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The Philadelphia Phillies have a luxury most other Major League Baseball teams don’t.
With their $300 million-plus payroll, the Phillies can occasionally make a financial commitment that they know might not age well to try and help win a championship. And there are a few questionable contracts littered up and down the roster.
Ask most Phillies fans, and they’ll have no issue whatsoever with the $100 million commitment the team made to right fielder Nick Castellanos before the 2022 season. He’s had some big hits, especially in October, and he’s a colorful personality that the city has embraced.
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But from a value standpoint, his production hasn’t lived up to that dollar amount. In fact, this season, he might be the sport’s least valuable right fielder on a per-dollar basis.
Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report took a shot at the Castellanos contract on Tuesday, when he named the 33-year-old to his “All-Overpaid Team” across MLB this season.
“Castellanos ranks dead-last in the majors in Fielding Run Value (minus-12), and he’s bottom three in Outs Above Average (minus-11),” wrote Miller. “What’s funny is he hasn’t actually committed any errors yet this season, but out probability and similar range-based metrics show he simply does not get to nearly as many balls as he should.
“If the Phillies fail to re-sign Kyle Schwarber, the silver lining is they could remove Castellanos’ glove from the equation in the final year of his contract by making him the primary DH.”
Defensive incompetence doesn’t always come in the form of errors, as Miller accurately conveys. And having to hide Castellanos’ glove in right, especially when the rest of the outfield has been largely mediocre defensively, has the potential to hurt the Phillies just as much as an ill-timed slump.
But at the same time, the Phillies have enough spending power that the $20 million salary they have to pay next year doesn’t really handcuff the front office, enabling them to keep Castellanos around and hope he can come through in more big moments.
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