Forget What You Heard, Luis Castillo Is Staying Put

An article by Joe D    Comments Off

Forget everything you have heard on sports radio…

Forget everything you have read in the sports pages…

Details of an under the radar conversation between Omar Minaya, Tony Bernazard and Luis Castillo at a meeting in October has leaked out.

The Mets have every single intention of giving Luis Castillo the second base job despite what some Met officials had previously said.

During that October meeting, Luis Castillo pleaded for another chance and promised that he would get in shape and return to the form that made him an All Star second baseman in the past. He was embarrassed and disappointed in how the 2008 season played out, and he intends on doing everything he can to make good on the contract he signed before last season.

Other teams who were seeking a second baseman confirmed that if Luis Castillo was on the trading block, you sure couldn’t tell by the Mets’ unwillingness to openly shop him.

For the team’s sake and for Castillo too, I hope the plan doesn’t backfire because Mets fans will have a short fuse in 2009, and unless he gets off to a fast start, things could get ugly real early.

Several reports are now reporting on these events including the New York Post and Marty Noble on Mets.com.

Joel Sherman writes,

Minaya was quoted as saying,

“He wanted to let the front office know that he (Castillo) was disappointed in how the year went, and promise to do everything he could to get in shape and be the kind of player he had been for 10 years.”

Luis Castillo is expected to play Winter Ball, so maybe we can get a little preview of what is to come in 2009.

UPDATE: Matt Cerrone at MetsBlog believes this is all a big publicity stunt for the purpose of drumming up interest in the second baseman.

I disagree with that notion.  It seems like a fantastic way to drum up support in my opinion.

The reason teams are not interested is because as several team executives have already cited, the Mets are not even openly shopping the player. Not a whisper or a rumor in seven weeks.

Also, ever since Dan Murphy was dispatched to learn how to play second base in the AFL, the organization suddenly backed off on the idea that Murphy would play second base for the Mets in the future. In August they they advertise the fact that Murphy was going to play second base, and then in October they do a complete 180?

Pencil Castillo in at second base on Opening Day, and let’s root for him.