Cubs New Strategy: Own Everyone

The Cubs seem to be intent to on playing Monopoly with the entirety of future position prospects as rumors from Buster Olney indicate they may be in the lead to acquire Cuban outfielder/infielder Rusney Castillo. Own the entire board and they'll have to come to you and pay overmarket prices for your property.

I can't say I gave much credence to the Castillo rumors and I certainly wouldn't be surprised by the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers or mystery team swooping in when all is said and done, but it sure would fit with the philosophy of acquiring assets to build the club. Anyway, you can find some good info on Castillo from Baseball America or this SB Nation article, but here's the Cliff Note's version.

He's Cuban, he's 27 years old, hits from the right side. He's just 5'9" and weighs in at 205 pounds, but word is he added about 20 pounds of muscle recently and can hit a few over the fence now, although he's pegged as a line drive doubles hitter. Most envision him as a center fielder, although he played right field as well. He did play the infield a few years back and a select few think he might be able to stick at second base, but that's definitely not going to be his position with the Cubs. The speed is there, grading anywhere from 60-80 with a 50 arm and he seems to have some on-base skills with a 319/383/516 slash line (51 home runs and 76 stolen bases) in 360 games in the Cuban league, although no idea how that'll translate here. If they do, he could be the top of the order threat that the system seems to be missing. He's at the right age to play now and the Cubs, while seemingly bursting with prospects, do have some wiggle room in the outfield the next season or two depending on who pans out and stays healthy.

We'll see how this works out and what money he gets, but he seems to offer some skills that the major league team could use the next couple of years (legit center field skills, speed, lack of strikeouts, on-base skills). Now whether those translate is another question of course, but that's the game of risk vs. reward they play everyday.