In the last few days two Cuban-Americans with the first name of Nick have been in the transaction log for MLB. Nick Castellanos was released today by the Philadelphia Phillies, while Nick Martinez signed a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays this Tuesday.
Martínez who pitched last season with the Cincinnati Reds will make 13 million dollars this season with the Floridian squad. The right-hander figures to be the second or third starter in the rotation for the Rays. If needed Martínez can also be a middle reliever or even close out games. Last season Martínez pitched 165⅔ innings and out of his 40 outings, 26 were starts. The hurler also posted a 11-14, 4.45 earned run average and fanned 116 batters. Expect Martínez to be an integral part of Tampa’s staff in one way or another.
In reference to Castellanos the news is not good. The slugger was released by the Philadelphia Phillies. He was told not to report to Spring Training with one-year and 20 million dollars still left on his five-year contract. Even though his production fell off hitting only .250 with 17 homeruns, 72 runs batted in and a -0.8 WAR one incident seemed to put the nail in his coffin. In a game where he was benched in Miami last season in June, Castellanos brought a beer to the dugout, “As a veteran of the game of baseball, there are rules, and I broke one in Miami,” Castellanos posted on Instagram.
“After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a presedente [sic] into the dugout. I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others are not conducive to us winning. Shoutout to my teammates and Howie [Kendrick, assistant GM, who was in the dugout] for taking the beer out of my hands before I could take a sip. (I appreciate you guys),” said Castellanos of the incident. The signing of Adolis García seemed to seal Castellanos’ fate in Philadelphia.