C Welington Castillo

This is a tricky one to predict. In late June or early July, I would have told you that Castillo would probably choose to stay with the Orioles and exercise his $7 million option. But after a second half in which the 30-year-old backstop hit .313 with 12 of his 20 homers and posted acceptable defensive numbers, Castillo would be foolish not to test the open market. The Orioles are OK with whatever happens here. Paying Castillo $7 million in 2018 is decent insurance for rookie Chance Sisco’s future development. But they’d also be OK with Sisco splitting time in the majors with Caleb Joseph in 2018. They’d also would be willing to re-negotiate a contract with Castillo if he rejects his option and then doesn’t find the free agent market to be warm. I’d bet my paycheck, however, that Castillo signs elsewhere for multiple years.

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