actively taking a year off from winning. I bet that's exactly the conversation going on behind closed doors.

Anyone who says the Brewers and Cubs have sat down and thought in order to win it all this year we have to do x and look at their off season and think mission accomplished is too deep into fandom to see reality. Neither team is better than when the year ended. The Reds clearly are. I am brewers fan but I'm not buying the trust the process nonsense. I trust pitching. They still don't have any.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Another mid market team investing in the product the fans pay to see. Interesting concept.

 

What's interesting about that concept is trying to make the point of the Brewers not signing free agents or investing in their club to make them competitive on the field. That's totally inaccurate, particularly since Stearns became GM.

 

Not to mention Cincinnati, while not the Yankees in terms of market size, is a larger market than Milwaukee.

[clancyphile]

Deal is the same at Moose's 4 years/$64 million.

 

Obviously Moose brings much better defensive value. But Castellanos has youth on his side. If I were Stearns, I would have made that deal. Oh well.

 

With an opt-out after 2020.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

They'll eventually have a good season. It might be 2020. I'm just fully exhausted of the Mark Attanasio is scamming the fans angle, the and idea that they should be anointed division champions today is laughable.

 

Agreed. The first thing I thought when I saw the Castellanos news this morning was that there would be a segment of Brewer fans who would use it as an excuse to rip the team. Honestly it sometimes seems like it would be easier to swear off all message boards and social media until June, when the Brewers are going to be right there among those in contention. It just seems like there are those who follow this team that are waiting for every little reason to come in guns blazing to rip on this team. I don't get it.

[Bulldogboy]

Can someone remind me who is the Brewers number 2 starter?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Yeah this definitely puts the Reds in the mix. Don’t see them being prohibitively favorites though. The Cardinals clearly are taking the largest step back of the top 4 teams, IMO. Us and the Cubs are right there with the Reds for the top 3. Think the Cubs are being sold short a bit. Their whole offense is still in prime years, they project to have the most offense WAR in the division. Our offense projects about the same as the Reds based on ZIPS. Even with adding Castellanos.

 

I think Maddon moving on is pretty severely underrated. That guy, for all his quirks, was a really good manager. Ross might be fine as well, but going from Maddon to a rookie manager could very well be a massive downgrade.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Cool, let me borrow your crystal ball when you're done with it. I genuinely do think the Brewers have a better lineup than they did last year, and the continued freakout about the corner infield where they had two guys that made Mendoza look good for half the season is funny.

 

The SP is as good or better; their "ace" couldn't even finish out the year. They had a very high number of things go wrong and still flirted with 90 games, so no, I'm not white-flagging it for the 70-win Reds in January.

 

It has nothing to do with being "too deep in fandom to see reality."

 

It's just getting exhausting and frustrating to read the same crap in the offseason every year when the team continue to defy all the pessimism. At what point does their winning buy a little bit of trust? Evidently not after 3 years of it.

[Bulldogboy]

Another mid market team investing in the product the fans pay to see. Interesting concept.

 

What's interesting about that concept is trying to make the point of the Brewers not signing free agents or investing in their club to make them competitive on the field. That's totally inaccurate, particularly since Stearns became GM.

 

Not to mention Cincinnati, while not the Yankees in terms of market size, is a larger market than Milwaukee.

They are a mid market team. Like many who have spent money this season.

[Ennder]

Deal is the same at Moose's 4 years/$64 million.

 

Obviously Moose brings much better defensive value. But Castellanos has youth on his side. If I were Stearns, I would have made that deal. Oh well.

 

You wouldn't have made that deal right now though right? We already have too many OF, where would Castellanos have played? He's like a 1 win upgrade over our current 1B if you are thinking there. Not spending that type of money for that. I mean I could see doing it instead of Garcia, but not after it.

[Bulldogboy]

Cool, let me borrow your crystal ball when you're done with it. I genuinely do think the Brewers have a better lineup than they did last year, and the continued freakout about the corner infield where they had two guys that made Mendoza look good for half the season is funny.

 

The SP is as good or better; their "ace" couldn't even finish out the year. They had a very high number of things go wrong and still flirted with 90 games, so no, I'm not white-flagging it for the 70-win Reds in January.

 

It has nothing to do with being "too deep in fandom to see reality."

 

It's just getting exhausting and frustrating to read the same crap in the offseason every year when the team continue to defy all the pessimism. At what point does their winning buy a little bit of trust? Evidently not after 3 years of it.

Can you explain how the lineup is better? Urias already hurt so we may be seeing plenty of Arcia again. Not criticizing just asking how.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Deal is the same at Moose's 4 years/$64 million.

 

Obviously Moose brings much better defensive value. But Castellanos has youth on his side. If I were Stearns, I would have made that deal. Oh well.

 

You wouldn't have made that deal right now though right? We already have too many OF, where would Castellanos have played? He's like a 1 win upgrade over our current 1B if you are thinking there. Not spending that type of money for that. I mean I could see doing it instead of Garcia, but not after it.

 

Yeah ... as much as I love him, the Castellanos ship probably sailed when they signed Garcia. Who knows if he would have taken this kind of contract back then?

[ThisIsMyCrew]

García put up a very similar stat line to Castellanos in 2019. Played a few less games so some numbers are lower. But for the lower price point and better defense I think the Crew did well.