For about 15 minutes Friday afternoon, the crowd of reporters around his locker growing with each honest answer, Nicholas Castellanos talked about the future. He talked about how little he knows and how drastically things can change in the months ahead. He said he can't let the uncertainty weigh on him. He admitted that, sometimes, it weighs on him anyway.
For all of the unknowns, Castellanos is pretty sure about this: his days with the Tigers are numbered. Whether his departure comes via a trade or free agency, he won't be with this ballclub next season. His path and that of the Tigers are no longer intertwined.
"It’s about the (players) who aren’t here yet. That’s the wave that I guess they're trying to catch, the young guys that they have, the position players and pitchers down (in the minors), with the mix of controllable pieces that are at the big-league level at this point in time. That’s their wave that they’re going to try to catch to try and be competitive. I think somebody who has three or four months left until free agency doesn’t really fit that image too well," Castellanos said.
He's right. Castellanos, a first-round pick of the Tigers in the 2010 draft, was once the team's third baseman of the future. Now he's a right fielder stuck in limbo, and it doesn't much sound like the organization plans to reel him back in. He's open to an extension, he said, but those talks haven't taken place. With the July 31 trade deadline a month and half away, it's highly unlikely they'll suddenly begin.
"Obviously I've been open to any extension talks, but that hasn’t happened. They said that I turned down one in the (2017-18) offseason, but that wasn’t true. I’ve also had conversations with Al where he says, 'It doesn’t really make sense where we are right now in this process of a rebuild to be handing out extensions.' This was back at the end of last season," Castellanos said. "I don’t have a college education, but I can pick up the pieces here and put a puzzle together.
"Not saying that this is 100 percent what it's going to be, but if I'm a gambling man I don’t see them offering me an extension at this point in time. ... I’m not a GM. I’m not out here begging for an extension. I'm not out here saying that what they're doing is wrong. Nothing. That’s their job. They have to do it the best way that they see fit with the people that they see fit."
It seems the looming split between the two sides took shape at the end of last season. After asking Castellanos to move from third base to right field in 2018, having already put him through several position shifts in the minors, the Tigers asked him to move again, this time to first base. So Castellanos made a request of his own.
"I told them, 'If you offer me an extension, if you show me that I am a piece of the future, I’ll play first. I’ll even throw bullpens for you. But give me that security,'" Castellanos said.
The Tigers wouldn't do it, Castellanos remained in right, and here we are some nine months later, a nine-year relationship nearing its end. As he thought back on that relationship Friday afternoon, Castellanos recounted all the times he did as he was asked. This wasn't a jaded professional athlete. This wasn't a selfish teammate. This was a 27-year-old trying to explain why he chose to finally look out for himself.
"The big knock on me is defense obviously. I was drafted as an amateur shortstop, I played third base for a year in the minors, then I had to play right field in Double-A, left field in Triple-A. Made my debut (in 2013) as a left fielder and then thrown back at third on a team that was expected to win the World Series. It’s like, when did they ever really find me, or when did I find myself in a position where I can focus on getting really comfortable in one spot and not always having to learn something new while still producing and performing?
Castellanos, to his credit, has improved in right field this season. He's nowhere near the liability he was last season. The problem, especially from the perspective of his trade value, is that his offense has slipped. He's hitting .260 with a .765 OPS through 63 games. That's not the kind of corner outfield bat contenders are looking to add at the deadline. The Tigers have to hope he heats up soon, and then they'll probably take what they can get.
Listen to Castellanos speak, and it can be easy to mistake his honesty for insolence. His disappointment in his situation here can sound like a desire to be somewhere else. That's not the case. Rather, he's resigned to the fact that he won't get to stay with the team that drafted him, that he won't get to be "one of those very few lucky guys" who spend their entire career in one city.
"Here’s the thing," Castellanos said. "I love this organization. It's like a college (for me), so to speak. I didn't go to college. I got drafted and off I went to the minor leagues. I grew up in this organization. I've turned from an 18-year-old teenager to a man in this organization. I’ve become a father in this organization. I've had troubles on the field and off the field in this organization, in front of this fan base. I have family here in Michigan. I love Detroit, I love the Tigers.
"But like I said at (Tiger Fest) two years ago, you don’t always get Plan A. You work your ass off for Plan A, but at the end of the day whatever you're dealt, you have to make the most of it."