Mets To Unload Castillo?

Sabean must be Omar's idol.

"Sabean must be Omar's idol."

Uh, no. Sabean is at least one of the top 3 worst GMs in baseball. Minaya is no where near that bad.

It was a terrible signing and everyone but Omar saw it coming. What team could possibly want him?

With all due respect TruDru22, worst signing of all time? Hello! Barry Zito, Carl Pavano (Although Mainly due to Injuries), ect? Castillo doesn't even make the Top 10 of all-time worst contracts because of the modest nature of it. Hell, he wasn't even the worst signing of last off-season thanks to Carlos Silva.

And the idea that Jose Reyes or anybody on the Mets plays worse because of Castillo's 'presence' is insane. Sorry, but it's simply the most ridiculous theory I've ever read (And sadly, I've had the pleasure of reading it quite often). It's amazing how they went 10-4 on his first 14 days off the disabled list, yet they lose 4 of 5 and it's all of a sudden blame Castillo, despite him not even playing in 2 of those losses, and reaching base 3 times in the other 2 games they lost.

Don't get me wrong, Castillo has played awful, but he's hardly a dent in why this team has stopped performing. The bullpen sucks, and the Best 4 bats picked the worst possible time to go into a collective funk, but none of which has anything to do with Castillo.

This Offseason they should look to get rid of him, and upgrade at 2B (With Daniel Murphy), it just makes sense for the Mets to find someone willing to take him on for 3 million a year, and only ask for some A ball nobody in return (In exchange).

The worst move the Mets could take is Orlando Hudson though. You have a problem with signing a 32 year old with declining range and coming off an injury for a 4 year deal, yet have no problem signing a to-be 31 year old with declining range and coming off an injury for a 4-5 year deal (I know, not a knee injury, but wrist injuries have a long history of sapping players power). It's likely to end the same exact way with the team that takes him on desperate to get rid of him after a year.

Venom, I think you nailed it on both of your posts. Everything you said about Castillo is spot on. We know it was a bad signing but this is the last thing making the Mets a bad team over the course of the last week, or what made them so bad for the first 2 months. It is just absurd. You also are spot on when you mention Orlando Hudson. I was just making a similar post when I saw yours. The guy is only a year or 2 younger then Luis, and is coming off back to back season ending injuries. Albeit, they were more of the flukey variety, but still, they were serious injuries and they could easily have a negative effect on him moving forward. There is also the fact that even a flukey injury will probably greaten the percentages that you re-injur the same part of your body again. There is also the fact that Hudson has played his whole career in Toronto/ Arizona, 2 indoor parks that are great for hitting in. There is no way to tell whether his bat would translate to a colder, larger, park in Citi Field. Though I guess none of us really no how the park will play until we see it, it seems that it will play similar to Shea when the roof is open, and who knows how when the roof is closed. Just seems like a lot to gamble on, especially for a guy who is so pissed off at a similar gamble taken on Luis Castillo.

I'm not opposed to starting Heilman, but I think it's an extremely risky proposal to ask him to be anything more then a #5 starter and I would rather see that chance go to someone like Jonathon Niese.

But with that said, it's rare to see only 5 starters be used during the course of a season, so perhaps it's better to keep Niese in AAA for depth, for when either Heilman gets bumped due to suckitude, or someone gets hurt.

Exactly. Let Heilman try out for the 5th starters job, with Niese starting in AAA, and at some point you will need a 6th, 7th and maybe even 8th starter for an extended period of time. If by some chance Heilman succeeds and the Mets also stay injury free all of 09 in the rotation, then that is a good problem to have. It allows you to either trade Heilman or one of the other starters in before 2010, or by that time Jon Niese could have built his value up to one of the top pitching prospects. Who knows.

Omar Minaya is only where he is because of money. If he were on a small budget team, i.e the expos, he'd blow. Sorry, he DOES blow.

"Omar Minaya is only where he is because of money. If he were on a small budget team, i.e the expos, he'd blow. Sorry, he DOES blow."

He still got Johan Santana for what appears to be very little. He's still got that to hang his hat on. Just sayin..

"I think the biggest issue with the Castillo is contract is this: Who the hell was Omar Minaya bidding against? Why did it take 4/25?

He signed Castillo to his contract far too early, before the market had been set. He ended up vastly overpaying for one of his own players, a guy who is CLEARLY on the decline." -scribbletone

For what it's worth, it was well established that the Astros had offered Castillo a 3 year contract, presumably in that 6 million a year range. They ended up giving pretty much the same deal to Kaz Matsui.

"For what it's worth, it was well established that the Astros had offered Castillo a 3 year contract, presumably in that 6 million a year range. They ended up giving pretty much the same deal to Kaz Matsui."

I see a huge difference between 3/16 and 4/25. Why not offer like 4/20 or 3/18? I just see a complete midhandling of the situation by Minaya. But then again I was one of many who thought Castillo was pretty much done by the end of last year. I mean yeah a hollow .260 BA and some walks is nice, but not really.. And I think he's a guy who has done a lot of good for the Mets. Now obviously their farm system could and should be in better shape, but its not the worst in baseball.

And I think people don't give him enough credit for the Reyes and Wright deals. He got both of those guys to sign long term on pretty cheap deals. He got Wright for 6/55 and a $17M option and Reyes for 4/23 with a $11M option. Even with arbitration rules and such those are some pretty solid deals for two of the best and most well known players in baseball.

Yeah, just looked it up and the Mets are 41-38 in games that Church has played. Likewise, they are 7-8 in games that Alou played. OMG, They such cancers!