Hot Stove Update: Castellanos to Reds; D'Backs Strike Again

It's now official, Nick Castellanos won't play LF and bat cleanup for the Giants in 2020 and beyond. The RH power hitter the Giants were rumored to be close to signing early in the Hot Stove Season, ended up with the Cincinnati Reds for 4 years/$64 M.  Opt-outs after 2020 and 2021 seasons are included.  For their part, the Reds gave up on rebuilding from within last offseason and suddenly appear on the edge of playoff contention.  They are even rumored to be shopping Nick Senzel who was the centerpiece of their rebuild as recently as a year ago.  So, there's that.

As a Giants fan, I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, Castellanos would have given the Giants a legitimate cleanup bat in the lineup, something they desperately need.  On the other, he's not a perfect fit for the ballpark or for the NL, for that matter as the defense is a clear liability, something the Giants ballpark tends to make more glaring.  For the moment, the alternative appears to be a platoon of Alex Dickerson and Joey Rickard.  Maybe Dickerson will turn into a cleanup bat if he can stay healthy and Rickard will add just enough on the short end of the platoon to approximate Castellanos production..... OK, who am I kidding?  Castellanos' bat would transform their lineup!  So it's a disappointment to see him go somewhere else.  For those who want to argue that a signing like this is antithetical to rebuilding, if Farhan can't put together a winning team around Castellanos within 4 years, why does he have this job?

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Those D'Backs struck again by trading a couple of lower level prospects for OF Starling Marte who has 2 years left on a team-friendly contract.  Marte is coming off a strong season in which he slashed .295/.342/.503 with 23 HR's and 35 SB's.  While he seems to be more comfortable playing a corner OF post, he is capable of playing CF and will likely be out there for the D'Backs with Ketel Marte moving back to 2B.  So the D'Backs are another team who eschewed the rebuild from within model to aggressively attack the trade and FA markets to put themselves on postseason contention.  So far this offseason they have acquired Marte, Madison Bumgarner, Kole Calhoun and Steven Vogt, all for very reasonable prices.

The D'Backs give up a couple of promising prospects from the lower minors.  I don't know much about Liover Peguero, a young SS, but I scouted RHP Brennan Malone before last year's draft in which the D'Backs selected him #33 overall.  He's go tremendous physical tools with potential to develop into a frontline SP, although he has a lot of development ahead of him.