Alex Castellanos Traded to Los Angeles Dodgers for Rafeal Furcal
Posted on August 1st, 2011 by azruavatar in Alex Castellanos, tags: Alex CastellanosThis move should be reminiscent to last year’s trade of David Carpenter to Houston for Pedro Feliz. Carpenter was a quality middle relief prospect that was buried on the depth chart and wasn’t a long term component of the Cardinals’ plans. The team moved him for Pedro Feliz who was hitting .221/.243/.311 at the time.
Alex Castellanos is not someone to lose sleep over. He’s behind both Andrew Brown and Aaron Luna on the corner outfielder depth chart. Castellanos was an adequate defender in a corner outfield position with enough of an arm to play right field. Castellanos’ prospect status resided firmly on his bat and his ability to hit for power. While he’s shown impressive power in the past (.192 ISO at Palm Beach in 2010), his .243 ISO was, in part, aided by the friendly confines of Hammons Field.
Castellanos was hitting for average this season though that was something he had struggled with in the past. A .387 BABIP would seem to indicate that he hsan’t really learned a new skill so much as gotten lucky this year. The strikeout and walk rates for Castellanos are certainly blemishes on his approach at the plate. A free swinger, he was capable of hitting the ball a long way or not at all.
The Cardinals are betting on Rafael Furcal to be healthy. He’s not the anemic lost cause that Pedro Feliz was in 2010 so there’s more reason to be optimistic about this swap. Castellanos, who turns 25 on Thursday, is unlikely to be a star for the Dodgers. Much as they did when they traded David Carpenter, the Cardinals are patching a big league hole from some minor league depth of questionable long term value. It’s a clear win for the Cardinals.
Best of luck to Alex Castellanos on his new endeavors in the Dodgers farm system.
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Nice post, azru. I completely agree. Trading from depth to patch a hole is exactly the kind of trade we should be making. And I agree that this is vastly better than the Feliz trade because we’re adding a guy who has the potential to be a real impact. Last year Furcal was on pace to top 6 WAR if he had stayed healthy, and as it was he still put up 4.3 WAR over 97 games. When healthy, he’s legitimately one of the best shortstops in the game. The fact that we can add this impact bat while replacing the worst starting position player on the team makes it all the better.
I am guessing if the cards get 3 PTBNL they are on Alex Castellanos level.
I think you’re guessing that about right.
I really wish that all teams explicitly disclosed the circumstances of receiving/giving PTBNLs. I understand that they can’t name the possible players, but it would be nice to know the dates as to when the decisions need to be made and, e.g. as the Toronto players how much money goes to the Cards if they pass on the players and can they elect to take a combination of players and money or is the decision all money or all players. Just knowing that type of information would facilitate conversations and create anticipation as the dates approached. I think anything that encourages us hyperventilating prospect geeks to converse is good for baseball (and us).
Yes… We could be “self-medicators,” so to speak.
Cubs GM Jim Hendry’s explanation for not making any trades was that the players he would get back would not be any better than the players they already had in their minor league system and it would just block the progress of the players they already had. I guess when you have a top minor league system like the Cubs do (sarcasm intended) you don’t need any more minor league players. It does however beg the question when you have a trade where 3 PTNL are included. Can those players even be C prospects? Seems unlikely.
I would certainly be one of the last people to support a Cub pronouncement (although if that kept Hendry in their GM seat that might be a good thing), but I think he is correct in that they received very little for Fukadome, and unless he wanted to trade Marshall, and until Ramirez (now a quad injury) decides to waive his no trade, he only had the type of player and long term contracts that generate virtually nothing player wise.
I would only reiterate what others have said that being that Toronto’s farm system is so good that even one or more of their lesser prospects might actually be helpful either long term for the Cards or another trade chip like Castellanos or Walters. They have a very good Latin American program. If I were the Cards that is where I would look. If you go deep enough you might get lucky.
I don’t understand how Hendry continues to be employed as an MLB general manager. It boggles my mind. We may complain about JMo from time to time … but Hendry is in another universe.
I wish Alex well with the Dodgers. He might have an easier path in that organization given the blood letting currently in progress. It’s a testament to our minor league system that we were able to acquire Furcal for a position player not ranked in our top 20 prospects. I know Furcal has warts but in years past we would have only had right handed relief pitchers to offer outside of our top prospects and unless the trading partner wanted a right handed relief like Carpenter or Hawksworth then we couldn’t close a deal. Our organizational depth is broadening beyond pitching … which needed to happen.
Castellanos was indeed a trade we needn’t lose sleep over.
I did like his speed. My guess is that he should get a little more than a cup of coffee in the majors, but his chances improve somewhere else rather than St Louis.
I don’t understand the thinking that Castellanos has a better chance to see the majors in another organization. I’d say the STL outfield that is returning next year is far from proven and there is no true heir apparent in the wings. A player liked Castellanos who steppped up his game just a notch could easily get a shot here (see Andrew Brown); probably much more so than in most other organizations.
The thinking is that there are a handful of players that Castellanos would have to jump on the depth chart. Without digging into the specifics of the Dodgers organization, it’s certainly possible that he has a clearer path to the majors.
I agree on both of your opening points: the guys we have aren’t proven, and there’s no obvious long-term solution at center or left.
Still, I look forward to seeing what Craig can do in a full season in right, assuming that the Cards will sign either Pujols or Berkman for 2012 and beyond, but not both, leaving Craig as the top guy in right.
The top corner outfield prospects in terms of pure upside might be OT in QC and Capellan in the DSL. The best-case scenario for OT might be late 2013, and Capellan is so far away (2015?) it’s not even worth thinking about.
That’s why I have the strange and unlikely hunch that Cox might end up in right field. He pitched his freshman year at Arkansas and reportedly could crank it up above 90 mph. So he has the arm for RF, even if he doesn’t have the power you expect. But if I’m right about his high-average potential, he can be a useful player.
Freese looks more and more like our long-term solution at third, with the potential for above-average power. Craig may or may not be our long-term guy in right. If Cox is going to fit in anywhere, I could see him in right as easily as third, or as a lefty platoon guy splitting time at both positions.
Last night Castellanos 0-4 one walk, 3 K’s
Sad to see him go. Dodgers got a great potential player who can play multiple positions and has an outstanding arm, great speed and can hit for power. All around player. Just looked up his stats and he”s batting 340i, with 6 doubles. 3 triples and a HR in just a couple of weeks with the Dodgers. Even has 8 Walks. Wish you well Alex (Casty) Castellanos.