The millions are irrationally dancing on the baseball, and now an outfielder as Rusney Castillo just received 72.5 million to dress the mythical shirt of the Boston Red Sox.
Would it be the Cuban outfielder worth that much? In my opinion he isn’t Neither José Ariel Contreras deserved the 32 the alienated New York Yankees paid for him.
And to go even further, not even Alex Rodriguez made enough to reach those 250 that prickled the skin of the universe, and yet he was the best hitter in the world.
As old timers would put it, in baseball they “have lost respect for money.” Any stranger with a couple of notable tools makes group presentations and ends rewarded with greater than seven million per season salary. Poor Babe Ruth: so many homers to only get paid 80 thousand in his prime…
In a championship where the minimum salary is $ 500,000 per season, the deal Rusney got from the Red Sox was to be expected. That is a player slightly above average and comes from the Cuban factory whose prestige has been revitalized lately, but is not that kind of figure that makes a difference or drags the pack.
Attention: nothing (absolutely nothing) I have against the boy, who I hope will become an everyday center fielder, and not in the fourth outfielder few scouts spoke at the time. He has adequate reactions, cover abundant field, has a strong arm and in Cuba he could always boast of very fast legs and good contacts in the home.
Were these virtues enough to raise his bid to 72.5 million? Because I remember Rusney Castillo was a man of casual power, and we know that the most valued feature in baseball is to put balls in the bleachers. Has anything changed?
Clearly, yes. He now has twenty pounds over the 185 that he used to weigh among us and those new twenty pounds, needless to say, of pure muscle, could bring a bonus to his swing power. (Indeed, you’re born with the power, but there is not a decree banning cultivation).
In fact, in the showcase he did in Miami he was seen by hitting the ball over the fences through several different sectors. In the images that have come to my hands he gives the impression that his bat now undertakes a fierce sweep, but persists in the long swing path of Cubans, vice understandable given the slowness of the pitchers in the National Series.
Longer connections with relative preservation of speed: good news. But again, I looks to me that contract was exaggerated for an athlete of 5 feet 9 inches, whose essential nature will never allow him to send the ball towards the stratosphere. Suddenly, the newcomer earns more than his counterparts Yasiel Puig (6’3 “, 245 pounds), Jorge Soler (6’4”, 215) and Yoenis Cespedes (just 5’10 “, but with a strength of a bodybuilder).
Whether he plays or not in the Minors is still doubtful. He is likely to suffer at the start with fastballs at 95 miles / hour or more, in the process of shortening the swing and adjust the movements. All is uncertainty right now. Everything but something his teammate Céspedes fortunately taught him:
“This is the same game. Baseball is a better quality, but it is the same game. You cannot try to be someone you’re not. Just be yourself, play the same way, and everything will be fine. “
Authors
Juan Kubala,
Juan Kubala
