Nicholas Castellanos to the Reds, Starling Marte to the Diamondbacks

A quick aside from First Base Week to bring you some breaking news! Arguably the last big name on the board now has a home, though the move comes at the expense of other Cincinnati outfielders:

Sounds like the deal is for four years and $64 million. Perhaps the biggest takeaway here is regarding Nick Senzel—either Senzel is a lot less healthy than we know, or perhaps he’s on the move soon in a potential trade. A lot is up in the air as far as the Reds outfield goes, and right now it’s tough to trust anyone not named Castellanos. We’ll all just have to stay tuned on this situation. And as for real life, it’s refreshing to see a team all-out going for it, instead of sitting around doing nothing. Reds fans should be pretty darn excited for 2020.

One other thing...get ready for that ADP to rise, as ADPs always do with newfound clarity. Here was one take:

I lean more towards somewhere in the 80s, but that’s just me. Jimenez is more of a homer threat, as Castellanos has never posted more than 27 in a given season (last year with the bouncy ball). It’s possible the power stroke was denied due to the confines of Comerica Park, and now the Great American Ball Park will allow Castellanos to enjoy a career year. But I don’t know if I’d want to climb into the 60s to see if that’s going to happen.

As if that wasn’t enough, the baseball gods have given us a second trade to decipher:

A lot people don’t like Marte’s third-ish round ADP. But I think he’s a rock solid lock. And he just got an upgrade in team context, as the Diamondbacks as a unit are sneaky good. I’ll be all in on Marte for 2020. As far as bumping someone, this move bumps Ketel Marte back to second base, and I assume this means that Jake Lamb is out of a job. Nick Ahmed will man shortstop, but Eduardo Escobar figures to man the hot corner. Like Lamb, Kevin Cron also appears to have an uphill battle for playing time now.

As for real life baseball, major kudos to the Diamondbacks. Adding a true center fielder (that they’ve lacked) and signing Madison Bumgarner are big wins. A fun time to be a D-backs fan, too.

I’m certain there’s more analysis to be had here (for instance, where will Ketel and Starling slot into the batting order?) but we’ll unearth all such questions in the positional weeks to come!