Red Sox Reportedly Place OF Rusney Castillo On Waivers

The Boston Red Sox placed disappointing outfielder Rusney Castillo on outright waivers on Saturday, according to a report from FanRag Sports published Sunday.

Red Sox Place OF Rusney Castillo On Waivers, Per Report

The 28-year-old Cuban was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket less than a week into the season and at that point, the question that remained was whether Castillo– whom the Red Sox signed to a seven-year, $72.5 million deal just two years ago– was an expensive bust.

After Castillo was sent to Pawtucket for the third time this season Saturday in favor of center fielder Ryan LaMarre, that question now appears to have an answer.

Since he was placed on outright waivers Saturday, Castillo would clear Monday, and will no longer be on the Red Sox’ 40-man roster. The outfielder is still owed $32.5 million over the next three seasons, with a $13.5 million option after 2019.

There seems to be every reason to believe that Castillo has almost fallen completely off the club’s depth chart in the outfield. Manager John Farrell said the reason behind sending Castillo to Pawtucket again was “there was a need for more regular at-bats to get him on track.”

The Red Sox would likely only reconsider placing Castillo back on their roster if several of their outfielders suffer injuries.

When Castillo signed in the summer of 2014, he was seen as a relatively speedy, multi-faceted outfielder with the potential to become a strong, everyday player. Towards the ends of the 2014 season, he was hitting just .253 with a .288 on-base percentage.

He was also viewed by the team as the primary left fielder as recently as this spring training, but it quickly became evident he was impressing few people. Brock Holt became the everyday left fielder instead.

Castillo has played in just 99 big league games, hitting .262 with a .679 OPS.

After playing 80 games with the Red Sox last season, he seems to have been forgotten this year, playing in just nine games with only eight plate appearances. With Pawtucket, he played 38 games and hit .245 with a homer, 13 RBIs, and 23 strikeouts.

When Castillo made his debut in September 2014, then-general manager Ben Cherington suggested just how risky his signing could be.

“When you’re scouting a player like Rusney who’s coming out of Cuba, it’s not a perfect scouting process,” Cherington said. “As much as I think the Red Sox and (player personnel exec) Allard Baird and Jared Banner and the others were involved to help us be as good as anyone with getting to know players like this, it’s still an imperfect process. You don’t have the hundred games that you’ve logged seeing these guys, so you have to make up for that in other ways, getting to know them, seeing them in whatever competition you can. That’s what we try to do and ultimately just, with the number of people involved, we come to a point where this is what we think the evaluation is. We believe there’s a skillset there that will allow him to be a good major league player, and we need good major league players.”

BOSTON, MA – AUGUST 23: Rusney Castillo #38 of the Boston Red Sox hits a single during the sixth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park on August 23, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Royals won 8-6. (Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images)