Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Second Base: Does Castillo Have a Chance?

Second Base: Does Castillo Have a Chance?


By Mike Silva ~ February 17th, 2011. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

Terry Collins gave Luis Castillo a compliment yesterday. “He’s still the hardest player in the National League to strike out. That speaks a lot.” Many already have Castillo, along with Oliver Perez, scheduled for the waiver wire sometime in March. I agree with that assessment, but it does appear that everyone will have a legitimate chance in Collins first camp.

Collins did mention if “Castillo’s legs are healthy” he can be a presence in the lineup. I don’t disagree, but he’s never been 100% healthy during his Mets tenure, and even worse, his defense has bordered on atrocious. Daniel Murphy and Brad Emaus likely won’t make anyone forget Roberto Alomar, but their younger, healthy, and have more pop in their offensive game.

What if Castillo shows spring in his legs as he attempts to salvage whatever baseball life is left in his body? If he was capable of hitting .300, walking enough for an OBP of .370, and produce not great, but average defense at second base, do you keep him on the roster? Remember, he would be batting eighth, not second, in this Mets lineup.

Daniel Murphy is the only second base candidate, other than Castillo, that has a full season of big league production on his resume. Justin Turner and Brad Emaus have potential, but lighting up the International and Eastern League respectively doesn’t guarantee big league success.

I agree with Adam Rubin in saying that Collins was probably being polite with his Castillo remarks. Even if he doesn’t have a legitimate shot at making the team it sends a solid message to the group if he is afforded a real opportunity. The six million dollar price tag could be used to show everyone how the roster is determined because of performance, not financials. Play poorly and Castillo is gone by St. Patrick’s Day. Show he has baseball life left and you never know. I wouldn’t sacrifice Brad Emaus for Castillo, but let’s see the kid play first before we anoint him. He was a Rule V pick, don’t forget that.

Who knows, maybe a good spring gives the Mets the opportunity to trade him for something, anything, so they don’t eat $6 million dollars for nothing. There is no harm in at least staying positive and giving Castillo a look.

In the end, maybe the Mets second base competition just got more crowded since it appears Luis Castillo may not be a $6 million dollar placeholder this spring.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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4 Responses to Second Base: Does Castillo Have a Chance?

  1. Beebop
    February 17th, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    Competition is weak,a Rule 5 guy,a guy with no glove,and Turner who they don’t seem to like. Don’t be surprised to see Castillo ou there on Opening Day.

  2. birtelcom
    February 17th, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    Luis has now been with the Mets in four seasons. In none of those four seasons did he combine a .300 BA with average defense. In each of those seasons, he has either been below average on defense, or in the .240 BA range at bat (a range that is toxic given his extreme lack of power). Now all of sudden at age 35 he’s going to put together a season of a type he hasn’t seen since he was 30? Highly improbable, and even an apparently impressive showing in a small sample of spring traing games isn’t going to make it probable.

  3. Mike Silva
    February 17th, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    birtelcom

    I agree with you 100%

    The point is at least Collins is giving him a fair shake to succeed or fail. No one this team could say there is a bias for historical reasons and that is important- at least in my opinion.

    The prior regime seemed to sour on someone (see Nick Evans) and regardless what you did to improve it appeared to be a fruitless effort. That isn’t good for team chemistry and motivating the organization.

  4. birtelcom
    February 18th, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    This sort of story can usually be spun different ways, and during a “honeymoon period” (Terry has yet to lose a single game as Mets manager), one may be tempted to adopt the posiotive spin rather than the negative. The positive spin here is, as you say, “We’re giving everybody a fair chance to show their stuff in the spring, and won’t let potentially-irrational fan sentiment or past history bias what you show on the field in the spring”. The negative spin, on the other hand, would be something like “With a record like Luis has over the past four seasons, there’s no way he’d be taken seriously as a competitor for the second base job except that he’s already signed for $6M for this year. The fact that he (like Ollie) hasn’t been released by now to try and find another job only shows the Mets still aren’t making decisions on the merits, but are being irrationally biased by existing payment obligations.” If Omar and Jerry were still around, I suspect that the exact same words and actions with respect to Luis would tend to generate the negative spin rather than the positive.

    But that’s the nature of honeymoons.

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