According to a tweet from Marc Topkin, the Tampa Bay Rays have made a starting offer to free agent catcher, Jason Castro.
#Rays have made "initial" offer to C Jason Castro and "are right in thick of things,'' per agent Fred Wray. Castro weighing multiple offers.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) November 18, 2016
Many pundits around the league have pegged Castro to receive a two year deal that would give him a total of around $15 million, an average annual value of $7.5 million, a bit expensive but not completely out of the Rays price range.
JT Morgan pegged Castro as a player the Rays should target a few days ago
A left handed bat to face off against right handed pitching is the ideal platoon candidate for Casali, which would be the lion's share of plate appearances. Castro has the potential to meet that need. Castro’s bat is far from great, but it's an average bat for the position, and combined with his plus defense, would greatly improve the Rays catching in 2017.
This past season with the Houston Astros, Castro slashed .210/.307/.377 with 11 HR, good for 88 wRC+ over 376 plate appearances in 113 games. He also accrued 1.1 fWAR. Castro also struck a career high 33% of his plate appearances.
The Houston Astros did not tender Castro a qualifying offer, so he won’t cost a draft pick.