The Mets released Luis Castillo this morning, which means they're responsible for $6MM less the MLB minimum if he signs with another team. That's exactly what the second baseman intends to do, so we're going to keep track of which teams have potential interest right here:
- The Cubs are interested in Castillo, a source told Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com.
- The Orioles have "zero" interest in Castillo at this point, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter).
- The Marlins have spoken internally about re-acquiring Castillo, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. Castillo would be a candidate to play second base in case Matt Dominguez doesn't make the team and Omar Infante shifts to third base.
- The Dodgers have no interest in Castillo, according to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times (on Twitter).
- Asked about potential interest, Phillies assistant GM Scott Proefrock said "that remains to be seen," according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki (on Twitter).
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs argues that Castillo could hold down Philadelphia's second base job while Chase Utley recovers. Castillo isn't a long-term answer, but he could do enough to help the Phillies.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports expects that Castillo will sign shortly after clearning waivers on Sunday, and he confirmed that the Phillies, Marlins and Cubs are thought to be in on the veteran second baseman. Rosenthal added that the O's could be interested, depending on how Brian Roberts progresses with his back injury, and he tweeted that the Rockies are not in the mix.
Castillo and Lugo could form a serious DP combo for an Independent league team.
they could probably play some decent defense, too
HA!
I’d rather see Wilson Valdez or Delwyn Young at 2B for the Phils. Or heck, even Michael Martinez.
I concur. You’re in a bad place when you’re considering picking up a guy who couldn’t win a job with the Mets.
Best Friday ever!
If Dominguez has the potential to be a super two, the Marlins would pay league minimum to Castillo to have an extra year of control over Dominguez.
Loria is apparently PISSED about the Marlins defense and Dominguez is by far their best infield glove, so while that’s a reasonable possibility…….I don’t think it’s likely. But the Marlins seem to love players like Castillo, so I dunno.
Meanwhile Oliver Perez is saying, whooo made it past the first round of releases, now just don’t make any sudden moves and hope they can’t see that I am still here….
Please let him sign with the Phillies. That would make my day.
why so the mets would have to pay a phillies player six million dollars
no, so the phills save the mets $414k lol
definitely agree please sign with phillies the braves or the goddamn YANKEES.
So I take it you’re a Mets fan?
There’s no chance of the Braves or Yankees signing him, both are set at 2B with two players with literally no history of injury and both have better options for a backup. He’s not an ideal utility guy for anyone, he can basically only play 2B…..poorly. The Braves don’t need any more defensive liabilities, and Wilkin Ramirez, Diory Hernandez, and Matt Young can at least match his production offensively. All 3 are more versatile and better defensively as well. Hell, Conrad’s probably a better option(definitely on offense, at least).
And really, as a Braves fan, I don’t want the Phillies to sign him. He’s a year removed from a .387 OBP and 2.3 oWAR, and even last year he got on base at a solid clip. Plus, I’d hate to see the Phillies add more speed. Not saying Castillo is even remotely close to being a good player, but he’ll at least provide more offense than Wilson Valdez most likely.
but he’ll at least provide more offense than Wilson Valdez most likely.
LOL!! Good luck!
Ha! As soon as he leaves the Mets he’s the player that’s “a year removed from a .387 OBP and 2.3 oWAR” in the eyes of other fans… typical. Can’t wait to see the analysts praising the Phillies for picking him up.
I don’t understand why people hate Luis Castillo so much. Granted he’s not a star or even above average player, but for $6 million bucks, a healthy Castillo will earn his salary, and I would bet exceed it by quite a bit and be a 2 WAR player or so.
I feel like people had the same hate for Juan Pierre. They would complain he has zero power, but well you should have never expected power in the first place. However he has good leadoff skills and put up a solid 2.2 WAR in 2010.
Ok, Pierre was a 2 WAR player last year.
Castillo was worth -0.1 WAR last year. His range is shot, he’s made of glass, and the only thing he offers is good speed and a decent OBP. There’s value in that, absolutely. Which is why I’m one of the people hoping the Phillies don’t pick him up.
pierre played 74 more games than castillo last year. not a appropriate comparison
castillo’s not the player he once was, but he’s not a bad guy to take for the league minimum if you have a hole to fill
No doubt, like I said there’s value in his ability to get on base and his speed. If he were better defensively I’d love for the Braves to pick him up.
I assume you meant to say that for a 400K minimum salary . . . cause Luis is probably wrth that to several teams if he is healthy. If you really meant that healthy he is worth the $6 million, well, we all have an opinion.
defensively he is miserable. terrible range, fails to backup plays hes not involved in and weak armed from afar.
22 XBH in his last 750 ABS (09 and 10) he cant even slap a ball and leg out a double.
6 million dollars…..
“I don’t understand why people hate Luis Castillo so much. Granted he’s not a star or even above average player, but for $6 million bucks, a healthy Castillo will earn his salary”
lmao
Yeah I really don’t understand either. He can catch a pop up for sure!
Now that he’s not in a Mets uniform you can’t understand why people hate him so much. Interesting, that.
how about his career numbers? gold gloves, rings, all-star stints, stolen base titles, and now it’s come down to a bunch of nobodies trashing him on comment boards as his career comes to a close. Forget the fact that Jose Reyes credits him with mentoring him or that others he’s played with have respect and admiration for him; lets just disect his body language like a bunch of Bill O’Riley douchers and call him a clubhouse cancer because he’s getting old.
Why is this even an article? WHY AM I EVEN ON THIS.
I would like the Cubs to take a flier. Dewitt nor Baker are good OBP options. I do like the possibility of Scott Moore playing 2B, but with all these guys, including Castillo, it’s a question of defense.
Baker is having himself a really nice spring and has plenty of more upside platooning with Dewitt then Castillo. Dewitt is under rated and Baker is a killer against lefties. They are both good not great playing D so in my opinion Castillo would be a waste of money and roster space.
I wouldn’t mind picking up Castillo if he could still play short; we could just option Darwin Barney back down and give Castillo a shot. But I doubt he can anymore, which is a problem. Baker is a platoon at 2B, but he’s also the primary first base backup (according to Quade) and I assume he’s the primary third base backup too since, other than DeWitt, I can’t think of anybody else on the roster to play it. That means we need somebody who can take time at short, which pretty much means Barney.
If he were in his prime, I’d say go for it. At this point, though, I think a DeWitt/Baker platoon will deliver more than enough production for the the position (and price). I’d really like to see DeWitt get a shot for a full season; it wasn’t long ago that he was pretty highly regarded.
Ok, it seems you’re a Cubs fan. I have a question which apparently nobody can answer…..
Soto got 105 starts last year. He led the team in OBP and SLG, and finished with the highest OPS of any catcher in baseball. Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez REALLY struggled in the middle of the lineup for most of the year.
So why did he hit in the 4-6 spots for just 20 of those starts? He didn’t hit in the 1-3 spots at all, and managed just 3 starts in the cleanup spot. But he started 79 games while hitting in the #7 and #8 spots. Marlon Byrd, who had an OPS .115 points lower than Soto, hit in the 2-5 spots for 136 games.
I’m assuming he slept with Hendry’s wife or something? That’s just baffling to me, even moreso than the Phillies placing the guy who’s leading the team in OBP in the 8th spot.
I think a lot of it was Pineilla’s inexplicable obsession with Koyie Hill. I mean there are also roster guys that you just cannot drop in the order because of money problems. To ask Derek Lee or Aramis Ramirez would almost be insulting to them because of their capability at that position. I don’t agree with it, but that’s the way it has to be.
I don’t get it either, and before, I assumed it was just mostly Piniella, especially since he hit Xavier Nady 5th like 80 times despite Nady being in a coma for the entire season.
But, this year, I’m kind of coming around to the idea that it’s a Cubs thing. They think he’s too slow to hit above 6th, I guess. Which is stupid. Apparently they prefer a fast guy making outs to a slow guy on base.
(Edit: And by fast, I don’t mean actually fast, I mean “Cubs fast”, meaning relative to scale, Fukudome is Michael Bourne, and Starlin Castro is Usain Bolt.)
thats just charlie manuel being charlie manuel
I wish there was a “Love” comment button
Why exactly did the Dodgers trade away Dewitt? So he can rot on the Cubs bench?
I really hope he comes back to the Marlins that would make my year. I really hope he signs a two year deal with them because it would make a great ending to a great carreer. Can you imagine he played with the Marlins for ten years goes away for five years and comes back in time to be part of the ballclub that will enter the Marlins new stadium in 2012. Please may castillo come back a Marlin!!!!!!!
you make me giggle
He won’t be on the market for long. I think the Phillies would be a good fit for him. Keep in mind, Castillo has had a .286 line this Spring Training. Not too bad in my books. Phillies sign him, he starts, and he does decent. (.260 / Good amount of errors)
As long as I don’t have to play him against lefties, I’d take him.
Philly makes NO SENSE to me (and I’m a philly fan who has little confidence in the current makeup of roster and non roster Utley replacements.)
1. Castillo has NO VALUE to Philly once Utley is helthy, as he is just a second baseman. doesn’t fit in a utility role.
2. MAYBE he makes sense if Utley is out for an extended period, and their short on cash for real, but he’s not a defensive upgrade over Valdez, nor really an offensive upgrade over Barfield/Young…
3. If Utley is out for an extended period, they need to find more offensive WAR than he brings.
4. If Utley is NOT OUT an extended period, I can’t see how Barfield/Young/Valdez can’t do the same job he can.
5. By the time Philly is ready to make a decision, Castillo will be signed somewhere else.
6. Is Castillo gonna accept a part time role with philly, knowing full well they could sever ties quick if Utley gets healthy, when other teams might give him the opportunity to get more playing time?
No sense at all.
The guy is dirt cheap, you’ll be lucky to find an available 2b with a pulse at this point, and they could always trade him if Utley is back. If he’s definitely worse than the internal candidates, it won’t make any sense though.
They said Beltran was not out for an extended period too.
I can just see him signing with the Marlins and doing that typical “I gave them everything, I’m gonna make them pay!” crap players like Ruben Gotay and Figureoa pulled (though Figgy kinda got shafted a bit). No reason to be jaded, if you got cut it’s cause, well, you’re garbage.
I don’t think you’re being fair to Figureoa-he did get the shaft-big time-when he was with the Mets. While I realize he’s not a great pitcher, he does have his uses. The Mets always treated him like he was an unwanted step child.
I think the Long Island Ducks would be a good fit.
So if Oliver Perez makes it to the last week of Spring Training, does he one-up Castillo by getting one of those snazzy pink “Participant” ribbons?
Dear Rubin Amaro Jr. Please sign him.. please please sign Luis Castillo, so that the Mets can save veteran’s minimum on his salary… Oh and he’ll be an excellent 2B for you while Utley is out. You know he can field a pop up for sure. You also know that he has excellent range to his left and right. And he can flat out hit for power (whopping .315 SLG past 3 seasons!!). So please sign him..
As a Met fan, I am ecstatic that when I see Castillo in the title of a post, I can now skip right over it, knowing that he is some other teams (and fanbases) problem!
He may end up being one teams solution, with the Mets paying for it though.
Nah, I don’t even think the Mets are that unlucky.
the cubs just said they are happy with baker/dewit and now they are in on casillo come on get rid of both and trade for young and the cubs are set for this year
Sadly, the Cubs truly are happy with Baker/DeWitt platoon and 2nd.
Remember last year, Hendry was equally thrilled with Theriot and Fontenot as the starting middle infield.
I nominate the team that signs him for immediate contraction, as it will prove beyond all shadow of a doubt that (a) they are horribly run and (b) do not have any major league talent available.
Are you implying that the pirates will sign him?