In a gutwrenching and heartbreaking piece of news, Major League Baseball announced overnight that Luis Valbuena and former Pirates/Giants/Astros infielder Jose Castillo were killed in a car crash in Venezuela. The pair had played in a game for the Venezuelan Winter League’s Cardenales de Lara earlier in the evening and were both passengers in the vehicle, per BeisbolPlay journalists Carlos Valmore Rodriguez and Andrew Sanchez Ruiz. Valbuena was just 33 years of age. Castillo was 37.
Suspects have been arrested in conjunction with the tragedy, Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times writes. It is suspected that the vehicle crashed when it struck a rock that was placed in the roadway intentionally, as part of a horrific robbery ploy.
Valbuena spent the past two seasons playing with the Angels and, prior to that, spent two years with the Astros, three years with the Cubs, three with the Indians and part of one season with the Mariners. Known for his affinity for bat flips and an ebullient personality, Valbuena was a popular clubhouse fixture in his decade-plus as a Major Leaguer — as evidenced by the outpouring of emotional messages from former teammates on social media.
Castillo saw fairly regular action at second base with the Pirates from 2004-07 and split the 2008 season between the Astros and Giants. While he hasn’t played in the Majors since that 2008 campaign, he continued his career with a pair of seasons in Japan, where he suited up for the Yokohama Bay Stars and the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2010-11. He’s played in the Venezuelan Winter League every year since 2006.
“Every day, every single day he had a smile on his face, happiness in his heart and a genuine interest in making others feel the same,” Angels VP of communications Tim Mead tweeted of Valbuena. “He treated everyone with respect, sincerity,and his wonderful gift of humor. Every day, every single day.”
MLBTR joins the baseball world in mourning the loss of the two and in expressing heartfelt condolences to the families, loved ones, friends and former teammates of both Valbuena and Castillo.
So sad. RIP
Wow, tough to read. Rest in peace.
rest easy, both will be greatly missed.
Rest In Peace Luis and Jose. On to the next great team in the sky.
How terrible.
So sad to hear this.
That aucks so much. The Cubs traded Luis Valbuena for dexter Fowler.
Wow. You don’t even send your condolences you jump straight into baseball..how rude.
I remember him because my team trade for him and traded him away. It was my own way to say it. Calm down
How is posting something on a baseball site considered sending a condolence?
Are you the condolence master?
Go away troll
E.A.D.
3SL, go back to the dugout, you gone.
1/3 is being generous.
Again 1/3 the poster xabial will ever be…
@Slevin
mlbtr removes what I took as a compliment 3rdS not 1/3 smart as me just wittier, then proceed to keep much worse material from him on a daily basis.
Tell me the truth, 3rdSL. Are you an Angel investor of mlbtr? (Parenthesis, parenthesis)
backhanded compliment for sure. I approve. thanks Slevy
im pretty sure he was being sarcastic. it seemed pretty obvious to me based on the first few comments seemingly implying that only r.i.p. comments were appropriate. damn, some of you guys are extra uptight today. i cant believe this sarcastic comment has 13 downvotes
This place is always uptight.
Except this isn’t the time or place to be sarcastic. Show some respect, families just lost their father, brother, husband, probably uncle. Sorry if that’s “extra uptight” to not try to make a joke. Grow up. I hope nobody makes jokes when you lose a loved one, and if they do, keep that same energy.
i wont be on mlbtraderumors scouring the comments section when i lose a loved one. just like i would bet the farm these 2 players families are not on here either. thats great if you want to post r.i.p. to make yourself feel better but who do you think thats for? its not for their families or loved ones because if it was then you would try and reach out to them personally.
He said that sucks so much
So sad, may they rest in peace
I’ve heard driving is so sketchy over there with all issues going on. Street lights not working, stop lights losing power. Hugo Chavez left an amazing legacy behind.
After a game in Caracas, they didn’t traveled to Barquisimeto in the team bus, instead, they take a particular car, on the road bad people try to robbed the car leading them to an fatal accident
1) rob the car not robbed the car 2) got a link because mlb.com doesn’t mention robbers or bad people – says the car they were in hit a rock causing fatal accident
thanks for the correction, I live in Venezuela and this is a common practice of road thieves, they throw stones at vehicles to cause accidents and steal them, the truck try to avoid the rock and and the vehicle crash, killing both players.
Thanks for the insight – I can see why MLB would rather make it a pure accident than attempted robbery gone wrong. Are they reporting the robber angle down there or is that just your educated guess from experience? ( I don’t mean that in a nasty way am just curious)
According to media accounts from Venezuela, the crash occurred in Yaracuy. Conflicting reports indicated that the car they were in either hit a rock or swerved to avoid a rock before going off the road. The chauffeur and infielder Carlos Rivero, a teammate of Valbuena and Castillo who was also in the car, survived.
New York Post.
So, which story is true?
link to nypost.com
Yes, here the news are reporting the robber angle, even after the accident they stole all the belongings, unfortunately it happened to them, but it is something that happens daily in this country, this happened to me once and I was able to avoid the accident, RIP to both players.
You were 100% right Carlote, the story you reported earlier was just recently posted on ESPN. It was just as you described it hours earlier. Pay no attention to those who may have mocked you or doubted you, but thank you for your insight on what exactly goes on in Venezuela. You would know best, peace be to you and be careful yourself. Happy holidays.
R.I.P.
L.V.
J.C.
Happy holidays for you and your family Mordecai, thanks for the kind words.
this is what socialism looks like…
Weird don’t hear about swedish hockey players being killed every year.
Really sad.
My heart always skips a beat when I see these headlines. Just a horrible thing to see. Rest in peace, both of them.
You may have Atrial Fibrillation or Heart Palpitations, I’d strongly suggest getting it medically checked out.
Wow…..when something like this happens it kind of puts all other things in perspective. I’m checking for overnight baseball developments and I see this.
gee,
you are so right, but no one ever realizes that, or even when a killer disease comes along. Put things in the proper perspective….
Never easy to lose these guys.. especially around the holiday season. R.I.P.. my condolences to both families.
Such sad news. May you both Rest In Peace.
Thumbs up for your screen name!
I see our shadow!!!
Does that mean six more weeks of winter meetings?
The winter meetings of our discontent!!!
I like it too
Honey Nut,
an awesome username
So sad,
RIP.
It’s so sad. Liked Valbuena. BTW. Late Presidente Hugo Chavez is the consequence not the origin of the problems in the beautiful country of Venezuela.
What was the origin of the problem?
I really hate to say this but because there have been other ignorant comments it must be said, and actually I am sick of the lies that people try to sell.
Really, “the consequence”? Have you any clue whatsoever?
Socialism has never worked and never will work-in any country, and the people of Venezuela have paid a heavy toll for believing in such rubbish from Chavez and his ilk & cohorts. They are the facts of the matter of what is happening in Venezuela today and the poverty & inflation that exists because of Marxist policies & ideology that will take decades to recover from. Don’t attack the facts.
Nearly every off season this happens somewhere in South America with ball players. Shocking & so sad.. Not to mention all the people who are not MLB players being killed in horrendous circumstances and/or road crashes.
R.I.P to Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo
Best to remember Luis Valbuena this way. link to youtube.com
norway and sweden disagree with your little whining about socialism never works.
but hey, let’s keep trying capitalism here in america (why the hell not? tirckle down economics has never worked once at the federal or state level, but 38 years of failure, keep going)
Insinuating that America is a nation of free enterprise is about as accurate as insinuating that Scandinavia is a land of Socialism. America’s “capitalism” is so shot through with Socialist/Fascist policies it doesn’t function like it could and Scandinavia’s “Socialism” is so supported by capitalist policies that it doesn’t collapse like it should.
The Scandanavian countries are NOT socialist; they are very small capitalist countries with an extraordinarily high tax rates to fund what are essentially socialist programs. Lenin allowed a certain degree of capitalism for about 6 yrs after the Russian Revolution because after WWI and the revolution, there was nothing much to seize, but that particular policy certainly didn’t mean that 1919-26 Soviet Union was capitalist. Your reference to “trickle down economics is nothing but parroting of something you vaguely heard somewhere.
It’s astonishing to see that you had seven people disagree with the fact that the most successful economic system in history has pulled billions out of poverty, while socialism has been a dismal failure and is being scrapped in every corner of the globe. We obviously need more free markets in the education industry.
Hugo Chavez and his cronies are/were looters and thugs….
Chavez’s expropriation of a thriving, highly efficient oil industry-just a coincidence. His human rights abuses-just a coincidence. Elimination all political opposition-just a coincidence. General mismanagement of the Venezuelan economy-just a coincidence. Venezuela’s problems didn’t result in Chavez, they were a product of Chavez, and now Maduro.
That’s rough news, and I give my condolences to their families. I feel like every off-season there’s some type of accident. Why is that?
Sorry to hear this RIP
My apologies for not clarifying “every year for the last three years.” Since we are being specific, what is the correlation now as opposed to previous years?
This happens way too often. People in all walks of life are stricken w tragic news like this and it is tragic, but it seems like every year we hear about an instance like this. Car accidents, crime related deaths, kidnapping/ransom demands… it’s really heartbreaking. RIP to them both.
This is a baseball message board that has no membership qualifications and appears to be allowed to police itself. To all of those who’ve deemed themselves as Condolence Police should just take it easy. Not every person who posts here is going to meet your expectations as to what is appropriate. Whether it’s a player acquisition or a player death, people will say what they want. Leave it at that. It’s a free forum whether you agree w the comments or not. In other words… lighten up Francis!
Damn sad to hear this. Thoughts and prayers with their family and friends
keep your prayers…
Something has to be done about the driving down there. Very sad.
Luis always smiled and loved to play the game. So sad.
R.I.P, your lives ended far too soon.
According to some Venezuela’s outlets they were killed as a result of a robbery. A gang put a rock in the middle of the road to produce the accident. RIP
#BuildTheWall
Why because you’re racist and don’t realize that violence will exist in our country whether or not you build a wall?
Maybe he wants to protect Central America from all the American gun nuts and mass-murderers.
Protect central america from gun nuts? Lol
You clearly know alot about the region.
Dick
ydo
How many great ballplayers were stymied by prejudice like yours? Leaving aside race and national origin, how many guys didn’t “look” like baseball players and were passed over for promotion to The Show?
Heart and hustle shouldn’t have to wait for your approval that it came from someone whose birth and look you accept as American. They want to work hard and pay their dues? In baseball and in life, that’s good enough for me.
How many great people have been killed by socialism?
Fox News is a crappy history book, dude. Try getting info from more than one source.
cue the “well you watch Fox news” guy. Gee, never heard that one before
Dang.
Cmon you can do better, homes
Just yesterday, mlb.com ran a feature story on the 12- player trade involving the Indians, Mariners, and Mets at the 2008 winter meetings that sent Valbuena from the Mariners to the Indians. Creepy.
geez. RIP
dudes doing bat flips in heaven now. RIP
Oh man. Yesterday I was just thinking of how we usually get this sort of tragic news on MLBTR around this time of year. Sorry to hear.
Thoughts and prayers go out to the families RIP
Very very sad news.
Sad praying there in heaven
Downvoted. Improper grammar. Thank you and have a nice day.
you seem distraught.
Actually, its sunny and I am well. Thanks for thinking of me today. Are you ok? Family is good? Got your tickets for the Powerball? If so, I hope you win.
Have a great weekend, sir!
I don’t play Powerball. I don’t want people coming after my family. You read about it all the time in the papers.
Rock on!
i hope t his wuz sarchazm
Coming in hot
This is really sad, their poor families, and at the holidays
no less. RIP
Death is so final, but the callus, bitterness, and immaturity on here will go on for eternity!
Now he is an angel for life.
hope there aren’t any accidents in after-life. pray for their families.
Gut wrenching and heartbreaking?
Venezuelan Bo Diaz died when a satellite dish fell on him.
Mike Edwards of the rock band ELO was killed when his van was struck by a runaway round bale of hay.
link to bbc.com
When your numbers up, it’s your turn.
Is it just me or does something like this happen every offseason in Venezuela?
Just you.
I feel bad that I would go to games and every time he bat flipped on a single I would shake my head…dude was just having fun.
Exactly. He had passion for the game. I still lol about the double he bat flipped and haniger threw him out at 2b. He was just having fun. He was a lighthearted guy and at least in Seattle a super nice guy that took time with the fans. Rest easy Luis.
He had a great sense of humor and such an infectious smile. I can see why his teammates loved him. I heard while he was in Houston when Bregman took over 3rd, Luis was genuinely supportive of Alex. Great person, and great teammate.
:-(
Why do people feel the need to comment on here to make fun of people, push agendas or be critical of the article? Especially on an article like this. Jesus some people suck.
Hate reading these posts. RIP
RIP fellas. This is sad, and way too common. I dont know the details other than they were passengers. Ive driven in some of these countries, roads can feel like a war zone. But was speed a factor? It usually is. These guys need governors in vehicles they drive in. No joke
It’s a shame for sure.
Please Lord..give their Families strength at this time…R.I.P
Valbuena was a class act really tough to read. Rip
-JD Goat
He’s actually just stating facts. Socialism leads to poverty, and in the end in that country as a result of such ideology and policies rampant inflation exists and high crime rates along with it. However, don’t let the facts bother you at all.
Yes, there’s no poverty in the United States.
Who stated there was “no poverty in the USA”? Do point me to that comment. That is laughable indeed. Change your user name to ‘Strawman’.
Clearly those “Democratic Socialist” countries in Europe have no idea what they’re doing with poverty despite having the LOWEST reported poverty in the world. They also have the best education systems and are the happiest according to MANY world studies.
I know that triggers you to read, it’s a FACT though and it doesn’t meet your narrative so you’ll ignore it and bring up Venezuela some more. Almost like pure socialist and capitalist societies don’t exist and their ideals aren’t administered the same?
you first, sid
You actually posted that there was no poverty in the United States.
It’s called sarcasm moron.
Poverty in the US is nothing compared to Venezuela
Who do you know that is in poverty in the US through no fault of their own or their parents? Please tell me.
In countries like Venezuela there are many who are in abject poverty through no fault of their own, rather government failure.
The same government you morons want here.
You;re confusing “happiest” with “contented”. Some non-productive people can be contented with a modestly re-filled EBT card at the first of each month; just enough to finance their weed habit, but a happy person is a productive person. It’s easy to have a low poverty rate in a country with fewer people than Indiana and half it’s size. Danes are not multicultural; most think, act and look the same; closer to a large commune than a country.
Typical clueless leftist.
Poverty is the US is nothing compared to poverty in these countries.
Countries like Sweden have hight taxation that results in choices in health care and other benefits for those who put into it.
The harder you work, the better your choices are
That is not the kind of socialism you lazy pigs want.
You want the same educational, healthcare and lifestyle standards regardless of what you put into society.
That’s great for the lazy filth of society but not really good for anyone else.
Socialism is evil, only a complete fool would think giving more power to any government is a good idea.
Let’s take all the money from hard working people so a bunch of people who would rather party than take care of their own children can have more, lol.
Oh and make politicians more powerful, wonderful plan
Boogalo you tell it like it is!
Facts aren’t opinion based that make you feel good. Sanctioned economies via trade like what the US has been doing to political enemies for nearly a century is what leads to poverty. You should look up what those pesky “Democratic Socialist” Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland) are doing with their healthcare, education and low poverty levels. All best ranked in the world. Happiest people surveyed too.
Likely because it’s hard to get US support to intervene in their economies because they’re located in Europe but who’s to say?
Oh God, it’s the United States fault Venezuela is a hell hole?
Lol
Not socialism which has historically led to millions dying, no it’s the mean old USA.
You really are clueless if you think Sweden is run like Venezuela.
Sweden has been rolling back social programs for the last 15 years because of their failures.
They have adapted to a high tax rate, coupled with a choice is healthcare, education and so on.
You put in alot to the system you get alot.
You put in nothing, you get next to nothing.
That doesn’t sound like the democratic socialism you clowns think they have.
Which social programs are they rolling back? I’d love to know with polling data showing they’re a failure otherwise it’s partisan nonsense.
My prior statements of US meddling in Latin American to overthrow democratically elected governments is backed by facts. Look up the “banana wars” which are backed up by public declassified CIA doccuments.
The US also installed dictatorships in Iran with the Shah and Cuba with Batista. Ironically those dictatorships crumbled and lead to US foriegn enemies because the successor governments distrusted allowing US corporations in their countries. Hey Vietnam and China are okay now despite being “communist”. Maybe it had little to do with actual ideology and more corporate greed?
Remember how Cuba was bad? We got American hotels there now. Funny how that Obama got that done by opening relations with them. Despite Trump’s sanctions against them those pesky hotel chains are still running in Cuba.
You left wingers are free to move to those countries. Adios.
Socialism leads to poverty.
you spelled religion wrong
Boogaloos whole rant was based on the fact that they were robbed. Thank God that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world.
I love this talking point, Venezuela has private sectors (oil) that mean it’s not a socialist country but I’ll humor you. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland are all social democratic countries with lots of socialist elements like a Venezuela or Cuba IE: Nationalized healthcare systems and government run industries. Heck even firefighters and policemen in every respective country are considered a form of socialism because they’re paid by a government that gets funding via taxation. They’re doing fine aren’t they?
Want to look up how poverty is the lowest in those countries? Or how their education systems are ranked tops in the world? How about how high their taxes are to pay for the welfare states they live in? It’s all counterproductive to your narrative I know.
People love to talk politics when it suits their narrative yet they have little idea how world politics really are.
Your narrative is totally incorrect. However as you attempted to try and assert that “Venezuela is not a socialist country”‘, which in itself is such a fatuous statement, I’ll have to set the record straight. There is absolutely no comparison of Venezuela with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland or Iceland. But you did make one good point, the more wealthy you are in Sweden the more tax you pay-it sounds fair, don’t you agree? Denmark’s top marginal effective income tax rate is 60.4 percent. Sweden’s is 56.4 percent. Pray tell do tell what taxation system Venezuela use. Your comparisons are farcical.
Venezuela has not, of course, fought a war in recent years. But the combination of plummeting oil revenues and years of government mismanagement has virtually killed off the country’s economy, sparking a humanitarian crisis that threatens to engulf the region. Caracas refuses to track inflation (or at least publish its findings), but the National Assembly calculates the annual rate to be more than 4,000 percent, and the International Monetary Fund predicts it could hit 13,000 percent this year. Given how much prices have already risen since January, the real number could be 10 times higher.
Tell your lies elsewhere.
Venezuela was not in a good situation prior to Hugo Chavez. It had dictator after dictator before he came to power and socialized some of the economy by kicking out foreign owned companies (largely American) by nationalization. Which is why the US sanctions their economy. Just like how Cuba was a puppet American state prior to Castro overthrowing it.
You should look up what the “Banana Wars” are because there’s a decent reason why Latin American countries are in the state that they’re in today and it has to do with US business interests having no respect for democracy in other countries if they dared to hurt their monopolized profits.
I don’t tell in lies, my truths are in polls and largely CIA declassified information which is readily available to the public because of a great act that was passed decades ago.
when dealing with right wing (and likely fundie) nut jobs like sid, facts and evidence doesn’t matter to them.
just whatever trump , fox news, and breibart tells them is good enough (well, those groups and their cult, oops, i meant church, tells them to think)
I’ll have you know I get all my information from BuzzFeed, thank you very much.
@mfm
You bleeding heart liberals never let the facts get in the way your your liberal narrative. Just whatever MSNBC tells you.
Stop yourselves. It sucks that they died but enough with the overdramatic and fake caring. “Oh its so gut wrenching” no it’s not. We didn’t know them and they didn’t know us. If you get “gutwrenched” whenever you hear of a stranger dying, you must have some serious IBD cuz ppl die daily. Just stop with the fake bs cuz tomorrow you will be onto the next big thing in baseball and forget about this.. smh
you seem distraught.
Positive reality check right here.
Why are people so bothered by others paying respects to someone who died? Do you not get enough attention at home? This doesn’t even concern you, go comment on another article if you don’t want to see people giving condolences on AN ARTICLE ABOUT PEOPLE WHO JUST DIED. Go look for attention somewhere else troll
Step down off your soapbox there Sally before you fall and skin those delicate knees.
Wouldn’t normally agree with a Cubs fan, but you’re spot on.
Valbuena wouldn’t have wanted it this way—he would want you to celebrate his career. Sounds sappy dont it? Sending condolences in a comment section probably ain’t gonna help matters.
Wow tough guy maybe some people follow the sport closely enough to feel a connection with everyone they watch play the game they love every night.
Don’t Fear the Reaper! – BOC
This isn’t the place for political rants. Just out of respect, I think we should just keep this thread more civil
How about blank?
Dear MLBTradeRumors. You ought to close the comments on this thread out of respect for Valbueana and Castillo. Sad to see how many disrespect these 2 humans and their families.
Says the guy disrespecting Valbuena by misspelling his name.
Quality dig. Upvoted. Enjoy.
MLBTR should start a death pool.
I guess we are the peanut gallery..smh
Sorry to hear about Valbuena, it was noticable watching Angels games this season that he smiled a lot and had fun talking with fans down the first base line.
Came here to say goodbye to a guy I liked on the Cubs. See a bunch of people arguing about socialism. Get a grip.
This comment section is disturbing. Two people died. Please have some respect.. RIP
RIP guys. At least it appears they may have those responsible
“Police have arrested four people suspected of robbing former Angels infielder Luis Valbuena and former Pirates second baseman José Castillo after the two players were killed in a car crash in Venezuela early Friday morning.”
link to si.com
Gotta love the compassion flowing in here. The way people capitalize on a tragedy to climb on top of their online soapbox and try to be more right than everyone else… it’s truly moving.
Jesus… We watch this sport so closely and discuss and debate everything from the way the game is played on the field to the economics of the game… and it’s so easy to forget that these are real live human beings out there. They’re every bit as mortal as the rest of us. But this happens, two of the guys we watch out on the field are suddenly cut down and we’ve apparently dehumanized them to the point that all we see is an opportunity to turn yet another comment thread into a political flame war.
Sad news. Condolences to their friends and families.
Frazier, Ellsbury, and Florial for Valbuena– get it done, Cashman!