URGENT: Cleveland’s Outfield CRISIS Deepens | Is Nick Castellanos the ANSWER?

URGENT: Cleveland’s Outfield CRISIS Deepens | Is Nick Castellanos the ANSWER?

Nick Castellanos was a hot name around Cleveland media, podcasts, news report, just about anything. We’re going to get into why the Guardian should just say no. [Music] Tanner Bobby with the Guardians and you’re listening to Locked On Guardians. You are Locked on Guardians, your daily podcast on the Cleveland Guardians, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello everyone and welcome to locked on guardians. I am your host Jeff Ellis and I have been here since the beginning of locked on expanding into baseball. Before that I was a national writer at scout and 247. I want to remind you that locked on guardians is part of the locked on podcast network your team every day. And on top of that what is locked on guardians? We are a podcast. We have you covered from the majors to the minors to the draft and everything in between about your Cleveland Guardians. I want to thank you for making today’s episode your first listen today and every day wherever it is you get podcast as well as a big shout out to all of our everydayers out there. I appreciate everyone who is sticking with us during the offseason. It is the hardcore that stick around during this time of year when there’s just not as much baseball chatter going around. Teams kind of get some time off and uh we don’t hear as much. One of the things, oh, I do want to take a moment real quickly here and uh say a big thank you and shout out and say that today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked in MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Game time. I think I’ve hit all the important parts, right, of of the network bits. If you’re doing a bingo at home, uh listen, I love and appreciate Lockdown. they have helped us create this platform where we reach out to so many of you. So, I’m not complaining about it, but it’s always that checklist in your head making sure we got through the important parts. So, now we can get into the discussion. So, there was a lot of talk uh at the end of last week, end of the weekend, I had a lot of tweets, a lot of whatever the blue sky equivalent of tweets are at me asking about Nick Castellanos because it came out that the Phillies are moving on. And before we dive into the numbers, maybe, you know, this is not the right approach. Maybe I should save this final thought for the end on it, but oh, and do the road map. So, we’re going to talk about Nick Castellianos on today’s show. After that, I’m going to bring up some actual trade targets, some guys to discuss. I’m also going to talk about some bullpen um beliefs with that. And then I’m going to end by talking about what exactly does the right-handed outfield market look like since so many people are very interested in that in free agency. Now, back to the main point here. Nick Castleanos, it came up that the Phillies are are they’re done with him, right? He is in the last year of a $20 million contract uh with Philadelphia. It’s been, you know, not the strongest performance really. I mean, his last strong year was with the Cincinnati Reds. Uh his time in Philly, his best season, he had a 108 and a 104. So, he was a little bit above average, 4 and8%. uh definitely not worth $20 million a year in terms of the production they got um overall with him in Philly. Now, you know, the the part that, you know, just stands out before I talk about statistics, before I talk about his performance, before I talk about what he has done offensively and defensively, if the Phillies are willing to pay 15 to 18 million for him to play elsewhere, if they’re happy with somewhere between 2 to 5 million in savings, that speaks volumes. That there is enough to be like, yeah, he’s probably not worth acquiring. Because if Philly is so desperate to get rid of a player, they’re going to spend $15 to $18 million because it’s better than cutting him and paying 20. That kind of speaks to the level of production they’re getting and what they think his value is. Uh Castillanos played the whole year, I believe 147 games, and he was relatively healthy. Uh that was his age 33 year. He will turn uh 34. Why can I not find his birthday? Next March. So next year will be his age 34 year for almost the entire season. And while he’s had a lot of very strong years, the one thing he’s never had is defense. Um, he’s always been one of the worst defenders in baseball, that has not changed. That is not going to change as a guy moves into his mid30s. So, you’re already looking at him purely as a hitter. As a hitter, uh, his WRC pluses, you know, which again, if you are new to the show, well, thank you for joining us. It takes the all of your offensive statistics and puts it into an easy to understand number. So, 100 is average. his time in Philly, he was a 95, he was a 108, a 104, and then a 90 last year. So, you’re looking at three straight years of declining declining offensive data um for him. So, the bat is the value in terms of war. He was at 1.3.2 and negative.6 this year. So, defensively, he’s he’s not good. He’s he’s very bad. And offensively, he was 10% below league average. typically, you know, some players do have a bit of a bounce towards the end of their career in terms of that. Like there might be one more year and maybe you’re hoping that that’s next year if you’re the team that acquires him, but I I don’t think you want to gamble that that’s going to happen. The other problem, too, is I was just curious to look it up. Uh weak arm, arm strength is 30th percentile, a weak arm in the outfield on top of having literally the worst outs above average range in all of baseball. Uh his best statistical number outside of launch angle sweet spot was his sprint speed at 277 which is 56 percentile. So I guess as a runner you you might look to acquire him. Um you’re like well he is a right-handed bat. This team needs right-handed bats. How’d he hit against lefties? Not great last year. Uh below average against lefties. Year before that he was he was strong against lefties. So maybe you hope for a rebound. But here’s the bigger thing. Here’s a guy who isn’t going to accept a platoon role. If you’re acquiring him, it’s to play him every day. And he hasn’t done enough to play every day. Uh he is a guy who’s, you know, been a little bit chippy, has not been afraid to share his opinions, uh and, you know, has made comments uh this postseason about, you know, Philadelphia and the fans, you know, not being at their backs in the games. Uh, I just don’t think he’s a guy you acquire because again, three years of declining data, right-hand or bat or not, he he’s not good as a hitter. Um, strong signs of decline across the board. When you look at his Sant page, it’s all light or dark blue, which means that it is all not great. It is all in the very bad category. His only area of red is that he hits the launch angle sweet spot, which you know, guys do who aren’t productive. I think Nolan Jones had good launch angle sweet spot. doesn’t matter if you’re not getting uh enough false play, if you’re not getting bat speed and hard hit percentage behind it, which he’s not. Um, so yeah, you’re you’re looking at a player who just isn’t going to bring anything. Uh, he’s had a fantastic career. Uh, there’s points where I would have loved to have had him in Cleveland, even though the overall OPS was 694 last year, which is close to average, and his WRC plus being 90 was close to average. Do you really want to invest in that player though when they have no other traits? Like he’s a below average bat who’s going to be the worst defender on the team. Like that’s just a hard combination to put together, put out there, even at 2 million, even at 5 million. Um, and to know that if at some point you want to, you know, play a young player in hisstead, uh, if he’s not getting enough playing time, he’s going to grouse. And then, I mean, I guess at two or five million, you can just say, “Hey, we’ll cut him.” But for me personally, it’d be one thing if there was some degree of defense, even if it was just like mediocre or I mean, Cleveland has a lot of guys with bad range, but they at least have strong arms. He does he doesn’t have an arm, so there isn’t anything to really I mean, his fielding value was was first percentage. Like, he was the worst fielder in baseball last year. So, I know people like to talk about him and he’s a big name. You know, he he played in Ohio for the Reds. He came up with the Tigers. All of those things come together to make him a player that fans are familiar with the name. Fan fans have wanted him here in Cleveland before. So, I guess I’m saying don’t get taken in by name value. There are much more interesting players. Uh we’ll get into that when I talk trade targets in segment three. Some hitters, some pitchers as as well as, you know, just getting into what the right-handed outfield market looks like in general. Uh it’s a bit of a spoiler alert that it is is not the best because the guys who have the highest war uh and the guys I think I would spend the time trying to pursue or convince, but other than that, you know, I I think in terms of Nick Castellanos, it generates headlines. Why am I talking about it? Because it did. It generated headlines. It got people asking, got people talking. But if you didn’t take the time and do your own research, if you just kind of thought, well, you know, he had 17 home runs and, you know, I said a 250 batting average, but he had a sub 300 on base. That’s really bad. Uh, not that Cleveland didn’t have a bunch of those guys as well, but you can’t add another guy. Basically, that’s the thing. You already have a hard enough time getting on base. You can’t add um a below average hitter and then have him block some of these young players. So, just say no to N Castellanos. Um, you know, maybe he finds a role somewhere with someone, but it shouldn’t be if the Cleveland Guardians. We come back, we’re going to talk about some trade targets. Some you might know, some you might not, as well as a theory I have on the bullpen. I don’t get to get out much. I got to be really honest. I got an 8-year-old and a four-year-old at home, and that means I don’t get too many chances to go out. When I did, I was about a year ago. unfortunately to go to an event and specifically I want to go to the Brewers game and get the major league bobblehead it even more special now cuz you know ukkes was alive and broadcasting that I’m just going to put this to the side well I can’t keep it in shot then talk about I went to game time to get my ticket why because I wanted to have allin pricing I wanted to know exactly what I was going to pay I believe you know like here’s the thing just and I use this service they’re a sponsor but more than anything else it is a service we use we trust we joy it just it’s it’s Fantastic. I if it you want to go to use the site that we use. One time I got to go out and about the last two years. Um other two times I was media so I didn’t have to pay. But the one time I had to make sure I got the merch. I went to Game Time and everything about it is fantastic. So download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s code promo code L O C K D O N MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for coming back. Uh, I appreciate you all being here. Specifically, I’m going to throw this idea out there. You know, let me know again in the comments what you want me to talk about on these solo shows. Justin and I will be doing one solo show a week. Um, you know, back in the day when I for the first 800 episodes, we’re at almost 1,600. Uh, for the first 800, I wanted to get to 800 on my own. when Justin was coming on, I’m like, I am close to 800. I would just want to hit that. So, I did the first 800 episodes all by myself. Um, and really dive into the vault, find the time I interviewed my dad, find the time that I had a like a very tear streak getting like I did a whole episode on my phone, not the best quality um because my dad was sick and you know, reflecting on some of that. So, there’s there’s all sorts of things you can find in the archive of the show. You can go and check those out. But I did the first 800 of these and one of the things I did a lot in the offseason were the MLB draft histories. Or if there’s other things you would like me to uh talk about or discuss, let me know. Uh you know, it’s we make this for you the everyday for the fans. So I I appreciate the feedback. If there’s something old I used to do, comment that you like to see it again. Uh if there’s something you’d really like me to dive in. So like for those history ones, I would say for a full episode, I’m doing like the 1982 draft. I review the Guardians draft. I review the best players in the draft and I talk about where they hit or missed, where there was overlap, etc. Let’s get into what I promised though. Let’s talk some trade targets. Let’s talk some players. Uh, you know, when I was looking at this very specifically, um, I I don’t know why I ended up on the St. Louis Cardinals again. Uh, someone brought up and we didn’t talk about him on the show. I agree. I think he’d be a fantastic target. I just don’t think he’s going to be willing to be traded. He blocked trades last year and I feel like he is likely to do that again. He’s in a walk year. Probably wants to put up big numbers. Uh he’s no longer a catcher. He’s a first base only, but he was he was a great player there for them. Uh you know, St. Louis is in this weird position where I don’t know if they’re necessarily sellers. I don’t think they’re buyers, but I do think they’re going to sell off a few main pieces. I think they’re stuck with Nolan Aronado at this point. he uh you know blocked that trade a year ago that kind of hosed uh St. Louis. You know they they’re going to look to keep a lot of guys in place. Uh someone might bring up Alec Burles. I don’t like the data underneath the hood there. Uh and shout out to every dare who’s a Cardinals fan. I’m sure he will jump in and talk in the comments today. You know, new bar is interesting. Um it was the first time he was below league average but he was hurt. And St. Louis has a few guys who are coming up quick. Um you know, Jimmy Crooks got some time for them. Uh, but one thing they’re kind of lacking is pitching. That’s I think what drew me back to St. Louis again is they’re probably going to try to flip Sunonny Gray. You know, he had a fantastic year. Where they are, Liberator, Palente, and McGrevy all look like four fives. They don’t really have a lot of great pitching. And I don’t think this is a trade target that makes sense out of the gate, unfortunately. But if JJ Weatherhol really keeps hitting and knocks the door down for St. Louis, if he stays healthy again, which you know, I I had Bazan and Weather Holt very close on my big boards, but Weather Holt, I was scared. I dropped him purely because he kept kept having soft tissue injuries and I was tired of Cleveland um drafting guys with injury histories and then they draft a guy without one and he still gets hurt. So, it doesn’t matter who they draft, everyone gets hurt. But if Weather Holt continues to excel, the guy I would really like to look at is someone who just had surgery and that’s Mason Win. Now there’s a good chance Mason Win is untradable. But his value comes from him being a shortstop and that’s because he’s probably the best defensive shortstop in baseball. He’s close to a league average bat. I think when fully healthy, he was a n Okay, this is when people can jump on me. But you said Castillanos 90 wasn’t great and Mason Win only had a 91. The the separator here is Mason Win was the best defensive shortstop in baseball. Uh has the best arm at shortstop in baseball. If if Castellanos could do that while playing center field, then frankly they really wouldn’t be trading him. So that’s the difference here. Um because you know I at this point in time I pretty much am resigned to running out Gabi Arias. Uh we’ll at some point this offseason kind of really talk about the short stop market. Justin and I there’s not much there but because they don’t have a lot of options and Gabby is that plus defender he is not Mason win though and again this is all set on the fact that hey St. Louis is going to maybe try to get more offense eventually weather Holt maybe becomes the shortstop and they could consider moving other pieces and then you can you move one of your starters and maybe a prospect to get Mason win. It’s a trade I would like to consider for people who uh who aren’t familiar with him. Uh, I kind of liked him as a pitcher when he was he was an amazing athlete. Uh, undersized guy, 5’9 and last year he was hurt, played in 129 games. I can’t remember what he just had surgery for. I know I should probably have that off the top of my head. Um, you know, a torn right miniscus. So, you know, that’s that’s a bit of a scary injury. The year before he had 15 home runs, I know a 104 WRC plus. So, he’s not an offensive powerhouse. Now, he is very young. He debuted at age 21. Last year was his age 23 year. So, you’re looking at a guy who’ll turn 24 in March. So, again, I don’t think St. Louis is looking to move him now. Uh, but just someone I would like to kind of put a pin in it, put to the side, and say let’s let’s let’s go back to Mason Win. Uh, if Gabby because, you know, I I I don’t want to be a hypocrite here. I got to be very honest. It’s like all the things I’ve said about John Kenzie Noel and his lack of pitch recognition, it’s all there with Gabby Arias. And it’s almost impossible to change that. and you’re looking at a guy who had the worst whiff rate in baseball um you know six percentile for chase rate get you know his his offense or defensive statistics are phenomenal and that’s the saving grace here and he does barrel and if he hit the ball harder which we know he can do there are a lot of guys who are really bad in other categories if you barrel and hit the ball hard good things will come Jesus Sanchez who I talked about as a trade target multiple times on the show is one of those guys so Gavi Arius I just I I want defensive short stop so I can live with the offense, but I can’t live with it forever. I got to be honest, if it doesn’t improve, which I I just don’t see a pathway to it. It’s, you know, it’s it’s the same thing as I talked about with Noel. It’s my same concerns with with guys with that profile is I just don’t know how he can be useful long term on a team that’s trying to contend. If you’re a bad team, hey, yeah, he could be a young pitcher’s best friend because of his defense. On this team, I don’t know. But at the same time, they had a lot of guys switch to be kind of more ground ball guys like Tanner Ugo who saw the big ground ball jumps. You do want that defense there. So that’s why Mason Win was a player that stood out. Do I I’ve got time to discuss these other two. So someone I kind of like is Colorado’s Jimmy Herget. And why Colorado? Because they’re one of the few teams that’s pretty much guaranteed to sell. Jimmy Herget is 32 years of age already. He has bounced around the miners. you get him for his uh what 26 and 27. He’s got two years left and he’s an interesting guy because he’s a side armor. And this is my bullpen theory. So tell you can tell me comment below. Is this crazy? Is this insane? Am I nuts? I kind of view it like how they talk about um you know building a wide receiving court in the NFL. You want different styles, different types, different looks. I think you want that out of your bullpen. I think if you have too many guys who have a similar look, it’s easier for, you know, you know, for the hitters to come in and get in a groove. I think having someone with some funk, having the side armor could actually help your bullpen in the way that it gives you another look out of the pen. It gives you something that kind of disrupts what guys are used to seeing. Now, of course, since he is a right-handed pitcher, that makes him more or less a ruggie. But was it, you know, most hitters in baseball are right-handed. Let’s be really honest about that. The majority of the guys you’re going to face are righties. Um I know that’s not the case in Cleveland, but that is still where the majority of hitters go in terms of what they hit. And you know, I think there is value in a player like this. I don’t think he is the the guy, you know, is going to break the bank to acquire. He’s got the worst extension in baseball, which we know they love extension, but that’s not surprising because he’s a side armor. Uh I mean, his pitching run value, his fast ball and breaking uh ball value is great. He didn’t get hit hard. Average exit be low. Think about where he played in Colorado. Not high. Good whiff percentage, good walk percentage, good barrel, good hard hit. Everything went in the air. Guys didn’t really chase and he doesn’t have good velocity, but he was effective. He was really effective last year for Colorado. And the data looks good. There’s a lot of positive reasons to think that um he can maintain this in terms of what he did. Again, not the biggest trade piece, but I think it’s fun, interesting, gives you another fun look. I got one more name to talk about on the trade front and then we’re going to dip back around and discuss, you know, what this right-handed outfield market looks like because I know everyone wants to add a right-handed outfielder. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Justin and I keep bringing this up because FanDuel is a longtime sponsor. We have read many a FanDuel ad. We’ve seen many a FanDuel ad read and it has never hit $300 before. This is a new high. This is the highest they’ve ever offered. This is the most amount of money they have ever put in terms of one of their ads. So, if you’ve been on the fence, if you’ve been debating it, if this is something you’ve been considering, you’re never going to find a better time. Uh, I know Justin probably said to be bet against the Browns and that would have gone poorly. Uh, do your research, look and see. You know, you don’t want to bet on a bad-on bad matchup. Make those smart calls, uh, you know, when you can and, you know, take advantage so you can get the $300 in bonus bets. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanduel.com to download the FanDuel app and get started today. Again, thank you for joining me on this solo edition of Lockdown Guardians. We’re going to do box scorping. I’m kidding. I know uh not everyone loves that. I’ve recently found though 90% of people are very positive. So, we’re going to keep doing it. Really quickly, back to Colorado. I wanted to point out Jimmy Hut, by the way, second highest war of any Colorado pitcher. That’s how bad it was in Colorado last year. Third highest war on the team. I’m sorry, fourth highest. No, tied for third highest war on the team. uh behind Kyle Freeland, who I think is getting a little bit underestimated as a trade target. I I kind of like Kyle Freeland. If you are a team that needs pitching, that’s not Cleveland. So, uh moving on from there and let’s talk Hunter Goodman. People have brought him up and I know people are going to be like, “Yes, because Hunter Goodman is a catcher and we’ve seen how little production Cleveland has gotten out of their catchers.” And Hunter Goodman is right-handed. And here’s the thing with Hunter Goodman. If you look at his squared up, his chase, his whiff, his K, and his walk, it’s kind of like Gabby. It’s not as bad as Gabby, but it’s similar. What did I say with Gabby, though? Like, and both of these guys barrel, but I said to be successful, the Jesus Sanchez profile that multiple guys have is you can chase, you can whiff, you can K, you can walk if you barrel and you hit the ball hard. And Gabby right now does not consistently hit the ball hard. Hunter Goodman did a year ago. And that’s the thing. And what helps you hit the ball hard? Bat speed. Uh, it’s one of those things I’ve always been surprised. Gabby’s bat speed is not plus. It kind of looks like it is, but it’s not. But Hunter Goodman’s 83rd percentile bat speed led to 76 percentile hard hit, which with the 80% barrel led to good offensive outcomes. Now, when I’m looking at overall him as the player there, I’ll also say he also had a 331 bad pip. and you probably don’t want to buy this off season because regression is is coming. Like, let’s be real honest. Um, he’s probably into a 30 or 40 point uh dip, which takes him from a 118 WRC plus to probably like a 108, you know, maybe even more than that. Uh, you know, he was a very consistent hitter throughout the year, but we see a lot of guys kind of that first full year have fantastic seasons and then, you know, sometimes there struggles in year two. I’ve often talked about not wanting to buy until a guy has had two strong years. The one nice thing with him is he was kind of even home or away. So, you’re not as worried about, well, he only hit the ball hard because it was Colorado. At home, by the way, his bat hip was 366 on the road. 291. That makes you feel a little bit better as well. Did strike out more um on the road than at home. Walked less, got on base less. I know this all doesn’t sound great, but the interesting thing is like the uh his his isolated power was actually better on the road. Again, not things you expect to see with Colorado hitter. So, I mean, if Colorado gets, you know, a new GM, there’s a crazy world where like uh AJ Prowler bolts or something like that and is looking to tear it down. you get one of those GMs uh who not that that would ever happen into a division rival, but let’s say you get a GM there. The one nice thing and say about Colorado management or I should say ownership is they give you a lot of time. They don’t care. Uh it’s not a rush job. And I think everyone knows it’s a ugly situation there. So, you’re probably going to tear it down to the to, you know, the was it the boards? Is that the expression? Either way, you’re going to pull it down, tear it apart. And Cleveland’s minor leagues are probably in the best position they’ve been in a long time. I know there’s going to be people out there who absolutely hate this idea. There’s going to be people who love it. That’s that’s that’s the way of it. I can already hear Dave Wendell screaming, “No.” You know, I love Cooper Engle, too. Um the nice thing with Hunter Goodman is he actually had positive defensive value. He was a positive framer and a positive blocks above average. Cod Steeling was close to league average. Like he actually was a solid defensive catcher. Yeah, there’s risk because it’s one year, right? Like remember Nolan Jones’s fantastic year where people were predicting MVPs and batting titles and remember what we got last year. Remember Will Benson that same year? It’s the danger of the bat pip. You always want to kind of look for Lawrence Butler. You know, last year with the athletics, I still think Butler’s going to be a good player, but you know, Jess and I were like, why did you take that contract a year later? Like, okay, well, maybe that was a good call. So, you always have to be a little bit wary of a one-year guy. At the same time, this might be the guy you go for. You get him for 26, 27, 28, and 29. And, you know, it’s hard to find catching. It’s it’s very hard to find catching. Um, prospects burn out all the time. Boner was was probably on the same level of prospect Cooper Engel is, and we we’ve seen how that’s gone. Um, I don’t know if you could flip Bone Naylor back to them in such a deal, but you’re probably going to have to trade, you know, I hate the thought of trading someone like Ralphie, but it’s it’s probably a Ralphie and, you know, maybe it is a bow because he has experience and and you’ve got other pieces here, but it’s Bo doesn’t have much trade value. Let’s be honest. Um, but you’re probably trading more than just Ralphie. Let’s put that way. You’re probably trading two of the top 10, if not three. So, it’s a debate to have for another day when there’s more time. But I I think, you know, if you’re going to go for it, get for the guy who you’re going to have a lot of control, who plays a premium position and gives you things you don’t have, right? Like left-handed hitters do better in Cleveland, right? But that doesn’t mean that a right-handed hitter can’t find success there. So, it does give you a chance at balance. It gives you a chance to lock down a position that’s hard to fill. A new GM in Colorado means they might actually consider trading a guy like that because you got to rip it down to the seam. So maybe you can put together the right deal for um Goodman and Herget and find ways to uh improve two positions. And it’s going to hurt. Bottom line, it’s going to hurt. So let’s get into what I promised, which is right-handed outfield bats. Uh the guy I was probably the most intrigued by recently said he doesn’t want to leave the team he played for. But let’s get let’s just start with this. So, the outfielders in free agency who bat right-handed, you have Willie Castro as a switch hitter. And here’s your list. In order of war last year, Miguel Angir, Rob Raph, Schneider, Starling Marte, Amed Rosario, Tommy Fam, Austin Slater, Dylan Moore, Andrew McCutchen, Manuel Margo, Kik Hernandez, Garrett Hamson, Chris Taylor, Lane Thomas, Mark Kha. Struggle with his name for whatever reason. Um, yeah, that’s not an inspiring list, right? And, uh, Willie Castro is the youngest player on that list. The second youngest is a Med Rosario and Lane Thomas at 30 years of age. Uh, Willie Castro has hit lefties better than righties at points in his grid, other points he hasn’t. He’s been about league average against both, plays all over the diamond. He was terrible with the Cubs. Uh, before that, he was pretty solid. I wouldn’t be opposed, but the problem if you go and get a Willie Castro is you pretty much have to get rid of Anel Martinez. Like it’s it’s a similar role what you’re looking at and what you’re ending up with. So I don’t know if that’s who you want to go for. I I kind of liked Rob Reed. Um 35year-old, he’s been absolutely a lefty killer for years now. He’s actually in cab with Cleveland um at one point in time. I don’t think he ever played with Cleveland. I’m not even sure if he played in the minors, but like he was a guy they they had a chance to get and all he’s done is, you know, he he gets about 200 to 300 uh played appearances a year only against lefties. Last two years 128 WRC plus and a 132. So he’s a lefty killer. Can play multiple positions mostly just right field left field right now. But if they wanted their Ryan Rabburn, that’s Rob Snyder, but he kind of came out and said he’s sounds like he’s only interested in returning to Boston. Uh he had a one war if you want. And here are the players in that group had a war over one last year. It’s Rob Schneider and Miguel Andir. Uh I went looking at Andrew because I was a little bit surprised uh at how well he played last year. He had a 125 WRC plus. Yes, I mostly think of him for the great rookie year followed up with, you know, all the jokes about the Yankees trying to trade him for things. He had hit 27 home runs in 2018. Uh since then he has hit 26 and that’s, you know, quite a few seasons. Uh 10 of them this year. He had the second best year of his career honestly this past year. He’s a terrible defender. He played all over the diamond. had time in left field and right field and third base and first base. He’s, you know, a guy who’s 30 already. He’s going to be 31 in March. A lot of March birthdays today on the show. I I just can’t see taking a gamble on that. Especially he’s another guy you go look at Page. He just doesn’t whiff. He doesn’t care. Uh that’s it. Like it’s not a profile that screams future success. He doesn’t have the strong arm. Cleveland likes. Uh, honestly, the most interesting guys on this list, uh, I mean, the next highest war is Stling Marte, who can’t play the field much anymore, is slow. There’s been multiple points in my life where I wanted Cleveland to trade for Starling Marte and acquire him. Now is not the time. I don’t know how he produced what he did in his limited at bats. Um, you know, 293 is not the smallest sample size, but he was productive. I just don’t see it being repeatable, especially for a guy who’s already 37. So honestly, it’s it’s old friends. Amed Rosario is a platoon bat ss super utility guy. Uh you know, makes Jose happy probably if you bring him back. I don’t think he runs quite as well as he did a few years ago where he’s an elite runner, but he plays all over and gives you a little bit of flexibility and versatility on the diamond. I wouldn’t be opposed to a med. And then I wouldn’t be opposed to Lane Thomas coming back. Um at least, you know, with Thomas, he’s had years where he said 20 plus home runs. That’s not something you can say about a lot of players who’ve played in Cleveland recently. So, you know, there’s there’s a player who could do something. The rest of this list, I just don’t see a lot of players. I don’t see a lot of inspiration. I don’t see a lot of ways to help your team. So, yeah, I think at the end of the day, bringing back Lane Thomas or Med Rosario amongst this list is probably your best bet if you’re looking for a right-handed bat. I hope you enjoyed the show today. It was a little all over the place, but we had some fun. We took talked about what was popping up in the media. We discussed what was going on with some trade targets, some ideas. Let me know if I am insane. Let me know if I am foolish. Let me know if you think, hey, that’s a good idea. Um, thank you all for joining us. Remember to rate, review, download daily. It helps. And go guardians. Go.

GUARDIANS TRADE TARGETS: Castellanos, Winn, and Goodman in Focus

Could Nick Castellanos be Cleveland-bound? Jeff Ellis analyzes potential trade targets for the Cleveland Guardians, dissecting Castellanos’ declining stats and high contract. The host explores Masyn Winn’s defensive prowess, Jimmy Herget’s unique pitching style, and Hunter Goodman’s offensive potential. Ellis also breaks down the right-handed outfield free agent market, evaluating options like Rob Refsnyder and former Guardian Ahmed Rosario. Will the Guardians make a splash in trades, or opt for familiar faces in free agency?

Tune in for expert analysis on how these moves could reshape Cleveland’s roster and impact their 2024 season prospects.

0:00 Nick Castellanos trade rumors

5:08 Castellanos’ fit for Cleveland

15:20 Masyn Winn as potential trade target

25:35 Hunter Goodman as catching trade target

30:38 Right-handed outfield free agent options

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