FanPost

Nick Castellanos- What Can They Get For Him?

The Tigers and Nick were never on the same page this season with the exception that they both wanted the bat to light up the stat sheet. Unfortunately for both, it has been nothing special, a regression and his value is lower now than in the off season. We won’t know until after he is traded if Al Avila turned down a better deal last off season but it seems more than likely that he did. JD was a far better hitter and hit for more power too than Nick and all Al got was a Quarter Pounder and fries. Now, it seems all he will get is something off the dollar menu. I was hoping Philly would come calling but there’s much better OF’s available for them to get and Nick just doesn’t play enough defense. Besides, an AL team needs to get him so he can play some DH.

WHAT IF THEY DO NOT TRADE HIM?

That’s where it gets tricky. The Tigers are NOT going to let him walk away for nothing so they will offer him the QUALIFYING OFFER. Nick will be facing a tough decision and with Boras as his agent, he might just get the Mike Moustakas treatment. Mousakis should have taken that QO but he got bad advice and was told to hold out for the big, long term contract. He lost 11.25 million dollars that year and signed for 6.5 million a far cry from the 17.75 million he was offered with the QO. The Tigers will offer Nick the projected 18 million + and he should take it in a heartbeat. Why? No one else is going to offer Nick that kind of cash and he will become an UFA the next year. You can’t give a player a QO two years in a row. The problem for Nick is that Boras is now his agent and he has always advised his clients to seek free agency. Ian Desmond and Mike Moustakas both turned down the QO and lost huge amounts of money, Ian Desmond eventually signed a great deal with Colorado but Mike Moustakas got a short term deal and it was not in the range of what he could have signed with KC and no where near the QO.

Nick is not having a good year, his value is much lower than the off season and Al Avila knows that he has to do better than the JD trade. This is NOT a good situation for Nick or the Tigers. Yes, Nick can hit and he’s still relatively young so Boras will try to sell "he’s entering his prime" and if you put him in a lineup where he can be a cog, he can be a deadly bat. Any team that gets him in a playoff run will be happy with his bat but where are you going to play him? The Tigers really did not do Nick any favors switching him from 3b to OF back to 3b back to the OF. I think a team with a great defending SS could hide him at 3b and his bat plays better with him there. As you know, the Tigers had a great fielding SS but decided that his bat was too much of a liability so they let him walk, That was of course a mistake but its more of an indictment of how devoid of position players the Tigers minor leagues.

My guess is that Al will not let him get to free agency and risk Nick taking that 18 million dollar offer. He will have to settle for less than the JD deal for sure and this time he should go for all "A" ball players instead of fringe 4A players or a young utility type player. Dawel Lugo is a 4A player, Sergio Alcantra is 22 utility type player so there’s still a few years of hope and Jose King is 20 so again, there’s hope but none of these guys are what you would say "sure things".

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THEY TRADE NICK THIS YEAR?

Victor Reyes or Dustin Peterson probably gets the call but the one wild card is Derek Hill. He would have to be added to the 40 man roster but I am sure there’s a guy they can DFA and take off. I think after all these years, they should take a peak at his defense up at the MLB level and see if he can get on base and steal a few bags. The huge park has to play well with his type of bat. He’s got a little power now but he’s more of a line drive hitter so what better park to play in than the huge gaps of Comerica Park? I think Derek Hill deserves a shot and he has to be added to the 40 man roster next year anyway or they lose him as a minor league free agent. This is how the Tigers got Nikko Goodrum who was a 2nd round pick of Minnesota and spent 7 years in the minor leagues.

Anyway, the Nick Castellanos situation will probably come to an end at the trading deadline but I would not hold out hope that it will produce anything useful to the Tigers in the short run. The Tigers will just reduce their payroll next year by the 18 million they would have to give him if he accepted the Qualifying Offer.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the <em>Bless You Boys</em> writing staff.