It's official: Cubs acquire Nicholas Castellanos |
CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today acquired outfielder Nicholas Castellanos and a cash consideration from the Detroit Tigers for minor league right-handed pitchers Alex Lange and Paul Richan. To make room for Castellanos on the 40-man roster, RHP Oscar De La Cruz was designated for assignment.
Castellanos, 27, is batting .273 (110-for-403) with 37 doubles, 11 homers, 37 RBI and a .790 OPS in 100 games with the Tigers this season, as he entered the day tied for the major league lead in doubles. The right-handed batter is hitting .347 (25-for-72) with a .415 on-base percentage, .611 slugging percentage and a 1.026 OPS vs. left-handed pitching this season, the sixth-best batting average, seventh-best OPS and ninth-best on-base percentage in the American League this season vs. southpaws. The 6-foot-4 Castellanos is a career .274 hitter (862-for-3,148) with 208 doubles, 104 home runs, 424 RBI and a .783 OPS in 837 games covering all or part of seven big league seasons with the Tigers (2013-19). He is a career .300 hitter with an .868 OPS against left-handed pitching. Castellanos broke into the big leagues with the Tigers in 2013 and has played in at least 148 games in four of the last five seasons, including 157 games in each of the last two campaigns. He led the American League with 10 triples and ranked tied for ninth with a career-best 101 RBI in 2017 while he finished third in the A.L. with 185 hits and ninth in batting average last year when he hit .298 (185-for-620) with 46 doubles, 23 homers and a career-best .854 OPS. Castellanos was originally selected by the Tigers in the first round (44th overall) of the 2010 Draft. Lange, 23, has combined to go 3-12 with a 5.82 ERA (56 ER/86.2 IP) in 18 starts this season between Single-A Myrtle Beach and Double-A Tennessee. He was originally selected by the Cubs in the first round of the 2017 Draft out of Louisiana State University and has gone 9-21 with a 4.62 ERA (111 ER/216.1 IP) in 45 starts covering the last three seasons in the Cubs minor league system. Richan, 22, has gone 10-5 with a 3.97 ERA (41 ER/93.0 IP) in 17 starts for Myrtle Beach this year. He was originally selected by the Cubs in the second round (compensation round) of the 2018 Draft out of the University of San Diego. Richan has gone 10-7 with a 3.52 ERA (48 ER/122.2 IP) in 27 appearances, 26 as a starter, over the last two seasons in the Cubs minor league system. Source: Detroit kicked in roughly $500,000 to complete the Nick Castellanos deal, so the Cubs will take on about $2.5 million of his salary. With a chance for more October baseball at Wrigley Field, Tom Ricketts stretched the budget for baseball operations. The #Cubs today acquired OF Nick Castellanos and a cash consideration from the Tigers for minor league RHPs Paul Richan and Alex Lange.
To make room for Castellanos on the 40-man roster, RHP Oscar De La Cruz was designated for assignment. pic.twitter.com/aZpj3Ba8zH
