- Thread starter
- #1
Rock Strongo
My mind spits with an enormous kickback.
- 55,878
- 6,772
- 533
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2013
- Location
- 495 belt
- Hoopla Cash
- $ 1,000.00
- Fav. Team #1
- Fav. Team #2
- Fav. Team #3
Career earnings: $58,228,571.00
2020 salary - $14,271,429.00
MLB stats:
.262/.301/.379 = .679 OPS
83 hits
7 HR/35 RBI
last seen in MLB in 2016
His 2019 pawtucket (AAA) numbers:
.278/.321/.448 = .769 OPS
128 hits
17 HR
64 RBI
https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/09/18/boston-red-sox-rusney-castillo
Seven miles north of Fenway Park, Rusney Castillo slides into the driver's seat of his rented black Maserati Ghibli. It's 7 1/2 hours before first pitch, but Castillo has learned the rhythms of game days in the U.S. after the Red Sox signed him to a seven-year, $72.5 million deal in 2014. Playing for his hometown Ciego de Ávila Tigres of the Cuban league, the outfielder would show up an hour before the game. Now he tries to beat his teammates to the park.
Dressed head to toe in Nike gear and wearing a gold chain with his diamond-encrusted initials, he wheels from the garage of his apartment building onto Route 1 toward Boston. Then, 10 minutes later, he drives past the exit for Fenway Park.
If he made less money, perhaps Castillo would turn off there. But due to a rule that confuses even Castillo, the Red Sox are paying him so much that he can't play for them. So he continues along I-93 and then I-95 on his 50-mile commute to Pawtucket, R.I., home of the Triple A Red Sox. The highest-paid player in the minor leagues has made this drive more than 200 times, over five years. He knows he will make it another 70 or so in 2020, the final year of his contract. But he keeps his three-bedroom apartment in Boston because he believes that he belongs there—and that someday he will play there.
In August, Castillo won his second straight PawSox MVP award. In the four seasons since his last demotion, he has batted .294 and slugged .429. Manager Billy McMillon regularly advocates for the 32-year-old Castillo when he speaks to the player development officials. But no matter how well he performs, he will remain at McCoy Stadium, ensnared by a tax loophole no one could have foreseen. Through an interpreter Castillo explains matter-of-factly, "Anybody can [hope to] be called up but me."
When the Red Sox signed Castillo to the richest contract ever for a Cuban free agent, then-GM Ben Cherington thought he would be their centerfielder of the future. But the excellent contact skills and good power Castillo had shown in 323 games with the Tigres failed to translate. He put together an OPS of just .679 in 99 games over parts of three MLB seasons as other outfielders became fixtures at Fenway: 2011 first-round pick Jackie Bradley Jr. in centerfield, '11 fifth-rounder Mookie Betts in right and '15 first-rounder Andrew Benintendi in left.
In June 2016, Boston outrighted Castillo to Triple A, a move that also helped the team's bottom line: Under terms of the collective bargaining agreement, only the salaries of players on the 40-man roster counted toward the luxury tax. By removing Castillo's $10.5 million from that total and keeping him down for the season, the Red Sox, who were over the tax threshold and facing a 30% penalty, saved roughly $3 million.
Five months later MLB and the players' association agreed on a new CBA. Under those terms once a player is added to the 40-man roster his salary counts for luxury-tax purposes, even if he is taken off the 40-man again. Team owners wanted this to lower potential tax bills; the union's primary concern was making sure its major league members got paid. But the change proved crushing to Castillo, the rare minor leaguer making big bucks. By keeping him down, the Sox cut his eight-figure salary from luxury-tax consideration. If they had promoted him this year, they would have to pay around $7 million in taxes. They could face a similar bill for bringing him up in 2020.
2020 salary - $14,271,429.00
MLB stats:
.262/.301/.379 = .679 OPS
83 hits
7 HR/35 RBI
last seen in MLB in 2016
His 2019 pawtucket (AAA) numbers:
.278/.321/.448 = .769 OPS
128 hits
17 HR
64 RBI
https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/09/18/boston-red-sox-rusney-castillo
Seven miles north of Fenway Park, Rusney Castillo slides into the driver's seat of his rented black Maserati Ghibli. It's 7 1/2 hours before first pitch, but Castillo has learned the rhythms of game days in the U.S. after the Red Sox signed him to a seven-year, $72.5 million deal in 2014. Playing for his hometown Ciego de Ávila Tigres of the Cuban league, the outfielder would show up an hour before the game. Now he tries to beat his teammates to the park.
Dressed head to toe in Nike gear and wearing a gold chain with his diamond-encrusted initials, he wheels from the garage of his apartment building onto Route 1 toward Boston. Then, 10 minutes later, he drives past the exit for Fenway Park.
If he made less money, perhaps Castillo would turn off there. But due to a rule that confuses even Castillo, the Red Sox are paying him so much that he can't play for them. So he continues along I-93 and then I-95 on his 50-mile commute to Pawtucket, R.I., home of the Triple A Red Sox. The highest-paid player in the minor leagues has made this drive more than 200 times, over five years. He knows he will make it another 70 or so in 2020, the final year of his contract. But he keeps his three-bedroom apartment in Boston because he believes that he belongs there—and that someday he will play there.
In August, Castillo won his second straight PawSox MVP award. In the four seasons since his last demotion, he has batted .294 and slugged .429. Manager Billy McMillon regularly advocates for the 32-year-old Castillo when he speaks to the player development officials. But no matter how well he performs, he will remain at McCoy Stadium, ensnared by a tax loophole no one could have foreseen. Through an interpreter Castillo explains matter-of-factly, "Anybody can [hope to] be called up but me."
When the Red Sox signed Castillo to the richest contract ever for a Cuban free agent, then-GM Ben Cherington thought he would be their centerfielder of the future. But the excellent contact skills and good power Castillo had shown in 323 games with the Tigres failed to translate. He put together an OPS of just .679 in 99 games over parts of three MLB seasons as other outfielders became fixtures at Fenway: 2011 first-round pick Jackie Bradley Jr. in centerfield, '11 fifth-rounder Mookie Betts in right and '15 first-rounder Andrew Benintendi in left.
In June 2016, Boston outrighted Castillo to Triple A, a move that also helped the team's bottom line: Under terms of the collective bargaining agreement, only the salaries of players on the 40-man roster counted toward the luxury tax. By removing Castillo's $10.5 million from that total and keeping him down for the season, the Red Sox, who were over the tax threshold and facing a 30% penalty, saved roughly $3 million.
Five months later MLB and the players' association agreed on a new CBA. Under those terms once a player is added to the 40-man roster his salary counts for luxury-tax purposes, even if he is taken off the 40-man again. Team owners wanted this to lower potential tax bills; the union's primary concern was making sure its major league members got paid. But the change proved crushing to Castillo, the rare minor leaguer making big bucks. By keeping him down, the Sox cut his eight-figure salary from luxury-tax consideration. If they had promoted him this year, they would have to pay around $7 million in taxes. They could face a similar bill for bringing him up in 2020.
