Welington Castillo makes it official, declines option for 2018

The Orioles disdain for giving free agents an opt-out in contracts is well known, but in the right situation they will offer an opt-out, call it a player option and insist that they don’t do opt-outs even though this is plainly not the truth. From this contradiction springs Monday afternoon’s news that Welington Castillo has declined a player option for 2018, making him a free agent. Jon Heyman was the first to report the news.

This was not a surprising announcement. Castillo had been expected to exercise his right to opt out of the contract based on the strength of a career-best season at the plate, where among other things he set a new personal best with 20 home runs despite playing in…