Detroit Tigers: Three Players That Should Be on the Trade Block
Nicholas Castellanos RF
Castellanos offers a mixture of a well-balanced hitter and someone who can offer a club much power to all fields. Ever since his age 24 season, in 2016, Castellanos has provided above-average power with high slugging marks as evidence and an OPS routinely above 800. However, the start of a new season has yielded much different results in 2019.
His OPS is a meager .764 with a slim .444 slugging percentage and an OBP in line with career norms. He has only tallied 7 home runs and 25 RBI, although 22 doubles may suggest a bit of misfortune on his part. His current trends are too weak to hold, as he is certainly proven his worth over many a season in the majors.
Perhaps a lack of a supporting cast and the impending trade rumors that have swirled around the slugging right-hander since the offseason. have taken a toll on him. His contract will be expiring upon the conclusion of the 2019 season, thus he has probably been expecting a trade for months now. This can be awfully distracting for a player, especially when any hopes of a successful Tigers season were quashed in April.
As a rental, Castellanos will fetch a prospect or two, however, it will not be a trade of much significance. For the Detroit Tigers, it may be an instance that harkens back to the 2017 trade of J.D. Martinez to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In that deal, they acquired Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara, and Jose King– Lugo ranks 15 and Alcantara 21 among Tigers prospects according to the MLB Pipeline.
Given Castellanos’s recent struggles and a lack of a market for batters, a similar return seems likely at this point. It is worth it, however, as the Detroit Tigers must do their due diligence and potentially find an impactful player in such a return.
An ongoing defensive struggle from Castellanos- first at third base and now in right field- leave him as a candidate for first base work. Therefore, he may be considered more of an AL player, which will limit options and diminish the return further.
Some of such options would be the Tampa Bay Rays or Cleveland Indians, who both could use an extra input of offense to deepen their lineup and bench for a playoff run.