In a report for the New York Post, Joel Sherman writes:
“Luis Castillo requested an offseason meeting in which he implored Mets officials not to trade him and also pledged to re-dedicate himself to offseason training to assure he is in top condition next season…Mets officials were pleased that Castillo did not want to flee from the problems. Instead, he stated a desire to play and win as a Met, and change the fans’ booing opinion of him, as well.”
Nevertheless, the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees and Indians are among the teams who have expressed interest in free-agent 2B Orlando Hudson, reports Jon Heyman on his blog for SI.com.
The Giants have ‘serious interest’ in Hudson as well, writes Chris Haft at MLB.com.
According to Heyman, Hudson is seeking a five-year deal worth more than $50 million.
…i am sure castillo is sincere…the thing is, can he change…
…frankly, the New York Post report reads more like a publicity effort from the Mets for castillo, who, from what i can gather, very few teams are interested in acquiring, regardless of what the Mets do to make a deal more attractive…
…the White Sox are rumored to be seeking a second baseman…they also want to rid themselves of Javier Vazquez…to me, there is a natural fit here…
…the Sox would get a second baseman, and while they’d be obligated to castillo for one extra year than they would have been to vazquez, the deal will cut $6 million from chicago’s payroll…
…similarly, the Mets pick up a fifth starter, which they need, for what amounts to an additional $6 million per season, but they clip their commitment by one season…
…for the Mets to make such a move, though, they need to be certain of how to replace castillo, and right now they are totally focused on the bullpen and signing a front-end starting pitcher…
{ 149 comments }
see ya at 2b in 09 luis
Yeah, pretty much. Sounds like their way of shoving more Castillo in our faces. I’m getting really tired of Omar’s cra.p.
pr plant maybe – try to get us to like him again?
lol probably…im just getting less and less optimistic about the mets trading castillo….
yeah i guess im a fatalist – comes with the territory of being a met fan
what do you have against mike carp?
I’m getting tired of fans like you. Sitting there and criticizing Omar like you have any idea what it takes to be a GM. Yes, you can make these sort of deals in fantasy baseball or on your video game but it’s not quite the same in real life.
Fans here always need someone to blame when their teams can’t win. Maybe it’s because most fans here are not happy with their own lives?
If you’re tired of “fans like me” then get the hell off this blog.
I’ve supported Omar until recently. Maybe you’re new here. At this point he deserves criticism and he’s going to get it from “fans like me”.
I agree with mikey.
If you think everything is fine with the Mets then you haven’t followed them for the last 2 years.
Major concerns such as Signing that horrible Castillo contract. Or not having a backup plan for when Alou got hurt. Or relying on aging players, like Alou, Castillo, Hernandez. Trading away Relief pitchers who could have helped in the last season and having nothing to show for it. I know I know Owens, lindstrom, Bell weren’t superstars in our system by any means. But they were moved for what now has amounted to Jason Vargas.
We have the right as fans to kill the GM of a team. Especially if in 2006 they were within 1 game of going to a World Series, and haven’t made the playoffs in 2 seasons since. We have the right to say what happened. How have we gotten so bad. What has happened to this team.
well said Mark.
I’ll add one thing and that is sometimes we have to be patient, more-so in the offseason…patient when it comes to making deals.
Its not easy to get rid of Castillo def not…and 2b is not our main priority right now. Luis is not the reason we missed the playoffs the past 2 seasons. Now if he can aid us in acquiring players that are needed for our holes (RP, SP, OF) then lets talk.
But, Castillo is just part of an accumulation of interesting moves by Omar. Since 2006, he has been inconsistent in his moves. Getting Johan, awesome move, probably one he’ll never top, but he has not done a good job providing depth to any of our starters(hitters and pitching). We are very thin, and we have great starting players, but not much underneath. Bottom of the order is not good…back end of the rotation not good, and bullpen is not good. Thats a lot of spots that have not been addressed in the past few years.
i agree mikey, mark , and starz, also, Omar needs a big offseason and a playoff berth in ‘09 to quell any Mets fans skepticism. The facts are that Omar has dropped the ball in the last 2 offseasons except for Santana. I hate to think where we wouldve finished this year without Santana.
I agree with the points that Omar has not done his job. he is trying to justify the Castillo move as the previous group tried to justify the Victor Zambrano trade. Let’s face it-this was a bad move and there were other options.
Mets may be trying to bring the press up on Castillo to trade him but I doubt it. I think they are in full justification mode. Cannot believ the arrogance of Castillo to admit he cam in overweight, fat and lazy AFTER getting this huge contract. And now we’re to believe he will work his butt off to get in our good graces. I say trade him – eat the contract – get rid of him-he is a cancer.. i also don’t believe he is 32 my grandmother moves better and she is dead!
I couldn’t agree more!! I’d put a blow-up doll on 2nd instead of Castillo. She’d get to more balls in the hole…
Prediction:
-The Mets cannot trade Castillo and keep him as their starting second baseman in ‘09.
-He starts off the season with numbers more consistent with his lifetime average – hitting around .285 with a .360 OBP.
-Fans think to themselves “You know, maybe Luis isn’t so bad afterall!”
-By mid-May Castillo suddenly limps to first base after a bunt attempt.
-Castillo has a hamstring strain and is out for at least a month.
-The Mets have no second baseman to fill the hole, and are stuck with Reyes Jr. hitting .200 in the spot.
i think if he goes down or misses time or struggles, thats it for him…i think theres a real possibility they just cut ties at that point and go to the market for a quick-fix. this is instead of playing a guy like reyes.
Very scary and very accurate.
That is a dead-on prediction. I remember this time last year Castillo and his “newly cleaned out” knees and was going to be his old self. And now it is that knee surgery that made him a terrible player last year.
I dont buy it, bring in Hudson please. Great Attitude and loves the Mets, hes Cliff Floyd’s replacement in the clubhouse and can actually hit a double every now and then.
Agreed – get hudson and change the landscape of this team now…
eternal optimist prismo? lol :P
-By mid-May Castillo suddenly limps to first base after a bunt attempt.
-Castillo has a hamstring strain and is out for at least a month.
More like “by mid-April the ’sore knees’ that keep Castillo out of the lineup for three days at a time mysteriously disappear when Jerry Manuel makes veiled references to taking away his playing time. By mid-May, they’re back.”
how do you italicize?
Yeah, what happened last time Manuel made those references? Castillo tried to play through the pain and hurt himself further. His comments about not being able to go out there every day early in the season was simply him being honest.
Castillo’s gotten a raw deal, and people find a way to blame just about everything on him. We’ll see. It’s certainly possible he didn’t recover from the off season surgery and that inhibited him for much of last year. Now with some time to rest, and train hard for the season, maybe he’ll be good again. (Like Delgado, who had surgery prior to ‘07) You never know when little things like nagging pain or a little knee soreness are having a bigger effect than anyone knows.
“people find a way to blame just about everything on him. ”
Isn’t he the guy who couldn’t hold a lead to save his life in September? Didn’t he serve up that pinch hit grand slam?
He had the surgery on his knees and if anybody really analized the game, you’d realize he wasn’t runnning all that bad once he got back. Oviously he wasn’t hitting but getting bak into the swing of things. Listen, I’m certainly not all for having all trust in him and starting 2nd in 09. My ideal situation is to have Murphy and sign Eckstien as a platoon and dump Castlio + _____ somewhere preferably Arizona in a deal involving Byrnes and mabe Rauch. Talks have ended from what I hear but anything could happen. I also like Dye and Vascues but w/e thats Omars job. Im just a fan.
he knows that if he were to be traded, theres a very good chance its to a team that wont be a contender. And hopefully, the mets will be.
can’t blame the guy, id want to stay with the best team in the NL.
How long has Luis been on the Phillies for?
does luis castillo play for the phillies? last time i checked THEY are the best team in the NL…
they are certainly the team to beat. let’s see how much fun it is being the hunted.
i just hope their fans can’t come to citi field because we sell those games out.
you guys are no fun…so what if our team collapsed and has no bullpen and no corner OF or 2B, or Catcher or #4,5 SP, but I will always be confidant in my team…i will always believe we are the best team in the NL…we have to play with a chip on our shoulder, out to prove that we are. The phillies played better than us against other ML teams…but we were 11-7 against them in 2008…We blew it, yes, but i’m bitter and I will take on the Phillies any day of the week.
You want to stay with the Phillies?? Explain how the Mets who failed to make he playoffs are the best team. You can’t. you must be drinking the Omar juice.
Not defending the Mets or anyone here but do you really think the Rockies were the best team in the NL last year? All they had to do was get hot at the end.
Dude, the Phillies beat us in our division. Kind of hard to argue that we were better than them, even if we eked out the season series!
Lets cut the BS – the Phillies are the best team in the division- they beat us two years in a row and told us they would. No argument-just admit reality. the moral victory crap doesn’t work-we do not deserve it.
I have heard the Mets mgt this year say they are going ot address the issue. A full yr. of Manuel will not change much unless we address the team personnel.
Isn’t Castillo really good friends with Johan Santana and one of the reasons Santana wanted to come to the Mets? Will getting rid of him upset Santana (like it upset Santana when Castillo was traded from the Twins)?
he’ll get over it
If itll make him feel better he can have Castillo over his house to swim in his sea of gold coins ala Scrooge McDuck
He has about 115 million reasons to get over it!!
who is he, terrell owens?
Pin a picture of Looie in johan’s locker and send him his Email address to keep in touch..
It upset Santana when the Twins did that because Castillo was a useful player at that time, and the Twins dumped him for nothing, essentially waving the white flag on the season. If the Mets dump Castillo, it won’t be because they are giving up. It would be because they are trying to improve the team.
agreed. Now the real question is how do you talk up castillo after the year he had?
Will getting rid of him upset Santana (like it upset Santana when Castillo was traded from the Twins)?
God forbid we expect the Mets to act like professionals instead of pouty children.
Priorities:
1) #2 starter
2) 8th inning guy
3) #5 starter
4) 7th inning guy
5) closer (since we have our pick of the litter, I ranked it 5th)
6) 6th inning guy
7) LF
8) 2B
We don’t have our pick of the litter. We could blink and KRod and Fuentes have signed elsewhere.
please tell me who….can’t wait to hear this one
You never know. Surprises happen all the time.
those teams being where? theres a handful of teams looking for a closer
Where else would they sign? There are very few teams that need a closer, and the Mets are the only team that can actually afford what they are asking for.
I just blinked 4 times and nothing happened. And now my co-workers think I have Tourette’s syndrome. Thanks.
Better move 5 and 7 to the top of the list. We need the closer and the RH bat
If the Mets can trade Castillo to the sox for Vasquez ,Minaya will be touting Daniel Murphy as his 2B. Minaya always speaks from an “if the season were to start today” POV, so obviously Murphy is in LF because Castillo is at 2B.
then again can you really believe what omar says…
when has he misled?
even if Murphy plays 2B, we would then need a LF b/c Tatis is not an everyday player and Evans really isnt ready for the MLB and isnt that good to begin with.
while Vasquez certainly cannot be relied upon in a big spot having him and maine as the #4 and #5 pitchers would make for a very good rotation
Big question mark on if Castillo can return to some semblance of his former self or if this is another M. Alou in the making….
This is such a crap shoot.
Its not a crap shoot because in the very best scenario Castillo is not what the Mets need. Yeah his OBP is great when he is on, but does anyone actually think his defense is going to do a 180 at this point in his career? Thats crazy.
Also, it would be nice to have someone in the 2-hole who can hit a double and drive in Jose after he leads off with a hit instead of bunting him over every single time
And worse still, Delgado is at 1B creating a huge hole. One of them has to be traded, I guess its time to explore Delgado…
if we trade Delgado and have Murphy/Tatis platooning in left with Castillo at second the offense is not only unimproved, but it is TERRIBLE. The only way I would trade Delgado is for a closer and in another move acquiring another 30 HR bat to replace him in the lineup.
Im fine with DMurph at 1st and Carlos Lee in the OF if trading Delgado gets us back JJ Putz/BJ Ryan or something
Yeah, problem is Delgado is Omar’s other boy. Him and Castillo will probably both be here come opening day. Omar rather impress his friends than make the team better.
thats not fair mikey, I think Omar has the same concerns we do and is doing his best to improve this team. I trust that if Delgado and Castillo are on this team that he will upgrade at LF and our pitching staff will be dominant
It’s very fair. Look at the players he has brought in. A good chunk of them are from his Montreal days. If it wasn’t a player he knew in Montreal … then it’s a player he’s had an infatuation with, who was good 5 years ago but not so much any more.
Omar has “his guys” and that is how he constructs a team.
Unfortunately it seems to be the way he constructed our minor league and scouting departments too.
Delgado-2 of 3 years were monstrous
Pedro- brought respectability back to the franchise and was great for the clubhouse even if he wasnt always healthy.
Beltran- top 5 all around players in baseball without question and is now a bargain
Church/Schneider- I think most met fans feel this was a steal for just Church who still has a huge upside if hes over the concussion, and Schneider is what he is, but adequate
Sanchez-Steal until he was hurt
Maine & Perez- Highway robbery
I agree hes made his bad moves, but all GMs do. The only guys on here though with ties to the expos are church and schneider, i know theres more, but he uses it as an advantage scouting wise, not because he loves where he used to work.
Church really doesn’t have huge upside, even before his concussion most projections projected him to have the exact season he had this year, including the number of games missed, and then fall off a cliff offensively. And when you consider what Pittsburgh got back for Nady I’m not sure Perez was high way robbery.
Just because they robbed the yankees doesnt mean the mets didnt rob them in the first place. Omar got a 24 year old lefty starting pitcher at the time who later in the season pitched in game 7 of the nlcs. Then he went on to win 15 games the following year, was our 2nd post consistent pitcher for most of the season last year, and is not going to get $50 million dollars on the open market.- Id say it worked out pretty well for the mets even though they could use a right handed outfielder.
Church just turned 30 and showed everyone what kind of player he is before he was hurt last year, you cant say he doesnt have a large upside. I didnt say hes a lock to be a superstar, but he certaintly has the potential to play phenominal defense, hit .300 25 HR and 100 RBI, that is what upside is
“but he certaintly has the potential to play phenominal defense, hit .300 25 HR and 100 RBI, that is what upside is”
Scouts probably said that about Church when he was 20 years old. If he was going to be a star, he wouldve put up those numbers a long time ago. Also,relying on Church in RF and a platoon in LF will prove disastrous in ‘09.
for the money were paying him he better not throw a hissy fit. i like that trade of vazquez for castillo and then trade heilman and showenweis ( im guessing the rays are liking to add another reliever since one of their relievers got signed by another team. i forgot who but i remember reading about it) for edwin jackson. Then sign cordero and k-rod. then trade delgado and a really good prospect for a second basemen (maybe kendricks?) then sign texiera. u think its possible guys?
What are you on? The ChiSox are gonna take just Castillo for Vasquez? No way. And the Rays are gonna trade us a good young starter for Heilman and Schoe? You’re crazy.
If Vazquez joined the Mets today, he’d be the #2 starter behind Santana. The idea that he would be #5 is laughable.
The White Sox want nothing to do with Castillo, nor does any other team. Leave him be next season, and DO NOT sign Orlando Hudson for $50 million, please.
b/c everyone in baseball knows how badly he pitches under pressure. Why do you think all the ChiSox fans want him out???
amen to that dude
Morons,
If you looked up his last 3 starts of the year (the “pressure” starts) where he stunk so much, you’d see that they had him pitching on 3 days rest 2 out of the 3 starts.
He’d be #2, ahead of Pelfrey and Maine. The guy is severely underrated. Last time I checked, Pelfrey didn’t exactly come up “clutch” the last couple games.
he wasn’t “clutch”, he was burned out by exceeding career highs in IP.
Vazuqez would be a nice additon but it’ll cost more than just castillo…maybe we can swing a deal
vazquez and dye for parnell, evans, castillo, and another minor arm.
I was gonna say Heilman, but he may go in a trade for a reliever, so I could see Kunz in this deal.
Agreed Starz, on Pelfrey.
I don’t believe players exhibit an ability to hit in the clutch over the long term.
Pelfrey’s sharp rise in IP this season worries me. It’ll be important to monitor this next year.
*ability to perform in the clutch
I would love Vazquez, and think he will end up on the mets somehow. If it can be in exchange for Castillo, even better.
If slappy is here, the leash will be real short. And if they are worried about him giong down, make sure to get a real back up, that can step in and play FT if need be. Or jsut figure that you can always shove Murph over there!
And I don’t think they need to have a replacement on hand before they move Luis. There are plenty of average to below average 2B types floating around that they can grab for 1 year. Grudz, etc. Not like they are trying to replace Utley here!
agreed. Since yesterday omar said murph will probably stay in left(probably based off his defensive ability) i think the mets should invest on a better option off the bench than easley to cover for luis.
BTW Vazquez is no fifth starter…if by some miracle we can pull of that deal with Chicago, Minaya would view Vazquez as the front line starter and focus on a fifth starter…no doubt
front line starter behind santana i imagine…
Santana
Vazquez
Pelfrey
Maine
Niese or FA like Wolf or Garland
grab Sheets too. That would be nice!
We can only spend so much money so if we are going to focus on pitching, we are not going to fill every hole through free agency. If we can move him great, but I think Castillo is certainly capable of having a decent year, so its worth giving him a shot. Met fans buried Valentin in April ‘06 and he had a great year and the same for Delgado this past year. So lets give Luis one more chance if he does come back as our 2B in 2009.
and there we go. 100% agree. We have to realize that we cannot fill every single void and improve everywhere in ONE offseason. We have to make the moves that are benificial to this year and beyond. I just hope omar got his priorities str8
just please, if they keep Luis, make him hit 8th. It might fit better if his job is to burn pitches and to clear the pitchers spot .
it also puts a little speed at the bottom of the lineup. Someone for Reyes to drive in if he happens to be on base.
hey id be crazy enough to pull a larussa and bat him 9th.
why? so Reyes can bat with one out? or two if the pitcher leads off?
Well the problem with him batting 8th is the same as last year. Schneider is suppose to be the 8th hitter because thats where his numbers are most effective, not so the 7th hole. Batting Castillo 8th hinders the whole bottom third of the order.
Oh, and signing Hudson could end up being a disaster. Hasn’t the team learned that getting guys on the wrong side of 30 that are already showing declining skills, and have had injury issues, is a bad idea? it’s castillo V2.0, and won’t help the team any just because he smiles in the clubhouse.
Spend the money elsewhere, like on a LF. Or more pitching!
wrong side of 30? hudson is gonna turn 31 in December. 2008 was the only year he didnt play over 130 games since 2002. The same actually goes for Castillo too…
its funny, I was looking at their stats, and Luis had been getting over 150 hits up until 2008. Across the board, similar averages and walks, but Hudson’s slugging in 2007 and 2008 was .441 and .450 while castillo had .352 and .305…thats pretty big difference.
31 with back to back years ended by wrist surgery? At a position where speed/quickness please a big part?
add 4 years (forget 5) and you have a 35 YO decripit guy that fans hate. And probably woefully unproductive (at least for his pay rate) well before that.
he just isn’t that good, and never was. Reputation way out of line with his actual production.
PLEASE OMAR MINAYA, GET RID OF THIS GUY!!!!! WHY DID YOU SIGN HIM FOR 4 YEARS!!!!!!!
good luck getting an answer..
Vasquez has a career ERA over 10 in the postseason and its a pretty decent sample size not to mention how the Yankees ran him out of town after 1 year
dude let’s worry about making the playoffs first before we worry about how an individual will perform there…i’d really like to see the postseason
well what happens in september when the mets are fighting for a playoff spot and its vasquez’s turn in the rotation???
Its proven that Vasquez can’t handle the pressure or NY.
I was gonna argue with you…then I looked up his playoff stats.
4 games…2 games started…15.2 IP 24Hits_18ER_10BB_18ks_ 1-2 record
of courts castillo wants to stay, NYC has the best clubs
lol, true, guys, him and ronnie belliard are heavy partyeres!!!! raul mondesi was another guy who likes to party a lot… man..
Oh whoop dee doo Castillo, so you don’t want to be shipped out the door. Well people in hell want ice water and I don’t see there wishes being granted anytime soon.
this is REALLY great news..i mean really…as a mets fan you should be EXCITED
cuz now we can take this quote and staple it to his contract when we trade him for Javy Vazquez
lmfao
somewhere under citi field in his bunker jeff wilpon is scratching his head and says “hmmm how can i get these dolts to like luis?? – AHA i got it plant a story that is sympathetic about him – how he wanta to right the wrongs of last season!! we will even have a slappy mcsingleton bobblehead day!! thats it !!)
and we will pay an extra 50 cents for a castillio tax lol
Oh my God, I don’t want to trade him now. After his plea to get into great shape and rededicate himself. I want him signed to an extension immediately. Get on that Omar re-sign this man to at least a 10 year deal.
Who cares. He has his chance to at least play hard last year but he choose not to. Hurt or not hurt playing good or not playing good Castillo did not show hustle at all.
I know they are still trying to trade him and I understand he will be here and be are starting second baseman to at least start the season if we cant rid ourselves of him. But whatever he is washed up. His game was great defense and speed which made him a good offensive player at a top of the lineup. His defense is not so good anymore and he has bad knees and limps around all the time. He is washed up.
how about Castillo straight up for Kaz Matsui
lol sad enough I would take that right now. Hey lets get Kaz back here and move Reyes to 2b and let Kaz take over SS again lol.
I don’t know if any of you remember this from last season. But there were a few plays were a guy with average speed hit a grounder to Castillo and instead of charging the ball like every other dam major league second baseman does he sat back waited for the grounder to get to him and the runner was safe at first. That happened a couple of times last year. And even Gary and the guys were like wow why didn’t Castillo charge in on that one.
And that is my point this guy did not even play hard. If you are not playing well ok but at least play hard. Do the little things to help your team win if your not hitting and what not and Castillo did not do any of that.
lol sad enough I would take that right now. Hey lets get Kaz back here and move Reyes to 2b and let Kaz take over SS again lol.
I don’t know if any of you remember this from last season. But there were a few plays were a guy with average speed hit a grounder to Castillo and instead of charging the ball like every other dam major league second baseman does he sat back waited for the grounder to get to him and the runner was safe at first. That happened a couple of times last year. And even Gary and the guys were like wow why didn’t Castillo charge in on that one.
And that is my point this guy did not even play hard. If you are not playing well ok but at least play hard. Do the little things to help your team win if your not hitting and what not and Castillo did not do any of that.
howz about resigning doug flynn or mike jorgenson?
Castillo for Vasquez is a no brainer for the Mets.
Try to package that and get Dye and Jenks.
trade Castillo, Heilman, Niese, Delgado, Kunz
for
Vazquez, Dye, Jenks, Konerko
then hire Carlton Fisk as “roving instructor”
and always wear the black uniforms
CitiField presents—the New York MetSox!
thats good for us…but stupid for the sox. they lose two good bats and gain one…get one unproven arm and one that was effective last in 2006 and give up a good closer and a decent SP.
I didn’t like Castillo before, but now, the B@lls he has to admit that he didn’t get in shape last year? After signing a humongous contract? A high school players busts his butt to get in shape in the off season. This piece of garbage couldn’t do that for 8million? That’s Chuztpah, which is Spanish for “Big B@lls”.
So thanks for working out this off season Luis. Hope it didn’t interfere with you partying too much.
The only thing worse than making a mistake is making one and refusing to acknowledge you did. Thanks Omar. Looks like Luis Castillo will be playing 2nd base for part of 09, I say part because he will undoubtedly get hurt for an extended period of time and we will have to rely on ramon martinez and argenis reyes.
I want luis gone..but he is not the reason we missed the playoffs the past 2 seasons. we have too many other pressing needs that require attention before looking at second base.
now, if getting rid of castillo aids in this patching, then lets talk.
So if Luis is in “top shape” does that mean he’ll be able to reach the OF when he puts those grounders in play?
Why re-dedicate himself. Shouldn’t he prepare that way every year. Or now that he is on the trade block he will care instead of dogging it on previous years. This annoys me.
just give the guy HGH…its a win win…he plays great for us or we dont see him for 50 games…sounds good to me.
Castillo will be our 2B next season. If not it will be someone cheap like Grudzy. I hope we don’t make the Castillox2 mistake in signing an overrated guy like Hudson to a 50 million dollar contract. That and eating an 18 million dollar contract? 68 million dollars for Hudson, LOL. Leave Castillo alone and see if he comes back to near career norms. If he does that is fine for a #8 hitter. If not then get someone for him to platoon with for now and try and swing a Brian Roberts deal at the dead line.
Come on thereal, you know as well as the rest of us if you bat him 8th you’re going to have to get a replacement for Schnieder because both of them cant bat at the bottom of the order.
pretty tired of you putting on pompoms for Castillo. The guy just admitted he was a lazy dog, yet you even try to spin that.
If we’re going with Castillo next year then I want TWO new starting pitchers (I’ll take Lowe and Wolf), K-Rod and either sign Brandon Lyon or trade Heilman + Parnell and/or Kunz for Street to set up.
Oh and by the way, we are not going to be able to unload just Castillo for Vasquez. We would be lucky to be able to unload just Castillo for Jose Contreras. It would have to be Castillo and a top pitcher or even Murphy.
idk about that, ChiSox fans want to get rid of him after the way he collapsed down the stretch last year.
I mean imagine if Perez in his last 4 starts of the season, couldnt get out of the 4th inning. I dont think anyone here would want him back.
Still does not matter. You don’t get 200+ innings starters with high K/9 rates for Luis Castillo. Don’t you think that other teams desperate for a starter would offer more than that?
yes its gonna take more than Castillo but i wouldnt give up anyone of importance to get him.
He looks good on paper but he doesnt have the mentality to play in NY
i’m glad castillo knows that he is the problem.
i’d rather spend on pitching than a 2b then perhaps add a left field bat like dye or manny (less likely, but for 2 years…sure).
and knowing is half the battle YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO JOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Why does Cerrone keep refering to Vasquez as a 5th starter? Granted, he’s no Jon Garland (that’s sarcasm there, folks) but he’s a damn good pitcher. Unless Pelfrey continues his improvement, Vasquez would easily be our #2 starter next year.
And dont bring up what he did in September when he went on 3 days rest for 4 starts in a row. Besides, how did our pitchers do in September (again)?
b/c when the Mets have made a habit of collapsing during september its not good when your #2 SP can’t get out of the 4th inning in any big game he’s played in.
He’s already been chased out of NY once, you want to do it again?
chased out of NY or the centerpiece to a trade for Randy Johnson, who was long coveted by Steinbrenner? His ERA with the Yankees was not good, but his WHIP was excellent, he won 14 games and threw 195 innings. 1 season in NY is not enough to say the guy can’t handle it.
Post season stats are not good, but its a 4 game sample. Check out Johan’s stats for the first 4, or 6 or even 8 post season games he pitched. Would you have said the same thing about him?
Vasquez is just as good as Burnett, a notch below Lowe but comes without the long term commitment. That being said, its fantasy to think we can get him for Castillo.
I don’t understand Omar’s thinking.
The risk/reward for aggressively pursuing Murphy at 2b clearly favors the Mets.
With Castillo at 2b we have pretty much an automatic out, someone with no threat to drive in runs, and someone with poor defense at this point in his career.
With Murphy at 2b we have a a young, potential consistent batter with power. If his defense is average or poor we aren’t losing anything compared to Castillo.
Sign Ibanez. Make Tatis our power bat off the bench. Trade Castillo (eat salary if necessary), or keep him as a pinch hitter. With the lineup set, Omar can comfortably wait on K-rod for him to come down to 3 years, and if not, sign Fuentes and trade for a setup man.
What am I missing here?
You’re missing the same thing I’m missing. It just doesn’t make sense. Especially since left field/1b are positions that are a lot easier to fill than 2b.
unless the Mets acquire Rivera, Nathan or Papelbon, if Omar wont go 4 years to get a 26 year old Top 5 CP with no injury problems and is “clutch”, then he needs to be fired immeadiately.
Fuentes, Jenks, Putz, Wood, Valverde, Street etc. doesnt even come close to how good K-Rod is and at 4 years @ 48-54 K-Rod is a steal
He will go 4 years if he needs to. He shouldn’t to start. Because why go 4 if you don’t need to. Omar is doing the right thing right now. Nobody out there is going to offer him 4. Nobody out there looking for a closer can afford him. The only team that can even come close is the Mets. This is why Omar is saying we only want to go 3.
sign Teix!!!!! with reyes on one side and Teix on the other you can get away with playing Murphy at 2nd… with all the closers on the market, you dont have to overpay… make a lowball offer and see who bites… flip delgado and heilman for sonnistine and bradford, throw in a prospect if we have to
Forget Tex, the Wilpons need more profits, they are poor.
1. Murphy can’t play 2B
2. Murphy has little to no power
3. Ibanez is a lefty, which we already have too many of
4. Ibanez is probably the worst fielding LF in baseball right now, and he’s only going to get worse.
1. Castillo can’t really play 2nd base anymore either.
2. Castillo has little to no offense at all
3. I agree about Ibanez though
dont get me wrong, I’m not in favor of Castillo but dont see Murphy or Ibanez as the answer either
Ibanez batted over 300 vs left handed pitchers.
Unless you’re dead set on Manny, there isn’t much better out there.
Your missing that the apparent cost for signing Ibanez is going to be in the 8 million + range. I don’t know if that is worth it in Omar’s eyes.
I do agree that Tatis has to be a Bench player/occasional start/DH in Interleague play. Other then that he shouldn’t start more then 20 games this year.
I, like everyone, want Murphy at 2nd. I see no downside. Teams have won with a less then stellar defensive 2nd baseman. At least we know he will try his hardest and play hard every play. His at bats will be tough and he has some pop and HR power. At least he can hit the ball out of the infield.
K-Rod will come down to 3 years soon enough. No team out there can afford him even at 3 for 15. That’s why the Mets benefit. The Agent can say all he wants. The teams just don’t exist. The Big market teams don’t need closers outside the Mets. He has nobody to pit him against, except maybe ridiculous Texas.
If somehow Omar misses K-Rod, i want Kerry wood. I would take Fuentez 3rd.
THE ONLY WAY I GIVE SLAPPY ANOTHER SHOT IS
A) HE COMES INTO SPRING TRAINING IN SHAPE AND HITS THE GROUND RUNNING
B) BATS IN THE NO 8 HOLE
C) MUST DEMONSTRATE SOME POWER AT THE PLATE ( IN HIS CASE IT MEANS BEING ABLE TO HIT PAST THE PITCHING
RUBBER )
D) DEMONSTRATE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
Being that he’s done all these things already, except B, which isn’t the best spot for him (although way better than 7th, where someone was idiotic enough to put him over and over again..)
We all don’t know what Omar is going to do. He is posturing that’s all we know. There is no way he thinks this team is better off with Castillo at 2nd base then with someone else. No Possible Way. He might just be saying Murphy is our left fielder to say we don’t need one(lower the asking price on a trade or free agent dollars) and Castillo is our 2nd baseman (raise his value so someone takes him). We just don’t know.
That said. What is wrong with this statement by Castillo”pledged to re-dedicate himself to offseason training to a$#ure he is in top condition next season“. (ridiculous i copy and paste and get rejected)
Am I the only one that is really disturbed by a statement like this. Re-dedicate yourself. So that means you didn’t care last season. You haven’t cared since you became a Met. Why keep a guy like this if he has to re-dedicate himself to even be remotely good? You should be dedicated every season. This is your Job. You are making tons of money. Don’t you have any self-respect? Pathetic! Trade him. Trade him now. Get a bad of batting practice Balls. I don’t care. Trade him to Japan like the yanks did with Rasner or Texas did with Loe. I don’t want him on this roster to start spring training.
Just because the Mets are focused on the bullpen right now doesn’t mean that can fix second base and the fifth starters job too. Omar can’t do two things at the same time? … after being given a 4 year extension?
What is it with this club where a guy like Castillo feels he can come to the team out of shape and sloppy like he was?
He’s going to rededicate himself?
How about he goes ref**k himself?
Too bad they can’t enforce weights and workout regimens like a football team
i don’t understand this fascination with Vasquez. he isn’t good
Two things are inevitable: Omar will chase down any Latino guy he has 6 degrees of separation to: Castillo and Vazquez
Far be it for me to actually disagree with the majority here, but lest me remind everybody of a couple of facts.
Fact 1: The half season after we acquired Castillo, he actually provided pretty decent defense and a good offense (.296AVG., .371OBP, 10SB) on bad wheels (pre-surgery).
Fact 2: Post surgery, Delgado seemed to have the same problem in coming back to form; surgery before ‘07 season and a return to form only two months into the ‘08 season.
If (huge, huge IF) Castillo follows the same path, we can hope he will return to the .300 hitter he was and high OBP player he was this coming season. I doubt anybody would complain if he put up .300AVG, .380OBP, 30SB and be slotted into the #8 slot in the lineup. Remember, most of the fans were ready to lynch Delgado at the start of this season and by the end of the year, were ready to nominate him for sainthood.
Granted, if Castillo could be used in a deal that would net us Dye & Vasquez (or Putz from Seattle), I’d do it in a heartbeat, but realizing that the ChiSox GM is not a moron, I doubt this will occur.
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