They’ll need to win today to keep it that way."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Commentary & AnalysisOrioles ProspectsOrioles Game RecapsOrioles News and RumorsCamdencastGamethreadsMonday morning game thread: @ Red Sox Sean Rodriguez Jersey , 11:05New,250commentsThe Orioles haven’t lost a road series yet in 2019. They’ll need to win today to keep it that way.EDTShareTweetShareShareMonday morning game thread: @ Red Sox, 11:05Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY SportsWho’s up for some Monday morning sports action? Skip your work meeting, grab a cup of coffee, get some brunch, and follow along with us as the Orioles play baseball at a time of day when baseball should never be played. It’s the annual Patriots’ Day game in Boston, so let’s hope the Orioles are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for their 11:05 contest.The O’s will need a win to salvage a split of the four-game set. They were originally slated to face Chris Sale, but the Sox opted to give him an extra day of rest and push him to Tuesday against the Yankees. Left unsaid, but clearly true, is that Chris Sale was terrified to face the Orioles. Just admit it Felipe Vazquez Jersey , Chris.Instead, Hector Velazquez will make the start for Boston, pitching in front of a bizarre Red Sox lineup. With the club racked by injuries to Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and an active-but-still-not-fully-healthy Dustin Pedroia, the Sox will be starting Christian Vazquez — normally a catcher — at second base. Vazquez has played there just once in his professional career, for 4.2 innings with Single-A Greenville in 2010. Tip for O’s hitters: if you must hit the ball on the ground, try to hit it to second.The Orioles will counter with Dan Straily, making his second start as an Oriole. Let’s hope it goes much better than his first, when he coughed up five runs in 3.1 innings vs. Oakland. Dwight Smith Jr. http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey , who didn’t start Sunday because of a sore right leg, is back in the O’s lineup.Orioles lineup:2B Jonathan VillarRF Trey ManciniLF Dwight Smith Jr.3B Rio RuizDH Renato Nunez1B Chris DavisC Jesus SucreSS Richie MartinCF Cedric MullinsRHP Dan StrailyRed Sox lineup:DH Dustin PedroiaCF Mookie Betts1B Mitch MorelandRF J.D. MartinezSS Xander Bogaerts3B Rafael DeversLF Steve PearceC Blake Swihart2B Christian VazquezRHP Hector Velazquez You may have seen that MLBTradeRumors article today has been about the Tigers reportedly looking to trade Nick Castellanos. This isn’t breaking news, though there were a few things that made me..."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Houston Astros NewsGame ThreadsHouston Astros Minor LeaguesAstros Game DayPodcastsExploring the idea of a Nicholas Castellanos TradeNew,72commentsto receive a $11.3 Million dollar contract. The good news is that Castellanos would be playing this year in his age 27 season, which Fangraphs aging curve projects to be the best a player’s career based on the standard aging curve.What would it take?This part of articles is always interesting, as it is largely speculative and somewhat more of an art than science, but I’ll try to put together the best logical components I can, but am open to criticism. Using the Fangraphs projections, and a $10 Mil / WAR figure, Castellanos shows an excess value of roughly $7.7 Million. You could make an argument due to his age that there is a potential of prospect return via a Qualified Offer Willie Stargell Jersey , but bat only type players have floundered in recent years, which negates this in my opinion.Fangraphs does do a prospect value report generally covering the top 100 or so (131 in this case) prospects and what their corresponding value is. Obviously, it’s an imperfect system, but they have 50 FV prospects showing anywhere from $9 Mil to $31 Mil in value. This makes me think that a 45 FV prospect is probably somewhere in the spectrum of a similar value, though obviously it is more likely to be spread among a few different players than a 1-to-1. SummaryWell I’ll be honest, I don’t see a need for a bat in our lineup. There’s always ways to improve, but there doesn’t seem to be a major hole anywhere other than arguably catcher. If It was looked at in a vacuum where Castellanos is simply replacing Tyler White’s bat at DH, there’s a minimal differential in projections (113 vs 119), which doesn’t seem to warrant a change. There’s a fair argument that Castellanos production is significantly more consistent to bank on for a team that is destined for a playoff run. With our over-filled 25 man roster, I could also see an argument being made to trade some of the fringe prospects to eliminate losing them in the roster crunch. With that said http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey , we still currently have 10 position players projected to be over 105 on wRC+, the real players with concerns with the bat would be at Catcher, and Castellanos doesn’t solve that for us.Don’t get me wrong, I like Castellanos and would enjoy him being on the team, but unless we were unable to combine this with the unloading of one of our other veteran players such as Gurriel or Reddick or even Diaz (relegating Gurriel to the Marwin role), I’m not sure I see where we could put Castellanos (or even Cruz who has been rumored). I can’t help but think if Luhnow is truly shopping for a bat, it would have to be a catcher or linked to trading some of our assets. Let me know what you think, would you want Luhnow to pursue a Castellanos trade?
