Padres One Great Unknown Is About This Controversial Outfielder Not Making Trouble

Every team is going into the season with mysteries and unknowns, but some are bigger than others. AJ Cassavell from MLB.com came up with one big unknown for every team in the league, and the San Diego Padres have a serious one that’s about controversial outfielder Nick Castellanos. 

Castellanos seemingly did all he could to make trouble for the Philadelphia Phillies, to the point where they paid him $20 million to go away and play elsewhere. The Padres signed Castellanos to pay for the veteran minimum, which led third baseman Manny Machado to describe him as “a $20 million player for pennies on the dollar.” 

That may be true, but Castellanos remains a mystery going into this campaign. He did some fine work learning a new position as the Padres moved him to first base, and Castellanos started strong offensively and showed some of his power potential. By the end of spring training, though, he was down to a slash line of .200/.308/.378. 

Those spring stats don’t really mean anything for a veteran like Castellanos, but what does matter is that he was basically beaten out by at least one or two of the other players the Padres brought in to compete for time at first base. It’s a complicated positional equation with a lot of moving parts and pieces, but the impressive performances of Ty France and others could make Castellanos’ comeback at least somewhat moot. 

New manager Craig Stammen still has a lot to figure out when it comes to splitting up the available at-bats at first base, and Castellanos could also get some at-bats as the DH. But it’s easy to envision a scenario in which Castellanos gets only intermittent at bats and struggles offensively, and if that happens the Padres probably won’t hesitate to pull the trigger and release him. 

The one way Castellanos could turn this around is with an early power surge. That’s what the Padres got him for, and if he goes on a tear Machado’s value statement will become a reality. 

That’s not the real one great unknown question here, however. The question on everyone’s mind as the season opens is how the rotations is going to hold up, and to see who will be able to deliver effective innings. The bullpen is this team’s biggest strength by a lot, but the starters need to make two turns through the lineup for that to continue to be the case.