Red Sox put Rusney Castillo on waivers

Rusney Castillo has been put on outright waivers by the Boston Red Sox. What does this mean for his future with the franchise?

Have we seen the last of Rusney Castillo with the Boston Red Sox?

Not necessarily, but being placed on outright waivers by the team is certainly the low point of a disappointing tenure with the franchise for Castillo. In case there was any question of how the current regime views the 29-year old outfielder, this action makes it abundantly clear.

Castillo entered spring training expecting to be the favorite to be named the starting left fielder for the Red Sox. It was essentially his job to lose, and lose it he did. By the time Opening Day rolled around, Boston had moved on to Brock Holt as their primary left fielder, with Chris Young serving as the right-handed half of a platoon.

That left Castillo to be relegated to Triple-A Pawtucket, where he spent most of the season providing the Red Sox with little reason to bring him back up. When he did get another shot in the big leagues it was only because Boston’s injury riddled bench had no other options to turn to. Castillo has appeared in 9 games this season, mostly as a late game substitute, collecting only 2 hits in 8 at-bats.

So what does putting Castillo on waivers mean for the Red Sox?

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It’s unlikely that any team is going to claim him, given that Castillo is still owed over $50 million of the 7-year, $72.5 million deal that the Red Sox regrettably gave him in 2014. The front office may simply be dangling Castillo to see if there is any interest. Perhaps a team that isn’t willing to pick up his full contract may still be willing to work out a trade, with the Red Sox paying the majority of his remaining deal.

The more likely outcome is that Castillo will pass through waivers unclaimed, which will allow the Red Sox to return him to Pawtucket. The benefit to this is it would allow the team to remove him from the 40-man roster.

What could the Red Sox do with an open roster spot? They need to improve their bench, preferably with a left-handed bat that can fill in as part of a left field platoon. Clearing space on the 40-man roster could be in preparation for a trade to acquire such a bat.

If a trade opportunity doesn’t present itself, at least it the short-term, the Red Sox could look internally. There are a couple of appealing options in Pawtucket that the team may find more worthy of getting a shot than Castillo was.