Unless you’ve had your heads in the sand, you all know that Luis Castillo is on fire. He might be more responsible for this little winning streak than any one player on the team. Since dropping that popup in Yankee Stadium, Castillo has transformed himself back into the player that made him a three time All Star and gold glover.
Jerry Manuel was glowing when he spoke about Castillo’s resurgence.
“The thing about Luis, we have found a way to fit his game in to what we’re doing and we’ve kind of worked around him as well. He’s been very good, a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, he’s playing tremendous baseball. When he’s batting eighth, he’s not the same as when he’s batting second. When he’s batting second, he’s in his game-mode of taking pitches, seeing pitches, moving runners, running the bases well.”
Mets Blog points out that“Castillo is batting .361 with a .459 OBP with seven extra base hits in 285 at bats hitting second this season.
Not too shabby…
He is now batting .306 on the season, with 11 doubles, 3 triples, 11 stolen bases and 56 runs scored in 288 at-bats. He also has 49 walks and is second only to Wright who has 56 in 90 more at-bats. Castillo’s OBP is a staggering .406 which is also second best on the Mets. The Mets record with Castillo in the two spot of the lineup is 25-13.
So dare I say it? Maybe now would be a great time to trade him.
I don’t believe his value will ever be higher than it is right now.
Castillo will be 35 years old next season, and despite being in the midst of a solid season, lets not forget he is also playing with two surgically repaired knees.
After experiencing all the injuries and meltdowns, I believe it would be in the Mets best interest to lessen the load on aging players for the 2010 season, especially those who represent a ticking time bomb, like Maine and Delgado were this season. Castillo’s knees can go at any time. Jerry Manuel has done a fine job of resting him and keeping those knees fresh. Castillo has missed 12 games already this season, the equivalent of a 15 day DL stint.
I’m sure there would be many contenders out there who would drool over being able to add a player with a .400+ OBP to the top of their order right now. And with Castillo doing as well as he is, the Mets may even find a taker without having to kick any cash back. Wouldn’t the Wilpons love that?
Opening up second base would also open up some new options for the Mets in the off season.
If they wanted to, the Mets could add someone like Orlando Hudson who is three years younger, has no health issues, and would give them more power from the position as well as another high intensity player. Mark De Rosa would also be a nice fit and add even more power than Hudson would.
And what about untouchable prospects Ruben Tejada and Wilmer Flores? They might not be quite ready right now, but if the Mets went with De Rosa and brought one of them up next July we could finally see what all the hype was about, and why Roy Halladay isn’t a Met.
I’m not saying moving Castillo is a great idea, but just something to consider. His knees coupled with his age are a concern that can’t be ignored.
If there was ever a time to move him, shouldn’t that time be now?
No,
Not now. Right now we need him to win if we are to go for the wild card. Reyes, Delgado, & possibly Beltran are coming back in the next couple weeks or so I would hold onto him. I think the resurgence of Castillo and Franoeur is key. Unless something surprising happens I wouldn’t do it. You could revisit it after the season OR if we fall out again.
That would be definitely waiving the white flag to trade Castillo at this point. If they are going to go that route then they should just tell Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes we will see you next spring in Port St. Lucie(this may happen anyways).
I proclaimed the Mets dead a week or so ago but if they can win some series’ and get to within 4-5 games of the Wildcard then I would rather still see if there could be some excitement left in this season afterall with the hopeful returns of Beltran, Delgado, Putz, Reyes, and Wagner.
Even though Castillo has been playing exceptionally well I doubt there is that great a market for him especially with 12 million still owed to him over the next 2 seasons. I would think the Twins(a reunion tour) or Giants would have some mild interest but he would be too expensive for either one of those teams.
One other thing…
“And what about untouchable prospects Ruben Tejada and Wilmer Flores? They might not be quite ready right now, but if the Mets went with De Rosa and brought one of them up next July we could finally see what all the hype was about, and why Roy Halladay isn’t a Met.”
…I do not believe for one second that there was any truth to the Roy Halladay rumors. My reasoning for this is the asking price the Blue Jays have supposedly asked other ballclubs in return for Halladay. Especially what they asked the Angels for – Joe Saunders, Erick Aybar, Brandon Wood, and another top positon player prospect. No way the Mets rumored package comes close to that. I mean there are proven Major Leaguers in that package where as the rumored Mets package is a bunch of hopefuls that was centered around a young, talented, injury prone, and currently out for 2 months after knee surgery outfielder in Fernando Martinez. The Blue Jays would have at least asked for Brad Holt, Wilmer Flores, or Jenrry Mejia if not 2 of them or even all 3.
I agree, to trade Castillo basically says we’re not going to try this year. Remember we’re only 5.5 out, and reasonably could be 3.5 out by Friday, when we play offensively challenged Arizona
I would do it, and a big reason is to shed his contract.
Then as you mentioned, Hudson, Derosa, David Eckstein, Freddy Sanchez and other good middle infield FA’s are out there. Eckstein converted to a 2B and he makes less than $1 mil. We may have to bid against the Dodgers, but I think it should be cheaper than the 6 mil we’re paying Castillo. DeRosa will be pursued by multiple teams, and will need offseason surgery on his arm. Freddy Sanchez has a club option, and may not see Free Agency, though. Also SS Miguel Tejada and Orlando Cabrera will be available, in case we can convince either to convert to 2B.
My preference would be Hudson.
The problem is, if we’re alive in the Wild Card race, we can’t trade him during the season, so we’d have to try to hope he finishes the year strong, so we can trade him in the offseason.
But we tried in vaid to dump the contract last year, this year we may have another chance to lose the contract and get younger and cheaper at the position.
First let me say that trading Castillo would not please Johan one bit. They are very close friends. If this is not an issue then I would definitely trade him if we don’t have to eat salary. Cora would be a more than adequate 2nd baseman for the Mets when Reyes returns. Saving the 6 million would help us in the off-season greatly expecially since I don’t expect the Wilpons to keep the payroll as high as it was this year.
I don’t beleive any team will take his contract. As well as Luis is playing $14 million left on his deal through 2011 is onerous.
If the Tigers were crazy enough to eat $14 million for nothing in return, I’m sure there’s a team willing to take on that same amount over 2 1/5 seasons with the upside being getting a solid table setter at the top of the lineup leading off or batting second, and above average defense at second base. Look at second baseman, wouldn’t you say Castillo is in the Top 10 this season???
Hmm, definitely a good question to ponder this morning. I think I’m leaning toward what Bayonne Met Fan said. The timing is wrong and it would probably hurt the team too. If Reys and Beltran were already back and playing, I would trade him without hesitation.
This is crazy, as I’m writing this I cant help feeling that it would be a mistake not to trade him. I dont want to be kicking myself after the trade deadline if Castillo goes back into the tank, or god forbid comes up with knee pain again.
I guess the only thing I’m sure of is what you wrote about him never having as high a value as he does right now.
Gee, thanks for the splitting headache, lol.
I hope Omar is getting back to business now and trying to improve the team. We still have a shot at the wildcard. After watching the highlights of the Nationals game, I’m dreaming of Adam Dunn’s bat in our lineup instead of Cory Sullivan’s. How did we not sign that guy? At any rate, it shouldn’t be too hard to find and upgrade over Sullivan–I mean, come on! An upgrade in the rotation would be nice, but we’d probably have to part with pitching to get pitching and who could we get? I’d just as soon hold onto Pelfrey, Feliciano and Neise, who are our most valuable trade commodities at the ML level. Unless you’d consider trading Jose….
Really? trade castillo? Right now hes our Jose Reyes. Hes doing good. By the way…get a clue. What the hell would castillo bring in return of value? Nothing! No one in the right mind would give anything top or worth anything for a second basemen with an albatross contract whos clearly having a nice season but its in decline
Are you kidding me?? Go take a course on Baseball 101. First of all, the number one priority is ridding the Mets of his contract. Second of all, look at what they got for Felipe Lopez. Castillo is probably the 4th best second baseman in the league right now. The Cubs would pay a king’s ransom for Castillo right now.
Felipe Lopez is 28 years old!!! Castillo is about to turn 34 years old I believe. Felipe Lopez is a much better player than castillo by the way. I love what castillo is doing for the mets and I am advocating keeping him as he is providing good offense and running well, however for you to think you will get top prospects for a 33 year old basemen in decline with well known bad knees that really at any moment could get hurt- youre dreaming!!!
It would all depend on who we could get for him and who would play 2B for the balance of the year. If we could pick up a good 2B now and then upgrade at the end of the season, it may be the thing to do. Eliminating the contract would be significant for the future. But you don’t want to kill the team in the process and kill any chance left this season.
no. Castillo is a big part of this team, and were still in contention.
No.
I guess my question is who would take Castillo and his contract? It is a good time to move him BUT if the Mets win today they will be 4 1/2 games out of the Wild Card and trading the hottest hitter on your team would be a sign of waiving the white flag for this season IMO.
Since we haven’t got a decent backup to take Castillo’s place, you’re talking about trading Castillo and then acquiring another competent 2nd baseman. Sounds like more trouble than its worth. As I said before, we need a left fielder with some power who is a good clubhouse guy. And a starting pitcher would be nice!
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Trade him if you can get something in return- I sadly believe(and I BELIEVE!!) that the wild card is not happening and to deceive ourselves is foolish. The pitching is too thin to support the poor offense. Shed the contract and get some players for next year. Even WITH Delgado, Reyes and Beltran healthy, I am not sure we would be in 1st place(probably the WC leader though. IF you cam use Castillo to get Halladay, then by all means do so
Ok, so we would willingly get rid of the only healthy, hot regular player we have to take a chance on somebody else? Why does that seem incredibly dumb?
I agree on the surface it seems silly, but how long will the hot streak last? How will he age? He has no power now and that will not change. Looking to the future I feel that he should be moved if possible. I do not think we have a legitimate wild card shot this year- pitching too spotty and hitting too weak. I will be glad to be wrong.