With Nate Thompson about to come off the IL we needed to make room in both the rotation and on the staff, so we swung a couple of deals.
As Thompson is going to take Alfredo Vega's spot in the rotation, I felt it best to move Vega especially as he's going to get more expensive in arbitration next year, hence this deal:
What are we getting in Gates?
We're going to use him as a long reliever but he has a good shot at next year's rotation when Thompson leaves. There's nothing not to like here, and as a starter the stuff only drops to 65. Gates is only arb-eligible for the first time this winter, so as a reliever he'll barely make $1M.
This still doesn't open up a slot on the pitching staff, so there was another deal:
Gates slides into Bertone's long relief role. Bertone was outstanding last year but Gates is an upgrade. When I acquired Bertone from San Diego 3 years ago I had hoped he'd become a starter, but injuries and the failure to develop a third pitch meant that wasn't going to happen. So he along with our 3rd-round pick from last year (Medina, who is a finesse/control type whose ceiling is 5th starter) brought us Castrellon, who is an impact bat. A look under the hood:
We're putting Omar Rodriguez on the IL so Castrellon will join the team but projects to play at Durham once O-Rod is back. Castrellon already has hit a couple of homers for the M's, has no weaknesses as a hitter and should be able to put up a .900+ OPS in the bigs.