The New York Mets made it official and announced that they have released 35-year-old second baseman Luis Castillo this morning. Castillo had one year left on his contract that will pay him $6 million dollars, but that doesn’t seem to matter considering all things.
Here are some comments made by Sandy Alderson while speaking to reporters:
“After a long evaluation during spring training, after consulting with Terry and the coaching staff, I made a recommendation to ownership in the best interest of the organization and Louie that he be released, and ownership approved.”
“I think there were a variety” of reasons for the release. Obviously, we wanted to see how he looked physically from an offensive standpoint, defensively. You know, I think Luis made a strong effort, but we just felt given our other options and where we are headed as an organization this was in our mutual interest.”
“I don’t think there’s any question that there’s some linkage between his situation and a perception of the Mets that has existed to this point. That’s something that was taken into account. At some point, you have to make an organizational decision that goes beyond just an ability to play or not play.”
Basically, he heard the noise and made the move based on that and not because of his performance which is obviously better than the rest of the field battling for the second base job. In a way, I’m glad he listened to what the fanbase was saying, but lets not make a habit of that.
A few of the players weighed in on Castillo’s release before the game,
“He’s a very god friend of mine. He’s close to me. When you see somebody go, it’s going to hurt. He was playing good. It’s not like he was playing terrible. I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye. I’m surprised a little bit, because he was playing good baseball.” ~ Jose Reyes
“This is the way baseball is. This is what the team wanted and there is nothing else we can do about it. I spent a lot of time watching everybody, and Castillo was actually playing excellent. He was doing great at the plate and looked better in the field. This is what the team wanted. That’s baseball, I wish Castillo good luck.” ~ Carlos Beltran
Where does this leave the Mets now?
Defensively they are worse off without Castillo and Ruben Tejada who was sent packing a week ago. Offensively, only Dan Murphy has proven that he can hit at this level. You can’t say that about Justin Turner, Brad Emaus and Luis Hernandez.
With that said, Turner will most likely go back to the minors because he has options left. Murphy will stick in a utility role. Hernandez is out of options and could stick, but very unlikely. Emaus will get the job simply because the front office have put a lot of stock into him based on his minor league numbers.
Alderson refused to name a favorite during the game, but after his visit to the broadcast booth, Keith Hernandez said that it was apparent Emaus has been the chosen one from the day the Mets picked him up.
Putting the reasons for Castillo’s release aside for the moment, how much confidence do you have in the second base situation as it stands right now?
Are you as confident in Brad Emaus as the organization seems to be?
I happen to feel that we need to start looking at other teams as they cut their rosters down and see if a better option might still be available out there.
I’m glad Castillo is gone – It was the right move – I wanted him gone.
But I’m very leery of what we have now in Emaus, Turner, Murphy and Hernandez. I’m just not feeling it.
Oh, and by the way, I wish Ruben Tejada wasn’t brushed away as quickly as he was. As young as he is, all the others couldn’t match him defensively and he was hitting the ball with more authority at the plate.
Lets hear what you have to say.
