News: Castro to Start Year on DL
According to Adam Rubin in the Daily News, Ramon Castro is now likely to begin the year on the disabled list.
…in other words, expect Raul Casanova to begin the year as this team’s back-up catcher….by the way, i still sing that song, “Oh, Casanova,” every time i hear or read raul’s name…i can’t make it stop…and i hate myself for it…
Casanova, 35, hit .253 with six home runs for the Rays last season. This will be his ninth year in the big leagues.
Meanwhile, in a column for SNY.tv, Ted Berg argues that Castro must play a lot against left-handed pitching this season, otherwise, “The Brian Schneider honeymoon will end quickly.”
…personally, i had always hoped the Mets would try to acquire a player who can serve as a third-string catcher, among other things, so castro can be used as a bat off the bench more often…this way, there is no fear of burning your back-up catcher, instead castro can pinch hit while a third catcher is ready in the event schneider gets hurt mid game…
…the problem is that i just don’t know who that magical player is…the Mets cannot steal Ryan Doumit from the Pirates, who plays first, outfield and catcher, nor am i sure they’d even want to…you know, a player like Jason L. Phillips, circa 1999 when with the Mets, or a Matt leCroy, circa 2005…
…Update…10:30 am…
…as several readers have pointed out to me in e-mails, Brandon Inge would be a perfect fit for such a role…and they are correct…except that the Tigers do not want to give inge away…also, other teams have serious interest in inge, who will now be a starting player for the Tigers with the recent injury to Curtis Granderson…i mean, if the Dodgers could not pull off a deal for inge, nobody will…aside from all that, yes, inge would be great…
