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Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Edgy MD Jan 09 2011 01:36 PM

Pos: 2B Born: 9/12/1975 in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic Acquired: Traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Mets for Dustin Martin and Drew Butera 7/30/2007 (same day Bill Robinson died, as it turns out). Signed to a four-year, $25 million 11/19/2007, leading to this lovely thread. 2010 Stats: Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB NYM NL 86 299 247 28 58 4 2 0 17 8 3 39 25 .235 .337 .267 .604 68 66 6 0 11 2 1 St. Lucie FLOR (A+) 4 16 13 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 .154 .313 .231 .543 3 0 0 0 0 0 Total All 90 315 260 31 60 5 2 0 17 8 3 42 27 .231 .336 .265 .601 69 6 0 11 2 1 Wifey: Angie Last Word: Sports Illusrated writer Buster olney has reported that the Mets braintrust has had internal discuassions regarding possibly releasing Castill outright before the start of spring training. What do you expect of Luis Castillo in 2011?

Frayed Knot Jan 09 2011 01:41 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

I expect that Luis Castillo will be getting his mail in a different town in 2011.

Vic Sage Jan 09 2011 01:53 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

i'd make some joke about him getting snipered, but that could rile the Palinites into killing somebody els. so i won't. but i'm really hoping never to see him in a Mets uni again.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 09 2011 02:35 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

I think he'll play reasonably well in spring training, which will make him just tradeable. He'll be dealt, with about $4 million, and for nothing much, to some other team that suddenly finds itself needing a second baseman.

bmfc1 Jan 09 2011 02:49 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

I expect there to be much discussion about him when ST opens, then when the games start, he'll get some hits off AA and AAA pitchers which will lead to a discussion of whether he's back, and then Hu or Turner or another 2B candidate will get some hits, which will lead to a discussion of his release, while Heyman and Rubin try to top each other with trade rumors, and then a week or two before ST ends the Mets will release him with Sandy Alderson saying "we wanted to give him a chance to make another team before rosters are set", and I will rejoice, and then I won't care but he'll go elsewhere, get a few hits, badmouth the Mets, and then he'll slump, and bail out on DP throws, and not make any effort to go after grounders hit more than a foot to either side, and he'll be released again.

Willets Point Jan 09 2011 02:57 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Luis Castillo's contract still hasn't expired?!?! Geesh.

Fman99 Jan 09 2011 04:34 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

No one will EVER trade for him. He will NEVER be a productive Met hitter or fielder. The Mets have NEVER show that they will be willing to cut him, or Ollie, and eat their salaries, and thereby also confirming that the contracts were horrific. He will play out the duration of his contract while we all grouse about how much of a zero he is out there. Good times. .240 BA, 0 HR, 30 RBI, 40 runs, 15 SBs, bunting at every fucking opportunity.

Valadius Jan 09 2011 05:16 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Not here.

Frayed Knot Jan 09 2011 06:02 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Fman99 wrote: No one will EVER trade for him. He will NEVER be a productive Met hitter or fielder. The Mets have NEVER show that they will be willing to cut him, or Ollie, and eat their salaries, and thereby also confirming that the contracts were horrific. He will play out the duration of his contract while we all grouse about how much of a zero he is out there. Good times. .240 BA, 0 HR, 30 RBI, 40 runs, 15 SBs, bunting at every fucking opportunity. The Mets cut - or traded for something akin to useless while eating most of the money - Bonilla, Ordonez, Matusi, and Roger Cedeno while owing them about as much or in some cases more than what they owe Luis. If any one of about five different potential 2B-men prove even marginally ready during ST I don't think either a clean slice or a one-sided trade is out of the question, in fact I think it's pretty likely.

Ceetar Jan 09 2011 06:07 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

he'll do alright in Spring Training, but there is nothing he can do in 30 exhibition games that are going to convince anyone. I doubt he'd be a disaster or a blight in the lineup if it came to that, his OBP would help, etc, but that ship has probably sailed. Unless Murphy gets injured and none of the other guys hit to even Tejada levels, he'll probably be shipped off for some given up on draftee from Toronto or something. I could certainly see him ending up contributing as part of a 70-30 type platoon somewhere and making the World Series though. that seems about right.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 09 2011 09:34 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

He will earn $6 million. Rather, he will make $6 million.

Ashie62 Jan 09 2011 10:04 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Starting Mets 2B.

TransMonk Jan 10 2011 07:35 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Traded by the Mets during ST, then traded again to a contender at the break. Comes alive in October after having to fill in for someone due to injury. Wins WS MVP. The Mets pay 70% of his salary during the whole ride. This game is funny.

Centerfield Jan 10 2011 08:00 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

I expect him to suck. Hopefully for someone else.

MFS62 Jan 10 2011 08:01 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Frayed Knot wrote: The Mets cut - or traded for something akin to useless while eating most of the money - Bonilla, Ordonez, Matusi, and Roger Cedeno while owing them about as much or in some cases more than what they owe Luis. Ding! Ding! Ding! Thanks, FK, for coming up with the win/win solution. If he proves he can't play anymore during spring training, a Castillo "retirement" followed by a Bonilla-type buyout that doesn't kill this year's budget, yet removes Luis from the current roster. Pure genius y'are. Later

attgig Jan 10 2011 08:03 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Ceetar wrote: he'll do alright in Spring Training, but there is nothing he can do in 30 exhibition games that are going to convince anyone. I doubt he'd be a disaster or a blight in the lineup if it came to that, his OBP would help, etc, but that ship has probably sailed. Unless Murphy gets injured and none of the other guys hit to even Tejada levels, he'll probably be shipped off for some given up on draftee from Toronto or something. I could certainly see him ending up contributing as part of a 70-30 type platoon somewhere and making the World Series though. that seems about right. agreed. he gets shipped off along with 5.6 mil dollars for a has been prospect or a low A level lefty pitcher.

attgig Jan 10 2011 08:04 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

MFS62 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: The Mets cut - or traded for something akin to useless while eating most of the money - Bonilla, Ordonez, Matusi, and Roger Cedeno while owing them about as much or in some cases more than what they owe Luis. Ding! Ding! Ding! Thanks, FK, for coming up with the win/win solution. If he proves he can't play anymore during spring training, a Castillo "retirement" followed by a Bonilla-type buyout that doesn't kill this year's budget, yet removes Luis from the current roster. Pure genius y'are. Later speaking of. don't we start paying bonilla this year?

MFS62 Jan 10 2011 08:06 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Yep. Payment starts in 2011. Later

Edgy MD Jan 10 2011 12:27 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Yeah, the pingpong between "Laugh at the stupid Mets too afraid to eat money" and "Laugh at the stupid Mets eating money with Bonilla" is too much to get involved in.

seawolf17 Jan 10 2011 12:40 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

I wonder who "player a" and "player b" were in my post. I'm assuming one of them was Castillo.

Frayed Knot Jan 10 2011 02:05 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

MFS62 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: The Mets cut - or traded for something akin to useless while eating most of the money - Bonilla, Ordonez, Matusi, and Roger Cedeno while owing them about as much or in some cases more than what they owe Luis. Ding! Ding! Ding! Thanks, FK, for coming up with the win/win solution. If he proves he can't play anymore during spring training, a Castillo "retirement" followed by a Bonilla-type buyout that doesn't kill this year's budget, yet removes Luis from the current roster. Pure genius y'are. Later - Castillo isn't going to "prove" anything in spring as everyone knows what he can and can't do. At this point it's merely a question about whether the options of getting rid of him with no return or with little return are preferable to keeping him around. - The fact that they owe him $6mil as opposed to the $12mil of this time last year makes eating most or all of the contract just that much easier. Plus, the biggest reason he's been here up to now is the utter lack of replacements available even as each AndyHandy or Tejada quickly got crowned as the next new thing despite, for the most part, hitting worse than Luis did. Wanting those guys to be better isn't the same as them actually being better. This year's crop at least has more options to choose from. - However things turn out it's not going to be a budget-buster. Whoever replaces him if he's gone or joins him if he's not is going to be at or near the ML minimum. - Met fans have to get off this obsession with the Bonilla thing. All that arrangement did a decade or more ago was allow the team to take a smaller amount of money than they were going to have to pay him up front and invest that in a fund that would pay him off starting at a much later date and over a much longer time. It's not like what he's being paid off that fund has suddenly been added to this year's budget.

Ceetar Jan 10 2011 02:11 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Frayed Knot wrote: - Castillo isn't going to "prove" anything in spring as everyone knows what he can and can't do. At this point it's merely a question about whether the options of getting rid of him with no return or with little return are preferable to keeping him around. If been thinking out loud about what a small Spring sample could possibly convince us of in Castillo's case. I think it's probably less about him, and more about everyone else as you said. If Murphy twists an ankle in late March and no one else looks to be successful, Castillo probably sticks around and provides some measure of bland play which doesn't quite help the Mets win, but doesn't help them lose either. Barring that, unless he's stealing bases like Jose, or making it to second base on liners to the outfield, I'm not sure what we'd see out of him that would award him the job as the favorite. He'll probably draw a lot of walks, and represent that he can be a high OBP guy, and maybe that's enough for a team with a hole to toss us a bone or something. I certainly don't think he's useless or done as a major leaguer. But even if he played like he was 25, it's such a small sample size.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 10 2011 02:13 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

The only conditions I can see Castillo lasting through the end of ST are injuries to one or more of Muffy n' Emaus. Even then, I would suspect Ollie's got a better shot of being a contributor.

Ashie62 Jan 11 2011 06:58 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Lets hope he has a great spring or he will be sitting the Mets bench. [url]http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2011/01/11/2011-01-11_mets_fully_intend_to_bring_luis_castillo_to_spring_training_to_compete_for_secon.html

Edgy MD Jan 11 2011 07:18 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

The real mystery to me is how he got so deep in Manuel's doghouse midseason last year that he could scarcely unhook himself from the bench, even as less productive players were trotted out every day and the season hadn't completely gone cold yet.

metirish Jan 11 2011 07:19 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Edgy DC wrote: The real mystery to me is how he got so deep in Manuel's doghouse midseason last year that he could scarcely unhook himself from the bench, even as less productive players were trotted out every day and the season hadn't completely gone cold yet. And IIRC at that time he was playing more than OK right?

Ceetar Jan 11 2011 07:22 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

metirish wrote: Edgy DC wrote: The real mystery to me is how he got so deep in Manuel's doghouse midseason last year that he could scarcely unhook himself from the bench, even as less productive players were trotted out every day and the season hadn't completely gone cold yet. And IIRC at that time he was playing more than OK right? He had just started to play well, a couple of walks and hits in the last three games or something. Regardless, we won't have to ponder these insane questions any longer. (At least until we unveil Collin's insanity)

Edgy MD Jan 11 2011 07:30 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Actually, seeing as few think there's a chance in hell of him presenting himself as a useful Met ever again, and as Manuel had previously stuck with Castillo through some tougher times (shitty production in 2008 while Easley was available on the bench, dropped popup days in 2009), I'm still a-ponderin'.

Ceetar Jan 11 2011 07:34 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Edgy DC wrote: Actually, seeing as few think there's a chance in hell of him presenting himself as a useful Met ever again, and as Manuel had previously stuck with Castillo through some tougher times, I'm still a-ponderin'. Had he? I still contend that if he'd played Castillo in the everyday role he'd been accustomed to after returned from the DL in 2008, he would've put up far superior numbers to the Argenis Reyes/Damien Easley/Luis Hernandez combo he was rolling out there, and that very well may have been the difference.

Frayed Knot Jan 11 2011 07:36 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Ashie62 wrote: Lets hope he has a great spring or he will be sitting the Mets bench. [url]http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2011/01/11/2011-01-11_mets_fully_intend_to_bring_luis_castillo_to_spring_training_to_compete_for_secon.html That's not quite what the linked article says and past statements have specifically said that they don't consider him someone they'd want on their bench. What it does suggest is that they're not going to cut him until they see him and/or until they see some alternate candidate emerge (and, really, what else are they going to say at this point?). Nothing in there about him staying on the team the whole year either way ... even in speculation ... even from Harper.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 11 2011 07:53 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Edgy DC wrote: The real mystery to me is how he got so deep in Manuel's doghouse midseason last year that he could scarcely unhook himself from the bench, even as less productive players were trotted out every day and the season hadn't completely gone cold yet. Yeah, they looked like they might have one last shot at relevancy in early August when Castillo was suddenly yanked from the everyday rotation, never to return, and things went steadily downhill from there. Not that it would have made a big difference in the end, it was just a curious time to be waving the white flag, and without also exploring trades of Feliciano, Rodriguez, etc. Poorly run team last year in so many respects.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 11 2011 07:59 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

That bothered me too. Castillo should've gotten more playing time last season. Whatever Castillo's flaws were, the Mets didn't have anyone better.

Edgy MD Jan 11 2011 08:07 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Jerry's doghouse was a curious thing. I can't recall a manager who was so firm and complete in marginalizing a player once he decided he didn't have the goods.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 11 2011 08:09 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Edgy DC wrote: Jerry's doghouse was a curious thing. I can't recall a manager who was so firm and complete in marginalizing a player once he decided he didn't have the goods. Jerry's doghouse was indeed odd. But Jerry had nothing on Dallas Green*. Nothing. Dallas was running a god damn kennel. *Yeah. I know. Bad timing on this one.

Edgy MD Jan 11 2011 08:17 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Dallas was certainly the comparable I was thinking of, but I coudln't come up with instances, and I wonder if we did, would we find the cases as strong as Jerry's. I mean, a guy going from the starting lineup to spending the last two months of the season healthy but only playing in extra innings, second games of doubleheaders or occasional pinch-bunt appearances... Or Castro getting lifted with two out in the ninth in the middle of a furious rally for a career minor leaguer who is wearing shinguards and warming somebody up in the pen. That's some severe doghousing.

Ashie62 Jan 11 2011 08:22 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Well, Jerry's doghouse has been removed. Luis Castillo has as good a shot as anyone at starting at 2B for the Mets next season. A healthy Castillo might be very movable in the spring if thats the preference of mgmt. If he just didn't drop the damn ball...

batmagadanleadoff Jan 11 2011 08:23 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

But it was fireballing Matt Lindstrom and, you know, Omir Santos' bat was so much quicker. (Castro had two hits in that game, too). Don't forget Ryan Church. He was in Jerry's doghouse too, for I don't remember what anymore.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 11 2011 08:24 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

We can check the beads... At a glance, it looks like Luis Rivera saw little action, but I'm not sure how much he might have expected to see. Dallas Green managed the Mets for four years, but never had a full 162-game season.

Edgy MD Jan 11 2011 08:28 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Why no, I can't tell you a single fact about Jim Lindeman.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 11 2011 11:23 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

While talking to Rubin, Alderson kindasorta confirms that it's starting second base or bust: Adam Rubin, writing down what Sandy Alderson said wrote: "Well, that’s certainly his best role on the team. If he’s going to be on the club, it probably will have to be as the regular second baseman, or somebody who plays quite a bit of the time at second base. He just doesn’t give us enough coverage other places to play a utility role. So I would say he needs to have a role on the team. And I think that’s probably his best and maybe only role -- regular duty at second base."

Gwreck Jan 11 2011 11:43 AM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Edgy DC wrote: Why no, I can't tell you a single fact about Jim Lindeman. Played college ball with Kirby Puckett. (Had Lindeman in the song parody contest a few years back)

Mets Guy in Michigan Jan 11 2011 01:51 PM Re: Expectations for Eleven: Luis Castillo

Gwreck wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Why no, I can't tell you a single fact about Jim Lindeman. Played college ball with Kirby Puckett. (Had Lindeman in the song parody contest a few years back) I have one of his game-used bats! Actually it was from his Tigers or Mud Hen days, so it has actual use.