Update, 9:30 pm:
In a post to Twitter, SI.com’s Jon Heyman writes, “White Sox talking to Mets about catching, most likely Ramon Castro.”
Heyman adds, “That sound you hear is Jerry Manuel cheering.”
Original Post, 5:13 pm:
Adam Rubin of the Daily News believes the Mets are trying to trade C Ramon Castro before Saturday’s game.
Rubin reports Brian Schneider will be activated tomorrow.
Rubin also provides information on where Castro might be traded, and how the Mets plan to manage the roster if he’s unable to moved.
…uh oh, roster squeeze with omar at the wheel, look out…
…there is no way this team can justify carrying three catchers, especially with how often they tend to play short-handed…
…hopefully, they find a taker for castro, whose removal from the clubhouse could be a good thing, frankly… if not, i realize castro is probably due around $2 million more this season, but they have to consider releasing him… i know they will not, but they should…
The 28–year-old Santos is batting .268 with two HR and 15 RBI.
Meanwhile, Castro, who missed several games each of the last two seasons with injuries, is batting .253 with three HR and 13 RBI.
{ 29 comments }
I think Castro makes about $2m per, so I’m not certain a lot of teams are willing to take on another 1.5m in salary over the duration of this year. I hate to see Santos go down, but I would not just eat Schneider’s salary just yet, especially since Castro is not exactly durable.
Could he be the player-to-be-named in the Emil Brown deal? Makes sense that they would not announce him until Schneider is ready to return…
In comparing the two guys’ stats, don’t forget about defense. Perhaps it’s my imagination (no it’s not), but the Met pitcher seem to prefer throwing to Omir, who has been great back there.
I don’t know what the staff’s opinion of Castro is, but he is a flat out defensive liability. Will be cost the team more bases/runs, than he will produce? Maybe. Santos and Schneider are a solid combo.
Santos has been great and I like him as much as everyone else right now. However his minor league track record suggests he won’t continue to hit this well. His defense has always been top notch though and is certainly an upgrade over both Castro and Schneider.
If you trade Castro who is your catcher when Schneider inevitably goes on the dl again? As injury prone as Schneider and this entire team has been they need depth.
And I’ve always liked Castro when hes healthy, he always seems to get a big hit in every game.
why trade castro and not schneider?
i haven’t seen schneider play too much but his stats aren’t very different from santos and castro.
so why change the team if we’re doing well.
why not keep one of the three in the minors for some time and see how things develop?
good, i like the duo of santos/schneider a whole lot more then Castro, people like him because of his pop…but his laziness behind the plate gets unbareable….not blocking the plate, not blocking balls in the dirt..and schneider is better defensively anyway(yes i know he struggled at times last year)
One of the knocks on Ramon is his likelihood of getting injured but Schneider does not seem so durable either. Not an easy call. They can’t carry 3 catchers so I hope they find a taker for Castro.
i seem to remember some stats that showed that the mets’ pitchers fared much better with castro catching than with schneider. i’m not sure how it breaks down this year, but it seems that the pitchers do prefer omir this time around based on their performance. anyone have the stats for this year?
Can anyone seriously tell me that Brian Schneider at 5 million dollars is the guy worth keeping over Castro and Santos?
Also funny that Omar is shopping both guys we got for Milledge…
To me it seems Johan prefers pitching to Omar and his last start when Castro started because Omar was not available might have been influenced by not having who he prefers.
In all, I would have preferred Omir starting with Castro backup but if Castro has to go so Omir can stay-it is definitely worth it. Hopefully we can get some of his contract paid through a trade or maybe even a prospect.
Omir has been a very very pleasant surprise. I really like his hustle and his attitude. He has also done something i didn’t see much of with Castro and Schneider behind the plate…. HE THREW OUT BASE STEALERS.
I know there are the Mike Francesca’s out there saying well 4 teams can’t be wrong on santos, he is a 27 year old rookie for a reason… But to me if he hits .250 and plays the defense we have seen so far, he’s the best mets catcher since Lo Doca’s 2006 season.
That said the mets have to eat one of the contracts of Castro or Schneider. Both are over paid and both have underperformed and have ended up on the DL way way too often. With the way Omir has performed, I can live with him every day and one of the others backing him up
I could be wrong, but I believe that Castro’s CS percentage is higher than Santos’…
That said, Santos blocks pitches much better andhas shown himself to be a very clutch hitter.
OMIR STAYS!!!
I f they can get something for Castro now, great. Schneider will not be re-signed at the end of the year and Victor Martinez will likely be a top off-season priority (not just for the Mets either). Santos would make a great back-up for him.
Mr. Cerrone, as much as I enjoyed your interview with Schneider and it showed him as a highly intelligent nice man, who knew tons about catching, he’s the guy that I say has to go. He can’t hit as well as Castro and it doesn’t seem that he can stay healthy either. And whatever throwing skills he had seem to have gone into decline. Schneider is the hole in the lineup that we haven’t had and that is a huge difference. Castro hits and hits the extra base variety – doubles, homers in abundence. How the hell can you trade him away and keep Schneider, who bats around .240 and maybe hits 5 HRs in a full season.
I’m not sure why Ramon’s “removal from the clubhouse could be a good thing” but Cerrone’s comment isn’t the 1st 1 I’ve heard as a knock on Castro. But no matter, I love what Omir has done for the team & although his #’s aren’t better then Castro’s he ALWAYS seems to do something positive that helps the team win. Btw, was there ever any thoughts on trying to find a taker on Brian Schneider. IMO, he has not lived up to the rep the Mets would have us believe as being a superb defensive catcher. & let’s face it, he’s never going to set the world on fire with his hitting!?!
this is a tough one. we all have reasons to dislike castro, but who is going to take him…and for what? i can not imagine the mets get anything in return other than the roster spot, but i guess that is the point.
that said, what does schneider really bring to the (sorry for this one) plate? he certainly is a better defender than castro (who isn’t), but sadly, i am more confident in castro getting a runner in every once and a while…and that is hard for me to understand as castro, for the majority of the season, has looked overmatched. schneider has let me down since coming to the team with his defense, which is more or less why they brought him in.
I am not adverse to trading Castro, as long as we got something of value back. He is a good catcher, and getting a AAA player back would not be worth losing him imo. a single A player with some upside would be nice.
This thinking is gonna rile up the stat oriented met fans out there. Who HATE Santos, and love Castro.
I would prefer to have Schneider be the odd man out. I thought he was a defensive upgrade when we traded for him but I haven’t seen it yet. Being that Schneider lacks in the power department compared to the other 2, I would take my chances with the better defensive guys who have a chance for a homerun every now and then.
I understand the need for a roster move, I just feel bad for Castro.
Every time he had a chance to prove himself he always got hurt.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
They should have moved Castro a long time ago! Atleast Omir madethe Mets see the light on Castro, although I suspect that if this move were posibble sooner it would have been made. Hopefully some team has a need at Catcher and would be willing to split this pay as I doubt any team is going to swallow his contract at this point.
I say go with three catchers. Have 6 bench players & 11 pitchers. Schneider just might fizzle. Castro & Santos platooning seems to be working. They feed off each other. Statistically not much of a difference.
To quick to judge. Nothing says the Mets need to make a decision on this right now!
I’m no fan of Castro, who plead no contest to a rape allegation a few years back, but why do you think his subtraction would be a boon to the clubhouse? Has he been sulking with his reduced playing time? I thought he was popular, he of the bubble gum hat trick.
yeah I’d like to hear more on the “clubhouse” angle…
A few thoughts:
1) The Mets cannot send down Omir Santos. I know there is a business aspect to think about, but there is too much riding on this season. The Mets need to field the best team possible and I would argue that Santos is the best of the three catchers right now.
2) I’m not a huge fan of either Schneider or Castro. I know defense is important, but so is offense and Schneider’s defense has not be so spectacular as to make up for his non-existent offense.
Castro’s bat is better, but his inability to stay healthy down the stretch and lapses in concentration on defense make him the expendable one.
3) SI’s Jon Heyman is reporting that the Mets are talking to the White Sox about catching. Maybe Castro is being traded for Jermaine Dye – kidding. :)
well, after tonight there is no way that Santos is going anywhere. if they can’t trade Castro before 1, they need to carry 3 catchers for a few days until they get it done.
Omir strikes again! Mets win in extras!
As a backup Castro did more than asked for when healthy so I can not be mad at him in anyway. But Santos brings a different type of “edge” to the team that is needed. I just hope that we don’t eat to much of Castro’s salary.
Considering Schneider is a free agent after this year, I would try to trade him now and get something in return. If Santos keeps playing the way he has, he will be given the starting job next year anyway.
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