With the year almost over, it is becoming clear which MLB teams are serious players in the offseason free agent and trade markets, and which are content to simply survive with, more or less, the rosters they had in this year’s season. That the New York Yankees are looking increasingly like one of the latter teams has to be one of the most surprising developments of the offseason.
There is one relatively inexpensive free agent still available on the market who has a special connection to a current New York infielder, and who according to an analysis published by Bleacher Report on Tuesday would provide a highly valuable element to the Yankees defense.
Willi Castro, who was traded from the Minnesota Twins to the Chicago Cubs at the July 31 deadline, is not only a 2024 All-Star, but he entered the baseball history books that year as well.
In what MLB.com called one of “the most mind-blowing stats of the ’24 season,” Castro became the first player in major league history to start at least 25 games at each of five different defensive positions. Castro “played 56 games at shortstop, 39 games at second base, 30 in center field, 30 in left field and 26 at third base,” MLB.com writer Anthony Castrovince recounted.
As if that level of versatility wasn’t enough, Castro also made two scoreless pitching appearances in 2024, and another one this year. His extreme versatility, plus a solid .774 OPS with seven home runs by the All-Star break, earned Castro a selection to the American League team for the Midsummer Classic that year.
After this year’s trade to the Cubs, Castro fell apart offensively, managing just a .485 OPS and .170 batting average in 34 games for the North Siders. That performance, or lack of it, may be costing Castro on the free agent market — though Spotrac still estimates the 28-year-old’s value as $33 million over a three-year contract.
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According to writer Esteban Quiñones of the Yankees site Pinstripes Nation, however, Castro not only offers New York a level of defensive versatility that the team badly lacked this year, but the former All-Star has a special connection to the Bronx Bombers.
He is the brother-in-law of Amed Rosario, who gave the Yankees infield a boost over 16 games after the Yankees picked him up from the Washington Nationals just before the deadline. Rosario recorded 10 hits including a home run and a double in just 33 at-bats for the Bombers, earning him a new, one-year, $2.5 million deal.
“Castro is married to Aniana Rosario. She is the sister of Amed Rosario,” Quiñones wrote. “The two players have known each other since 2012. They trained together in the Dominican Republic before signing their first professional contracts. Castro went to Cleveland. Rosario signed with the Mets. Their bond grew stronger when Castro married into the family.”
The Pinstripes Nation scribe attributed Castro’s fall-off with the Cubs to the jolt of unfamiliar surroundings, and believes that the “comfort level” his familial relationship with Rosario provides would get the hyper-versatile utility man back into a groove.
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