Cincinnati Reds: Three remaining free agents to chase before camp begins

2. Nicholas Castellanos, Outfielder

You can’t put together a list of the best remaining free agents without including Nicholas Castellanos. While the latest rumors surrounding the outfielder point towards a signing with the Texas Rangers, money talks. We just saw Marcell Ozuna sign a one-year deal worth $18M, so a contract for Castellanos would figure to be in the same ball park.

There will be fans reading this that say, won’t adding Castellanos just add to an already overcrowded outfield? Yes, but it would allow Cincinnati to swing some trades before the start of the season. Adding the 28-year-old to multi-year deal would give Cincinnati the flexibility to move the likes of Nick Senzel, Jesse Winker, Aristides Aquino, or Phillip Ervin.

Castellanos’ defensive deficiencies have been well-documented. What hasn’t been well-documented is the improvement from 2018 to 2019 in terms of his defense. In 2018, his first season playing in the corner outfield, Castellanos had -19 defensive runs saved. That number was more than cut in half last season, as Castellanos had -9 DRS in 2019 while playing right field.

Are we really going to grumble about a player who has a less-than-stellar defensive track record with Jesse Winker on the team? Castellanos, just like Winker, is valued for his offense. The right-handed slugger led all of Major League Baseball in doubles (58) last season while putting up a career-high in homers (27) and OPS (.863).