Nationals sign Castro

Starlin Castro is joining the World Series Champion Washington Nationals on a two-year deal as noted by Joel Sherman of the New York Post and first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Castro spent the last two seasons with the Miami Marlins.

At only 29 years old the Nationals are hoping that Castro can continue his 2019 second-half success when he hit over .300 and had 16 home runs. While the plan currently is to have him play second base, his versatility would provide the Nationals with an option at third base if they are unable to acquire a bigger name to man the hot corner. That would allow top prospect Carter Kieboom to play second.

Oscar Colas defects from Cuba

Two-way prospect Oscar Colas has defected from Cuba in order to seek a major league deal according to Jeff Pasan of ESPN. Colas, 21, is an outfielder and left-handed pitcher who spent the 2019 season playing for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan.

In 295 plate appearances, he finished with a .300/.353/.511 line while also being able to reach 95MPH while on the mound, Pasan notes. With the current international signing period almost halfway over it would be financially beneficial for Colas to wait until July 2020 to sign a more lucrative deal.

Ross returns to Cali

Bob Nightengale of USA Today is reporting that the San Francisco Giants and Tyson Ross have agreed to a minor league deal. The deal is worth a 1.75MM rate at the major league level with another 1.75MM available in incentives.

After only making seven starts in 2019 for the Detroit Tigers, the righty fell victim to nerve issues in his neck. It may take some time for Ross to return as the nerve issue was fully resolved, the Giants are willing to be patient and see if Ross can get back to his former self.

White Sox could trade McCann for bullpen help

Bruce Levin of 670TheScore is reporting that the Chicago White Sox may be looking to strengthen their bullpen, and one player who may be used to make that happen is James McCann.

After a 2019 that saw him make the All-Star team, McCann lost his starting job when the team signed Yasmani Grandal and further fell out of the depth chart when they also signed Edwin Encarnacion. McCann,29, had a great first half but struggled during the latter part of 2019, but that shouldn’t keep the number of teams interested in acquiring the backstop from backing off.