Welington Castillo
Well, all indications point to James McCann signing a deal with the New York Mets for four years. This will push the market for J.T. Realmuto even more towards bigger dollars and potentially more years. With him being too expensive for the Nationals to consider (they have the money, I just think they should spend it elsewhere), it’s time to get serious about bringing in someone else.
With little discussion being leaked on who the Nationals may be targeting behind the plate, I am beginning to think they are readying themselves to give the keys to Yan Gomes full-time and bring in a lesser known guy to back up. This won’t be a shared situation like Gomes and Kurt Suzuki perfected in the World Series year of 2019, it’ll be a Gomes catching every night, getting day games and get-away games off.
While I think the Nats could bring in a Jason Castro or a Tony Wolters for this role, they might as well go out secure Welington Castillo as well.
Castillo was signed to a minor league contract last year and had he not opted out of the season admist the global pandemic, I’m convinced the Nats would have began the season with three catchers, utilizing him as one of the extra position players allowed.
Castillo has ten years experience under his belt and 98 career home runs. I’d trust him as the third option, or even the backup, should the Nats choose to sit on their hands too long watching the other catchers get snatched up.