Just How Bad Was the Rusney Deal?

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Worst. Ever. According to Dave McCullough, who makes the argument this morning at the .com:

And that’s why Rusney Castillo is the worst baseball contract of all time. Halfway through his disastrous deal, he couldn’t get back to the big leagues even if a meteor hit Jet Blue Park’s outfield and incapacitated every other outfielder on the roster. Castillo has proven himself to be not worthy of a major league roster spot and his contract is so prohibitive that he can’t be recalled under any circumstances.
 

Monbonthbump

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Reading the header for the McCullough piece, I was set to make some snarky comment about attention grabbing journalism. After reading the article, I am forced to agree with the hype. Who was responsible for so vastly over rating such a mediocre talent?
 

opes

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Whats really is surprising is either A. the scout following him didnt see the guy couldnt hit a 93+mph fastball, or B. he couldnt learn to adjust his swing.
I'd love to see the actual scouting report on him.
 

Van Everyman

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Interesting theory. But one question:

How catastrophic can a deal be when all it costs is money?

The article cites such well-known team killing contracts such as Mike Hampton and Mo Vaughn, but then goes on to say this about this deal:
But because of John Henry’s largess – and a quirk of the CBA – Castillo is not affecting the big-league club. His salary has been excised from the luxury tax calculations – having been outrighted to AAA Pawtucket, Castillo’s bloated contract does not factor into the Red Sox payroll calculations. Only if he were to be recalled to Boston – and added to the 40-man roster – would his salary affect the team.
Don't get me wrong: it's ridiculous that wealthy, big market teams like the Red Sox can take a risk like this and just wipe a bad contract off the books for luxury tax purposes by removing said player (or Allen Craig for that matter) from the 40-man if it doesn't work out.

But the Rusney contract hasn't hamstrung the Red Sox one iota. It hasn't prevented them from acquiring players like Sale and Price. It hasn't forced them to waste a spot on the major league roster. Not that this was Ben's shining moment or anything but there was very little downside to this contract not working out.

I'm not familiar with exactly how the above-mentioned deals did or didn't screw over the Rockies and Mets for the long term. But shouldn't how a contract affects a team factor into how historically "bad" we judge it to be?
 

Buzzkill Pauley

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Who was responsible for so vastly over rating such a mediocre talent?
Whoever he was, and whether his head is ever brought to me on a silver platter or no, he will always be the special someone who gave Red Sox fans that precious moment called September 2014. For only $72.5MM, that seems almost a bargain.

Though honestly, since the Sox were able to slough off Rusney's salary from CBT calculations without losing any assets of actual value, this can't be considered a worse signing than Carl Crawford. A riskier signing, sure. But not a worse one.

And years later with a better understanding of how outrighting players works, I definitely agree with Dejesus's point here that the risks of his signing just wasn't (and isn't) that significant. Rusney now feels to me like the Matsuzaka experience, in that it sucks not to have worked out, but that it also shouldn't stop the Sox from getting involved in other players with similar risk (such as Darvish or Tanaka).
 

The Gray Eagle

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Reading the header for the McCullough piece, I was set to make some snarky comment about attention grabbing journalism. After reading the article, I am forced to agree with the hype. Who was responsible for so vastly over rating such a mediocre talent?
Why that would be Vice President For Life Allard Baird.
The same guy who spent half a season evaluating whether Carl Crawford would be worth the money.

GMs come and GMs go, but Baird is a nice guy so he stays forever.
 

moondog80

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But the Rusney contract hasn't hamstrung the Red Sox one iota. It hasn't prevented them from acquiring players like Sale and Price. It hasn't forced them to waste a spot on the major league roster. Not that this was Ben's shining moment or anything but there was very little downside to this contract not working out.
This is where I am. It's the same reason why people who thought the Yankees overpaid Aroldis Chapman were way off base, IMO. A deal is only bad if it prevents you from making other deals. This would be a disaster for Oakland or Tampa, but it's a minor annoyance for the Red Sox.
 

Average Reds

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Interesting theory. But one question:

How catastrophic can a deal be when all it costs is money?
This is correct. Because Rusney's deal did not cost a draft pick and does not count against the cap, it's woefully inaccurate to say that it's the worst deal ever.

I do get the rationale for why Rusney's could be considered the worst from a financial perspective, in the sense that he cannot (by definition) contribute any positive value to the team when he's not on the 40 man roster. So that's fair.
 

DanoooME

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I was going to add Vernon Wells to the worst contracts of all time list, but he actually had a decent 4.0 WAR season in the third year of the deal before his last three years when he was exactly replacement level in aggregate (and didn't play year 7 of the deal).

Vernon Wells even getting traded once under that deal is one of the most amazing feats ever.
 

judyb

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Wait, doesn't Rusney have nowhere near enough service time to refuse another outright assignment without forfeiting the rest of his contract? So, if the Red Sox want to borrow him for a while, couldn't they outright him again afterward, and wouldn't the only part of his contract that counts against the luxury tax still only be the part of it he earns while he's being borrowed by the major league team? What am I missing?
 

nvalvo

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I don't think Castillo's contract is all that close to being the worst deal of all time. Depending on how Sandoval recovers, it might not even be the worst contract on the roster right now. (First of all, comparing a $70ish million deal in 2017 to deals signed two decades ago like Vaughn or Hampton seems basically disqualifying from the start.)

Yes, it's a long contract, and he is unlikely to provide any meaningful value, but the reasons that Castillo was first signed and then consigned to baseball limbo have less to do with his (very bad) performance than the changing roster context. He was signed at a moment when it wasn't at all obvious that we had an excellent homegrown outfield on the way. Our OF — some of these guys were already gone — when the Sox were evaluating looked something like this: Jonny Gomes (.683 OPS); Jackie Bradley (.531 OPS); Daniel Nava (.706 OPS); Mike Carp (.599 OPS); Shane Victorino (.685 OPS); Yoenis Cespedes (.719 OPS); and Grady Sizemore (.612 OPS); Bryce Brentz (.692 OPS); Brock Holt (.711 OPS). This is the context in which it was worth it to the Sox to be the high bidder — and a bunch of other teams were interested!

I never lost faith, but Bradley wasn't looking terribly promising. It was pretty speculative that Betts could play the OF, or that it was a good idea to move him there, or even that his insane streak of hitting .400 in Portland for months could continue. Benintendi was hitting almost as well as Betts — for the Razorbacks.
 

TheoShmeo

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I have not yet read the article but I believe that the Rusney signing was among the worst in Boston sports history, if not the absolute worst. I say that from the perspective of the thought process at inception. The results only confirm it.

Rusney's last good, complete "minor league" season was in 2011. He put up very good numbers in Cuba in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, he played fewer games, got hurt and suffered a large dip in performance. He was hurt in 2013. The Sox nevertheless gave him that massive contract in the offseason before 2014.

It's one thing to credit Cuban numbers as if they are US minor league or college numbers. But to ignore, or totally minimize, his dip in 2012 and being out in 2013 was inexcusable.
 

Hoodie Sleeves

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Though honestly, since the Sox were able to slough off Rusney's salary from CBT calculations without losing any assets of actual value, this can't be considered a worse signing than Carl Crawford. A riskier signing, sure. But not a worse one..
This.

Its not a signing that turned out well, but its not even the worst contract the Red Sox have right now. It just doesn't affect the Red Sox in any meaningful way (the Sandoval contract is way worse - and isn't all that bad).
 

mauf

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The difference between Crawford's actual value and what he is getting paid dwarfs the full amount of Castillo's contract, even without considering CBT implications.

I love Dave, but he's wrong here -- Castillo's contract not only isn't the worst contract in the history of pro sports; it's not even the worst contract handed out by the Red Sox this decade.
 

mauf

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This.

Its not a signing that turned out well, but its not even the worst contract the Red Sox have right now. It just doesn't affect the Red Sox in any meaningful way (the Sandoval contract is way worse - and isn't all that bad).
The book is still open on Panda. He wouldn't have to set the world on fire to create $30 million of value over the next 3 years, which would make Panda's deal slightly better than Rusney's, at least prior to consideration of CBT implications.
 

Hoodie Sleeves

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There's definitely still hope for Pablo, but the contract is in worse shape right now than Rusney's can ever be. The total contract is about $95M, and he's produced roughly -15M in value. Rusney has produced about 8M worth of value on a $72M contract. Rusney is about 64M short of breaking even - Pablo is 110M short.

$45M worth of value over 3 years isn't a huge amount - basically he just has to be an average regular player - but there's a decent change that doesn't happen. (And like you said, that doesn't account for the fact that Rusney's money basically doesn't count. If we're using the CBT, Rusney only cost the sox what, $24-36M?)
 

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Harry Hooper

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Whats really is surprising is either A. the scout following him didnt see the guy couldnt hit a 93+mph fastball, or B. he couldnt learn to adjust his swing.
I'd love to see the actual scouting report on him.
Wasn't the scouting report something like "Guys with Castillo's physique don't play baseball in the U.S."

Seems spot on to me.
 

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Rusney now feels to me like the Matsuzaka experience, in that it sucks not to have worked out, but that it also shouldn't stop the Sox from getting involved in other players with similar risk (such as Darvish or Tanaka).
DiceK cost more (~$100m in 2007 dollars), but he also delivered two fine years as the team's #2 starter in 2007 and 2008. Then the inevitable elbow woes caught up with him, but Matsuzaka was a very good major league pitcher before he became a dead weight, and delivered a lot of value. Castillo couldn't hit a major-league slider, and as a consequence was never a true major league player.
 

Jordu

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Talent evaluation is still quite subjective, but how did the baseball pros who scouted Castillo fail so badly in assessing the potential of his skills -- and in projecting his value?

What did the scouts think they saw that wasn't there, and what did they not see? Have any scouts talked publicly about this?
 

Sampo Gida

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72 million is a lot of money and even if its not counting against the LT threshold its probably impacting the budget in some way.

Not the end of the world of course. Crawfords deal was far worse IMO but far more understandable. Jury is out on Price but I think he will be OK. Sometimes moves dont work. Baseball can be unpredictable
 

snowmanny

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Talent evaluation is still quite subjective, but how did the baseball pros who scouted Castillo fail so badly in assessing the potential of his skills -- and in projecting his value?

What did the scouts think they saw that wasn't there, and what did they not see? Have any scouts talked publicly about this?
As is alluded to in the article, I'm convinced that at least part of what they saw was Jose Abreu -whom they were supposedly barely outbid for - killing baseballs in Chicago.
 

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Talent evaluation is still quite subjective, but how did the baseball pros who scouted Castillo fail so badly in assessing the potential of his skills -- and in projecting his value?

What did the scouts think they saw that wasn't there, and what did they not see? Have any scouts talked publicly about this?
Rusney is fast and has power. The scouts saw that, but didn't have enough real game data to show that he couldn't hit. Investing $72 million when you can't definitively say a player can do his primary job is nuts.
 

MikeM

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Rusney is fast and has power. The scouts saw that, but didn't have enough real game data to show that he couldn't hit. Investing $72 million when you can't definitively say a player can do his primary job is nuts.
It's not even like Castillo was some 19-20 year old kid either. He was 27 and multiple years removed from even putting up good #'s in Cuba.

Add in the (probable) Abreu factor that went into our reach and the stupid adds up pretty quick. From a strictly financial POV it wasn't the worst, but it definitely ranks among the all time most foolish imo.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Could he want to get out of the Sox organization?

A lot of eyes are on Castillo, as he’s no longer on the 40-man roster, and he’s entering Year 4 of a seven-year, $72.5 million contract. And those eyes saw an unfortunate thing Thursday. The outfielder didn’t run out a ground ball on a double play during the Red Sox’s 9-6 win over Northeastern at JetBlue Park in their spring training opener, and it was a moment that John Farrell later directly addressed with reporters.
"Disappointing for a couple of reasons," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "One, he lost the number of outs. But still, regardless of the number of outs, getting down the line is controllable
Nice to see the manager defending his player.
 

fineyoungarm

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Yeah, this still totally baffles me. Honestly I would sign my name in blood promising to never second guess a John Farrell in-game move ever again if they would just give Baird his pink slip.
http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2016/11/red_sox_announce_several_inter.html

I know this is a Castillo thread, but when bad moves are discussed it seems like a few posts about Baird are almost inevitable. Do the Red Sox really need two Senior Vice Presidents of Player Personnel, Frank Wren having been promoted (or something) to have the same title as Baird? I have searched without success for commentary, regarding what this move is/was about - lack of confidence in Baird, the job too much for one man, some obvious separation of responsibilities or what.

Then there is this:

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/team/front_office.jsp?c_id=bos

This is from redsox.com - the roster subsection - the front office subsection of that - executive management team. Wren's name is last and separate from Baird's. Does anybody know (as in know) whether the two are truly peers or whether one higher in the chain of command than the other?
 

j44thor

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The game in which he didn't run down the line is nothing but a meaningless spring training scrimmage?
Allen Iverson he is not, the young kids in ST need to be developing the right habits. Seeing one of your own give a half-hearted effort is not acceptable.
 

charlieoscar

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John Henry bought the Boston Globe for $70 million from the NY Times Co. in 2013. That was 6.3% of what the Times paid for it in 1993 and included the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Wasn't one of the reasons the Red Sox far outbid several other clubs for Castillo because they missed out on signing Jose Abreu by about $5M?
 

Back Bay

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It was said Castillo didn't know how many outs there were. Where have I heard that before? So it wasn't only not running out these grounders. He can't play if his mindset is elsewhere.
 

joe dokes

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I'm not sure if we're talking worst from a position of hindsight or "what they should have done, based on what was known at the time."

But in hindsight, any contract that you can't get out of -- like Castillo -- seems to be worse than one you can move 25% of the way through, like Crawford.

Thats why the Angels Josh Hamilton deal seems worse to me. He sucked AND they're still paying most of the freight.
 

grimshaw

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From a talent evaluation perspective it was disappointing to say the least. One of their worst just on that end. But really, bottom line, it has cost them a nominal amount in the bigger picture.

a) Assuming a 170 to 180 million dollar payroll - he costs them roughly 5% of that. It has had no impact at all in them acquiring new talent to fill his position.

b) All he had to be was a 1.5 win player to earn that. At the tail end of this deal, it's going to be closer to a win.

c) If he were league average or even slightly worse, would JBJ still be in the organization?

d) Pablo Sandoval? Not only has he already cost them negative $40 million dollars, but it was at a thin position where the alternatives were not good. Finding someone to fill Castillo's spot in LF either at full time or platoon value aside from Hanley's massive whiff, in theory, shouldn't be difficult. They have not needed Castillo's production. They needed Sandoval's.

I liken this as closer to locking up Adam McQuaid to twice his market value over a long period of time, than say Crawford where they had no prayer of recouping anything close to his value.
 
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Zososoxfan

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DiceK cost more (~$100m in 2007 dollars), but he also delivered two fine years as the team's #2 starter in 2007 and 2008. Then the inevitable elbow woes caught up with him, but Matsuzaka was a very good major league pitcher before he became a dead weight, and delivered a lot of value. Castillo couldn't hit a major-league slider, and as a consequence was never a true major league player.
Don't leave out Remy's performative pronunciation - "Matsuzacker".

Also, w/r/t Toolsney, wasn't part of the impetus to signing him to such a valuable deal that it was the last year of that international free agent system? In other words, that was the last year the Sox could sign a player like him and not have him count against the cap? It was a final opportunity to utilize their financial advantage.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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If they aren't going to ever bring him up to the big club, and given what it would cost them vs what he can provide I don't see why they ever would, why don't they just release him? Does releasing him change the status of his salary counting against the luxury tax?

It's a shitty situation all around. It's hard for me to get upset about a guy not always giving max effort when we all know he'll never get any benefit from doing so.

If he were released, is it unreasonable that he could find work as a 5th OF at the MLB level somewhere?
 

joe dokes

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If they aren't going to ever bring him up to the big club, and given what it would cost them vs what he can provide I don't see why they ever would, why don't they just release him? Does releasing him change the status of his salary counting against the luxury tax?
If he's released, and they are paying (his salary less the MLB minimum paid by the team that picks him up), I think the Sox' part *would* count if he gets picked up.
 

Back Bay

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Instead of giving him his release and ending up with some MLB club, could they sell (pay most) his contract to a foreign league like Japan/Korea? I think he would actually make some impact there. That's seems to be the path for lots of AAAA players in MLB.
 

Buzzkill Pauley

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Allen Iverson he is not, the young kids in ST need to be developing the right habits. Seeing one of your own give a half-hearted effort is not acceptable.
I don't think we have to worry about any of the "young kids" in ST using Castillo as anything of a role model. If they need one there are other, more successful, options. Maybe the guy hitting fungoes for infield practice might need some help tinkering with his swing, though?

Not running out a grounder in a spring training scrimmage is not a big deal.
 

joe dokes

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I don't think we have to worry about any of the "young kids" in ST using Castillo as anything of a role model. If they need one there are other, more successful, options. Maybe the guy hitting fungoes for infield practice might need some help tinkering with his swing, though?

Not running out a grounder in a spring training scrimmage is not a big deal.
To the extent "the kids" know who he is, he's some old guy who can barely hack it at AAA.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I'm not sure if we're talking worst from a position of hindsight or "what they should have done, based on what was known at the time."

But in hindsight, any contract that you can't get out of -- like Castillo -- seems to be worse than one you can move 25% of the way through, like Crawford.

Thats why the Angels Josh Hamilton deal seems worse to me. He sucked AND they're still paying most of the freight.
They got out of the Crawford deal by stapling an All Star player or two to him and having the good fortune of finding a desperate buyer looking to make a big splash regardless of cost. In similar circumstances, I imagine they could trade Castillo and his contract if they made it the cost of some team acquiring Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts or Chris Sale.

That they got lucky enough to get out of the Crawford contract without paying much of it at all doesn't make it any less of a shit deal. As bad as it turned out, at least there was a clear need and a bit of desperation driving the Castillo signing. Crawford was a square peg for a round hole that didn't desperately need to be filled. Not to mention that for the difference between their offer and the next closest bidder for Crawford, they probably could have found a more than suitable round peg and had something left over.
 

nvalvo

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John Henry bought the Boston Globe for $70 million from the NY Times Co. in 2013. That was 6.3% of what the Times paid for it in 1993 and included the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Wasn't one of the reasons the Red Sox far outbid several other clubs for Castillo because they missed out on signing Jose Abreu by about $5M?
Do we know how far they outbid the other teams by?
 

TonyPenaNeverJuiced

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Instead of giving him his release and ending up with some MLB club, could they sell (pay most) his contract to a foreign league like Japan/Korea? I think he would actually make some impact there. That's seems to be the path for lots of AAAA players in MLB.
THIS is really interesting. I doubt ownership would get 100% of the money back, but they likely would get more than any MLB club will give up. And I bet Rusney-son would clean up.

Then the question is what they do with that money. If the thinking is that they're so dang rich, and since it doesn't cost a thing against the cap to keep him, the money doesn't even need to be thought of as part of the Sox spending (i.e., Henry & co. keep the team below the cap because thems-the-rules, not because of a penalty tax). So, say they got... $10m from a Japanese club. Do they pocket it? Spend it as part of a midseason pickup? Wait until Liverpool's next transfer window? Allard Baird's 401k?
 

JimD

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I agree with Van Everyman's first post above - there is no evidence that the Castillo contract hamstrung the Red Sox. If ownership has determined that this expense needs to be offset somewhere else, it's hard to see where this occurred. It didn't stop the team from paying to obtain Yoan Moncada when he became available, it hasn't stopped them from acquiring elite major league talent like David Price and running the ML payroll right up to the luxury tax limit, and it hasn't stopped them from acquiring other international talent or from paying draftees (subject to MLB rules, of course). I credit John Henry and the ownership team for being smart enough to realize that a horrendously bad deal like this one shouldn't get in the way of making the necessary moves and expenditures to return the Red Sox to the status of being a legitimate championship contender.
 

charlieoscar

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Do we know how far they outbid the other teams by?
According to Jason Stark on ESPN.com, August 2014:
"Castillo is expected to choose a team within the next week, according to multiple sources. And clubs involved in the bidding believe he'll ultimately sign a five-year contract in the range of $50 million to $60 million."

I can't recall all the bidding, just that there was surprise when Boston jumped up to $72.5M.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Well, right there, if it was expected to be in that range, it didn't really jump, it was just extended a year. Which had in part purpose of getting the clock started on it to mitigate luxury tax ramifications. They signed him late in the year and getting it done in the calendar year - even if it meant paying a bit more - was worth it on the back end. They essentially chose 6/$72 but spread it out over 7 years. So an extra year on 5/$60. Not crazy. And most certainly not the worst contract in history. DD has stated the tigers were close and had a similar evaluation on him. They made a bad choice but given that at the time they needed an OFer, they had one last bite at the foreign pool with no penalties, he's never blocked anyone and they ended up using a loophole to get him off payroll, yeah I'm having trouble with this over many other contracts, even just in Sox history. It wasn't good and likely never will be, but I'll take my chances on a Cuban outlay over giving an ARod or Pujols ten years in their thirties They missed, certainly, but I don't think it was that crazy bad of an evaluation and it doesn't restrict them in the least.
 

charlieoscar

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Well, right there, if it was expected to be in that range, it didn't really jump, it was just extended a year. ...DD has stated the tigers were close and had a similar evaluation on him....
Peter Abraham of the Globe, 20 Jun 2016:
The Red Sox weren’t alone in their desire to sign Rusney Castillo in 2014. The Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, and San Francisco Giants submitted bids for the free agent outfielder, as did at least two other teams.

The surprising part was how much the Sox were willing to pay to land a player other teams viewed as more of a complementary piece than a star.

Castillo’s seven-year, $72.5 million deal was $4.5 million more than the Chicago White Sox paid to sign Cuban first baseman Jose Abreu 10 months earlier, and a whopping $30.5 million beyond what the Los Angeles Dodgers paid for outfielder Yasiel Puig in 2012.

“We didn’t offer him that,” said Dave Dombrowski, who was general manager of the Tigers at the time.

---You have a player from Cuba, which in itself makes evaluation difficult but you also have one who had just under 1000 PA in his first four seasons (baseball ages 20-23) who then gets hurt about two-thirds of the way through his fifth season and misses the entire following season. He then gets to play in 28 games the next year, split between Cubs, Red Sox, and the Arizona Fall League (baseball age is at midnight of June 30 of the year in question, so he was actually 27 when he made his first appearance with Boston).

Forgive me if I think the front office made a panic move (we missed Puig, we missed Abreu).
 

doctorogres

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Was listening to the latest Red Seat Podcast with BP's Jeff Paternostro where they were discussing the farm system and Boston's remaining top 10. One interesting thing that popped up was a conversation around scouting the hit tool. Benintendi has a 70, which is super rare, mainly because not a lot of guys hit .300 these days, let alone .320-330. The general consensus was that it's the hardest tool to scout, because you don't know how they'll deal with major league sequencing, breaking stuff, defense, etc. until they actually face it.

All this is to say they clearly whiffed on Castillo's hit tool, but that's a risk of scouting anybody. As others have noted, it seems like they could afford a $70+ million lottery ticket and I'm happy they took the risk. Our outfield picture was not nearly so clear when he was signed, and even last year nobody knew Benintendi would be able to jump from AA to major league success. His salary doesn't count against the CBT cap, they've spent money and prospects since-- let's move on. This feels like the Matsuzaka posting fee argument all over again.
 

Cesar Crespo

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21,588
It's hard to say it's the worst signing ever or to say that scouting was completely off. If it weren't for his contract, Rusney would probably be a 4th or 5th OF on some team because he's fast and can play all 3 OF spots. He was a bust but he also isn't Andy Morales.

And re Baird: Almost every bad deal is assigned to him and he still has a job. From what I've heard, he is a really nice guy so maybe he's the designated fall guy and takes one for the team while cashing a check. It used to be Larry. The Dentist was a popular guy for awhile too.

edit: Just to add more support for Rusney the Major Leaguer argument. In the minors in 2015, he slashed .298/.382/.489 in 54 PA vs Lefties. In 2016, he was .304/.321/.431 vs L in 105 PA. His line vs L in the majors is at .309/.340/.433 in 103 PA. While you can't really do this, if you combine those numbers, he is at 263 PA and a line of .305/.340/.420. I'm guessing a player who can play all 3 OF positions, theoretically be used as a pinch runner, and hit lefties at a decent clip would have a job in the majors. He'd might even be the weak side of a platoon. A lot of his problems are well documented, his splits are largely ignored for some reason.

Even if you just want to single out his 2015 MLB season his line vs L in 94 PA is .318/.351/.466. Still a SSS and all but I'm guessing if you can find his Cuban splits it tells a similar story. It also looks like an injury drained him off his power after 2011, as someone else noted. His eye was improving though and maybe they expected a full recovery. I think the quote was "He's a late bloomer to the Damage train" or something like that. They were definitely predicting he'd be closer to the .200+ ISO he was posting in 2010-2011 and not the .100-120 mark he was posting in 2012. We may have bought injured goods.
 
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