The Philadelphia Phillies, masterminded by longtime MLB roster-building guru Dave Dombrowski, nabbed one of the few impact bats left on the free-agent market late Friday night. Philadelphia agreed to a five-year, $100 million contract with righty-masher Nick Castellanos, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN's Jeff Passan.
There is no doubt that Castellanos can hit. According to the ZIPS projections at Fangraphs, he was the most productive bat left on the market, with a forecasted .366 WOBA this season, a figure approached among then-unattached players by only Carlos Correa and Trevor Story.
With Castellanos in the fold, the Phillies now feature a potent platoon tandem at DH between him and recent addition Kyle Schwarber, who agreed to a four-year, $79.5 million deal that drew high marks from yours truly.
OK, most of what you read in that last paragraph was sarcasm, but it was meant to be light-hearted. Castellanos is a very good hitter and I did really like the Schwarber signing. If the Phillies had signed Castellanos a couple of days ago, I would have liked that just as well. However, signing them both is a gambit that I am having a hard time comprehending.