Failed Cuban outfielders Yasmany Tomás, Rusney Castillo still playing

A wave of Cuban talent arrived in the major leagues in the early 2010s. Leonys Martín signed with the Rangers. Yoenis Céspedes with the A’s. Jorge Soler with the Cubs. Jose Abreu the White Sox. Yasiel Puig the Dodgers. Rusney Castillo the Red Sox. Each of them signed between May 2011 and August 2014.

Yasmany Tomás was looking to join them when he defected from Cuba in June 2014. At least seven teams were believed to have serious interest when Tomás held a workout that September and some projected he could see a contract close to $100M, topping Castillo’s record-setting $72.5M deal, as Jim McLennan at AZ Snake Pit wrote in 2023.

The Diamondbacks weren’t expected to be contenders to land Tomás, but by December that’s where he would sign, agreeing to a six-year deal worth $68.5M.

Arizona proved challenging from the very start.

With a loaded outfield and no clear path to get Tomás into the lineup, Arizona experimented with a move to third base. Immediately, it became clear that Tomás would be limited defensively there without the range or instincts to handle the hot corner.

By June, Tomás found himself back in the outfield corners and the results weren’t much different. He showed a lack of range, inconsistent effort, and poor instincts. The defensive woes would plague him throughout his career, even after an eventual move to first base.

Tomás didn’t offer enough at the plate to make up for the deficiencies with the glove. He hit .268/.307/.462 (98 OPS+) with 48 home runs from 2015-17.

Arizona made changes in their front office that winter, firing Dave Stewart and replacing him with Mike Hazen. Tomás was then arrested while driving more than 100 mph on a Phoenix valley freeway. Once spring training began, the team passed him through waivers and outrighted him off their 40-man roster. Aside from six lone plate appearances late in the 2019 season, he’d spend the remainder of his D-backs tenure in the minors.

Many view the signing as one of the worst contracts in team history and as one of the least successful moves of Stewart’s tenure as GM.

Washington signed Tomás to a minor league deal for 2021, but saw enough to cut him loose after just 96 plate appearances.

It would have been easy for Tomás to give up at that point, but he’s continued to play.

Tomás has played for the Caneros de Los Mochis in the Mexican Winter League for the last three years. He’s now returning to Cuba to join the Industriales in the Cuban Elite League, according to a report from the Cuban Baseball Digest (via Leif Skodnick at worldbaseball.com).

Castillo, meanwhile, received far more hype and attention when he signed but was equally as disappointing for the Red Sox. Like Tomás, he would finish out his lengthy contract while banished to the minor leagues before his globe-trotting efforts to continue his career began. Since last playing a game in the Red Sox system in 2019, Castillo has played in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan, the independent Atlantic League, Mexico again, and Nicaragua. He’s expected to return to the Conspiradores de Queretaro in Mexico, where he hit .351/.396/.548 last year, for the coming season.