Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Pluses and Minuses Of Cuba's Rusney Castillo

Cuban Defector Rusney Castillo
With the recent success of so many Cuban players in major league baseball, it's worth a look when another one becomes available—particularly as an international free agent. Such is the case with 27-year old  Rusney Castillowho will be working out for interested teams on July 26th in Miami. Castillo defected from Fidel Castro's Prison Island and thus would not factor against a team's international bonus pool. However, there are positives and negatives to the Red Sox taking a look at the center fielder. On the plus side, he is right-handed, steals bases and is a gap-to-gap line drive hitter. On the minus side, he's 27, represented by Jay-Z, stands only 5'9" and has no HR power. What Boston really needs is a young, big right-handed outfield bat that can launch balls onto the MassPike. Hello, Giancarlo Stanton!