The Chicago Cubs are reportedly one of the teams interested in acquiring Detroit Tigers slugger Nicholas Castellanos before the July 31 trade deadline.
The Detroit News said Monday that the rumor “has some teeth,” and the Cubs would likely move Jason Heyward to center field and slot Castellanos in right field.
Castellanos, 27, is batting .284 with 11 homers and 36 RBIs in 93 games this season.
The right-handed hitter is batting .387 and slugging .694 against left-handers, which has been a weakness for the Cubs’ lineup this season.
Based on his comments Sunday after hitting a walk-off home run — the first of his career — against the Toronto Blue Jays, Castellanos is ready to leave Detroit’s cavernous Comerica Park.
“This park’s a joke,” he said. “It’s to the point where, how are we going to be compared to the rest of the people in the league for power numbers, OPS, slugging and all this stuff when we got a yard out here that’s 420 feet straight across in center field?”
Castellanos, who set career highs with 26 home runs and 101 RBIs in 2017, also led the majors in triples that season and currently leads the big leagues with 34 doubles.
He said he isn’t concerned about the trade speculation.
“I’m at the point where I really don’t care what happens,” he said. “Why care? I can’t control it. Why care if one day my hair is going to turn gray if I can’t control it? I don’t know if that analogy makes any sense, but it popped into my head.”
Castellanos, who debuted with Detroit in 2013, is set to become a free agent after this season. He is earning $9.95 million this season.
