I try to use question headlines sparingly, but I dropped one a couple of days ago when I dropped, “Why is Welington Castillo still a White Sox?”
Good ol’ Welington Castillo has spent the last couple of days answering it. He built on the strong start to his August by extending his hitting streak to six games. He’s had three extra-base hits over his last two, including a ninth-inning homer on Thursday night that got the Sox 80 percent of the way to a comeback. The receiving still hurts more than it helps, but at least the offense-first part of his profile is starting to shape up.
It’s a mixed bag for White Sox fans who want to see what Zack Collins has been working on since his demotion, but it’s probably good for everybody else.
It’s good for Castillo, because Rick Renteria issued one of those writing-on-the-wall quotes that usually precedes a bigger change:
Taken at face value, that sounds like he’s grasping for straws. Interpreted more for the tone than the content, the acknowledgement of struggles offensively and defensively effectively lays some track out of town. Along the lines of quotes setting up previous roster decisions, the reference of underperformance is enough for Renteria to cite later.
Now that Castillo’s average is over .200 for the first time since late April, even the literal interpretation of his quotes looks more reasonable. That’s not to conflate it with satisfying — Castillo offers less future value than present value, and the present value lacks calories — but if he looks like a major-league catcher in one regard, then he’s theoretically more rosterable than any of the Charlotte catchers.
I wouldn’t mind them unlocking the position and seeing who stands out between Collins and Yermin Mercedes, or accepting the fallout if neither rise to the challenge, but I’m still treating Sept. 1 as the start of transition time.
Once your average goes above .200, you are not longer in the hot seat. By the way, in Chicago, the Hot Seat is a block of ice.
Absolute joke statement from Renteria, but what else is new. The amount of wasted at bats and innings being given to castillo instead of any 1 of 3!!! possible future pieces is disturbing and ridiculous.
I really think they need to jettison Castillo and Skole, and bring up Collins and Mercedes. Those two can share the backup catcher spot, backup 1b, and DH. But I guess if we wait til Sept 1 that would allow Collins more time to work on his new approach. If neither are up after Sept 1, then Hahn is an even bigger moron that I thought.
Mount Please Crush More?
Alright, time for lunch.
Maybe the Sox think if they DFA Castillo when he is on a hot streak, some other team will pick him up on a major league contract after he clears waivers. They could save a little more money that way.
Jim, I think you forgot the punchline to Good Ol’ Welington Castillo.
Ha!…Love it
Great. If he keeps it up, maybe the Sox can ride Welington all the way to 74 wins!
It’s thoroughly frustrating when the team says its focus is on the future and then they grant this much playing time to a guy who is absolutely not a part of it while potential future options are killing it in Charlotte.
That is the worst part of this. It would be nice to see Collins and Robert, who should be part of the future, getting some meaningful ABs this year instead of sitting in AAA. And it would be so easy for them to replace two substandard players, Castillo and Engel. It’s just a total failure on management’s part.
In the case of Collins there isn’t even service time as a consideration since he’s already been called up this season.
The only thing I could see with Collins is that they are letting him get more comfortable with his swing change before they bring him up. But he’s had 100 ABs already. Time to see what he can do against major league pitching. He had another home run today.
So long, AJ Reed.
I’m curious how our DFA list compares to other teams right now? We have to be at 7 or 8 for the season…
That opens up a spot on the 40 man roster. Is this just to get Banuelos off of the 60 day IL, or for something more interesting (adding Robert/Mercedes for a call up)?