Beltran is here, Bay is here, Castillo is not, and Collins is irked about it.
When asked if had met yet with Castillo, Collins replied,
“I haven’t seen him. You guys see him yet?”
“You guys were around him last year. … He was unhappy with the way things ended. He’s expressed that to me. And I said … ‘You have to understand we have new people here. We’re going to draw our own conclusions. And that’s why I thought it would be good when you get here we sit down and clear the air, because it’s a new day.’ And he said, ‘All right. I’ll see you Saturday.’ So I’m here. I’ll be waiting for him.”
Original Post 2/18 4:00 PM
There are plenty of spring training pictures coming in from Port St. Lucie of David Wright, Jose Reyes and even the rehabbing Johan Santana, but if you’re looking for any from Jason Bay, Luis Castillo or Carlos Beltran, don’t bother.
Technically, position players don’t have to be in camp until Saturday, but one would think – and hope – several of the question marks would have bothered to show up early. If David Wright, Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan can do it, so can every body else that doesn’t have a personal issue or visa problem.
In particular, Collins was annoyed this morning when it came to Luis Castillo, the often-maligned second baseman who ranks highly on Mets’ fans enemies list. Castillo, who is to be paid $6 million for his mediocre production, is still in the Dominican Republic. Manager Terry Collins said it would have sent a symbolic message to the organization had Castillo been in camp earlier.
The same applies to Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay, both who missed a considerable amount of last season to injuries.
Beltran is coming off a knee injury and could be moved to right field. This is his walk year and the Mets will try to move him by the All-Star break. Both, for his contract and for what he might bring in a trade, it is imperative he gets off to a strong. One or two days shouldn’t make a difference, but with the Mets this year it is all about appearances.
As for Bay, he was having a lousy year before he was sidelined with a concussion. So far, he’s done nothing to justify his $66 million contract. Would it have killed him to show up early?
Wright and Reyes are the leaders of this team and they’ve been here. The others are question marks and will wait until they absolutely have to.
So much for initiative.
