Lustiges, privates usw. » Both parties say they’re open to the idea

Mike Napoli Jersey , but the Tigers seem set on waiting things out."Despite the somewhat stalemated relationship between right fielder Nicholas Castellanos and the Detroit Tigers, the topic just won’t go away. The organization is tasked with squeezing the most long-term value from a player whose limited skill set makes him a difficult fit for many teams. As he prepares for his final season before free agency, the one option they seem to have crossed off their list is to retain Castellanos by offering him an extension.On Sunday, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reported that Castellanos had re-iterated his openness to discussing a new contract. Yet his comments also indicate that the Tigers’ front office isn’t pursuing the idea. So it goes. Just over two weeks remain until Opening Day, and things don’t seem likely to change. The Tigers will triple down on the hope that Castellanos can be dealt sometime in July for a better return in minor league talent than they have been offered thus far. History suggests that is very unlikely to happen.The Tigers have been open to dealing the 27-year-old Castellanos since the team began its teardown in July 2017. And while he has struggled to find a positional home, he has also continued to rake in the batter’s box. Coming off a 2018 season where he posted a 130 wRC+, the 26th best mark in baseball and a career-best mark for him, it’s hard to see how he can make himself more valuable in July than he is right now.The Tigers already went through this scenario with J.D. Martinez in 2017. While they have many similarities as bat-only players with limited ability in the field, Castellanos lacks the bone-crushing power that Martinez brings to the plate. There was a surprising — and probably foolish in some cases — lack of suitors for Martinez, and the Tigers were only able to get back three fringe prospects from the Arizona Diamondbacks who weren’t well regarded by most outlets. They’ve done little to alter that perception since their acquisition. Should multiple contenders need a shot of offense at the trade deadline, perhaps the Tigers could do better than they did with Martinez. But it’s certainly a longshot.The qualifying offer is an impedimentValuing Castellanos properly is further complicated by the question of whether or not the Tigers could potentially make a qualifying offer and recoup a high draft pick. That is a valuable commodity, particularly for a team desperately trying to prime its prospect pipeline. This past offseason, the qualifying offer mark was set at $17.9 million for one season. Assume that amount goes up a little bit for players reaching free agency after this season. If the Tigers made that offer after this season, and Castellanos declined it and then signed a free agent deal worth at least $50 million, the Tigers would receive a compensation round pick. Presumably, that pick would come between the first and second round of the draft. The Tigers would like that outcome.Unfortunately, collecting that pick has become something of a pipe dream. There is a very good possibility that Castellanos would simply accept the qualifying offer of $18 million or so. He is set to earn $9.95 million for the 2019 season, so taking the qualifying offer and nearly doubling his current salary is a no-brainer. He would still come right back to free agency after the 2020 season. Even if he declined the qualifying offer, there’s no guarantee another team would be willing to offer him a $50 million contract in free agency, and in the process surrender a high round draft pick of their own. Simply getting Castellanos to decline the qualifying offer could actually produce the unintended consequence of tanking his value in free agency.We saw an example of how the attachment of a qualifying offer can devalue a player when former Kansas City Royals third baseman, Mike Moustakas, reached free agency following the 2017 season. Moustakas hit 38 home runs in 2017, posting a 114 wRC+ while playing better defense at third base than Castellanos has ever managed. Yet once Moustakas declined the Royals qualifying offer, he found that no one else wanted to pay full price for him because they would also surrender a high draft pick to do it. Instead, he ended up signing a one-year deal for a third of what he would have received by simply accepting the qualifying offer in the first place.Another example came just a few months ago, when catcher Yasmani Grandal declined a qualifying offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2018 season, only to find himself in the same scenario Moustakas dealt with the year prior. Grandal also ended up taking a one-year deal, despite being arguably the best free agent catcher to hit the market in several years. In both cases, the teams http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-b.j.-upton-jersey , not just the players, found themselves out of their reckoning under current market conditions.The Tigers and Castellanos make sense for each otherIn the end, the best way to cut through the fog is probably to lock Castellanos up for four or five years. The Tigers need him, or a similar bat, for the long-term. Miguel Cabrera is no longer a dependable force in the lineup. In planning for the future, the Tigers have to know that the big man’s likely impact is going to be felt in the team payroll much more so than on the field. The team has some solid young position players, and several good position player prospects coming up through the farm system, but there isn’t a dominant bat in the bunch, other than maybe Christin Stewart. For this reason, we have made the case for a Castellanos extension repeatedly over the past two seasons.Yes, the Tigers may need assurances from Castellanos that he would be willing to try first base, and an openness to slotting in as the right fielder, first baseman, or designated hitter as the team requires. But allowing a good hitter who wants to stay in Detroit to walk away wouldn’t be smart at this point.While retaining Castellanos’ services should be a priority, it also has to be said that there’s nothing wrong with the Tigers simply waiting this out. In fact, that may be the best thing they can do. If they remain interested in keeping him around long-term, the front office can drive a harder bargain at the trade deadline, without fear of coming away with nothing. And whether they trade him, or keep him until the season ends, they can always revisit the topic once Castellanos actually becomes a free agent at season’s end. Outfielder A.J. Pollock received a four-year, $55 million deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers this offseason, and that deal makes a decent starting point in estimating a deal for Castellanos. Pollock is a better defender and base runner, but isn’t quite as good a hitter. He’s also 31 years old, and has only played a single full season in a career that has been ravaged by injuries.With free agency so close, Castellanos doesn’t have a lot of reason to give the Tigers a major break on his price, but a deal of four or five years, at say, $12 million per season, continues to look like a reasonable guidepost to a deal between the two parties. Such a deal would give Castellanos a slight raise Yonder Alonso Jersey , while allowing him to re-enter free agency in his early 30s, and after the next round of collective bargaining takes place in 2021. It would also extend the Tigers’ control over him through his prime years and retain a middle-of-the-order bat they can’t afford to lose as their top prospects near their major league debuts. This will round out the first half of the voting! Who makes the top fifteen?"Outfielder and Star Wars character Akil Baddoo has been finishing near the top for several rounds. He was finally successful in winning our poll in round 14.2019 Twinkie Town Prospect Voting ResultsRoyce Lewis 52% (Kirilloff 44%, Graterol 4%)Alex Kirilloff 90% (Graterol 4%, Gordon 4%, Larnach 2%)Brusdar Graterol 56% (Gordon 19%, Larnach 12%, Thorpe 8%, Gonsalves 5%)Trevor Larnach 42% (Thorpe 25%, Gordon 21%, Gonsalves 12%)Lewis Thorpe 31% (Gordon 30%, Rooker 14%, Javier 13%, Gonsalves 11%)Nick Gordon 39% (Rooker 20%, Gonsalves 18%, Javier 17%, Alcala 5%)Stephen Gonsalves 35% (Rooker 28%, Javier 28%, Alcala 5%, Baddoo 4%)Brent Rooker 43% (Javier 41%, Baddoo 6%, Enlow 6%, Alcala 4%)Wander Javier 70% (Baddoo 12%, Enlow 7%, Alcala 7%, Duran 4%)Jorge Alcala 32% (Baddoo 28%, Enlow 23%, Duran 14%, Celestino 3%)Jhoan Duran 39% (Enlow 31%, Baddoo 25% http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-b.j.-upton-jersey , Severino 3%, Celestino 2%)Zack Littell 56% (Enlow 28%, Baddoo 11%, Severino 2%, Celestino 2%)Blayne Enlow 50% (Baddoo 33%, Balazovic 10%, Severino 4%, Celestino 3%)Akil Baddoo 54% (Balazovic 13%, Jeffers 12%, Rortvedt 11%, Severino 8%, Celestino 4%)Nobody added this round as we get back to five choices.Gilberto Celestino, CF2019 Age: 202018 High Level: Corpus Christi (AA)Gilberto Celestino was signed as an international free agent by the Houston Astros for a $2.5M bonus in 2015. He ranked as the #7 international prospect that signing period. As an outfielder who throws left and bats right, a combination that worked mainly for Rickey Henderson, he is a rarity. He runs fast and throws hard which has helped him build an excellent reputation as an outfielder. He also does well on the basepaths stealing 22 bases while only being caught once in 2018. His minor league experience is rather unusual. After hitting .268/.331/.379 as an 18 year old in the Appalachian League the Astros promoted him to the New York - Penn league in 2018. He hit .323/.387/.480 for the Tri-City Valley Cats. Don’t let the brief stint at Double-A Corpus Christi fool you, he only had 8 at-bats at that level. Celestino was acquired along with Alcala last summer in return for reliever Ryan Pressly. After he was acquired by the Twins he was sent back to the Appalachian League to play with the Elizabethton Twins instead of assigning him to Cedar Rapids. He finished the season hitting .266/.308/.349 which was a downgrade from his past performance in the same league. He has tremendous tools and should be a plus defender but needs work at the plate. Expect to see him playing for Cedar Rapids this summer.Yunior Severino, 2B2019 Age: 192018 High Level: Elizabethton (Rookie)Yunior Severino was part of the Braves high profile class of international free agent signings headed by Kevin Maitan in 2016. Unfortunately for the Braves those signings became even more high profile when MLB voided the signings and made most of the players free agents again last winter. Severino originally signed a $1.9M contract with the Braves and he gets to keep all of that money. The Twins were able to sign him for $2.5M so the young man has done quite well already. Severino is a switch hitting second baseman from the Dominican Republic. He was promoted after 10 games from the Braves’ Dominican Rookie team to the GCL team and hit .286/.345/.444 in his debut. Scouts believe he has power and he has shown it, albeit inconsistently. He is considered a bat-first infielder who is learning how to play 2B and some scouts think he may need to move to 3B if he grows significantly. Severino stayed in extended spring training working on fundamentals until Elizabethton started their season last summer. He hit .263/.321/.424 and started off hot but faded as the season went on. His fielding at 2B was solid but he struggled in a few games at SS. As a switch hitter he will be taking lots of extra batting practice to improve on his offense in 2019.Jordan Balazovic, P2019 Age: 202018 High Level: Cedar Rapids (A)Jordan Balazovic was drafted by the Twins in the 5th round of the 2016 draft out of St. Martin Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario. He was committed to pitch at Auburn but the Twins went over slot and signed him for a $515,000 bonus. He was one of the youngest players in the draft that summer due to a September birthday and he has since grown from 6’3” 170 lbs to 6’5” 195 lbs. On draft day he impressed with his fastball command and a decent changeup. Since draft day his fastball has increased in velocity from 89 MPH to 94 MPH, the changeup has improved and he has added a good slider while maintaining his above average command. After two seasons with the Gulf Coast Twins the Twins sent him to Cedar Rapids where he impressed with an 11.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and 3.94 Run Average in 60-1/3 innings. Expect to see him in Fort Myers again in 2019 but this time as a member of the Miracle.Ben Rortvedt, C2019 Age: 212018 High Level: Fort Myers (A+)Ben Rortvedt was drafted out of high school in Wisconsin by the Twins in the second round in 2016. Scouts loved his glove behind the plate and were encouraged by his hitting. He started off with the GCL Twins and was pushed up to Elizabethton after just 20 games. He didn’t hit very well (OPS below 600) but impressed the talent evaluators enough to start 2017 with Cedar Rapids. He was quite young for Cedar Rapids and it showed in his struggles at the plate. He hit just .224/.284/.315 for the Kernels in 2017. He did make significant progress with his offense after starting the season with a brutal April and May that left him hitting just .140 at the beginning of June. The Twins were impressed with his defense and encouraged enough by his ability to adjust at the plate that they still considered the aggressive promotion a success. He began the 2018 season at Cedar Rapids and earned a promotion to Fort Myers after 29 games. His combined batting line at two levels of A-ball was .262/.331/.379 which is a significant improvement over the previous season but still lacking in power. If he is able to learn to drive the ball he may have a future as a big league starter, otherwise his glove suggests he would be a valuable backup. Expect him to begin the 2019 season back at Fort Myers with an eye on a mid-season promotion to Double-A.Ryan Jeffers, C2019 Age: 222018 High Level: Cedar Rapids (A)Ryan Jeffers was the Twins second round draft pick last summer from UNC-Wilmington. In college he was named all-conference twice and was the best hitter on the Seahawks his junior season. The Twins sent him to Elizabethton after he signed and it was little challenge for Jeffers as he hit .422/.543/.578 in 28 games. He was promoted to Cedar Rapids to end the season and he continued to hit well, putting up a line of .288/.361/.446. His bat is considered his best asset and he has a strong arm but his overall glove work is below average for a catching prospect. Twins scouts think he should do well enough to stay behind the plate with comparisons to Mitch Garver defensively. Jeffers could start the 2019 season back in Cedar Rapids but is likely to play most of his games in Fort Myers.