November 10, 200520 yr Regardless of Delgado's obvious player value, I don't see how we can possibly keep him if we are going to reduce payroll by 10-15%. It's not difficult to cut payroll by 10%, keep Delgado and contend. It's impossible to play competitive baseball and cut the payroll by 15%. Cutting roughly $6.5 million (10% off the oft-quoted $65 million '05 payroll), even with about $9 million +/- invested in relief pitching, is not impossible. But in order to do so alot of pieces have to fall in place, like pursuing quality replacements at short and second base, and signing Pierre for multi-years at a figure lower than he'd receive through arbitration (for one yr) and finding a new home for Lowell without giving away the ranch to do so. It may be too big a task to accomplish in one season but there are scenarios where the Fish come out ahead in the longrun. When people say this is a poor F/A year, what they really mean is there aren't alot of big name, high profile players out there, but there are any number of sound, competent ballplayers who won't command big $$$ and could keep this team in the playoff hunt all season. Wait... let me get this straight. Quality replacement at second base? You want to trade Castillo, and for some reason known and understandable to you, sign Pierre to a long expensive contract?
November 10, 200520 yr Regardless of Delgado's obvious player value, I don't see how we can possibly keep him if we are going to reduce payroll by 10-15%. It's not difficult to cut payroll by 10%, keep Delgado and contend. It's impossible to play competitive baseball and cut the payroll by 15%. Cutting roughly $6.5 million (10% off the oft-quoted $65 million '05 payroll), even with about $9 million +/- invested in relief pitching, is not impossible. But in order to do so alot of pieces have to fall in place, like pursuing quality replacements at short and second base, and signing Pierre for multi-years at a figure lower than he'd receive through arbitration (for one yr) and finding a new home for Lowell without giving away the ranch to do so. It may be too big a task to accomplish in one season but there are scenarios where the Fish come out ahead in the longrun. When people say this is a poor F/A year, what they really mean is there aren't alot of big name, high profile players out there, but there are any number of sound, competent ballplayers who won't command big $$$ and could keep this team in the playoff hunt all season. Wait... let me get this straight. Quality replacement at second base? You want to trade Castillo, and for some reason known and understandable to you, sign Pierre to a long expensive contract? I think trading Louie and keeping Pierre would be a mistake.
November 10, 200520 yr Personally, I am starting to think it might be best to deal Pierre and Lowell and have Aguila take over in CF so that we can keep Delgado. 1. Louie 2. Conine/Willingham 3. Miggy 4. Delgado 5. Hermida 6. Lo Duca 7. Aguila 8. SS I really think that's a pretty good lineup, especially when you consider the fact that Conine and Willingham both boast pretty high OBP's. We could conceivably have two guys at the top of the lineup getting on base at close to a .400 clip. And I like Aguila's speed at the bottom of the lineup. I actually think this lineup is better than our '05 lineup. What do you all think? Good hitting. Good OBP. Slowest lineup since the Washington Generals vs. the Globetrotters in 1967. Probably set the MLB record for least steals and most double plays. If they change the rules, eliminate 1st base and the single....extra base hits only...it's competitive.
November 10, 200520 yr Personally, I am starting to think it might be best to deal Pierre and Lowell and have Aguila take over in CF so that we can keep Delgado. 1. Louie 2. Conine/Willingham 3. Miggy 4. Delgado 5. Hermida 6. Lo Duca 7. Aguila 8. SS I really think that's a pretty good lineup, especially when you consider the fact that Conine and Willingham both boast pretty high OBP's. We could conceivably have two guys at the top of the lineup getting on base at close to a .400 clip. And I like Aguila's speed at the bottom of the lineup. I actually think this lineup is better than our '05 lineup. What do you all think? Good hitting. Good OBP. Slowest lineup since the Washington Generals vs. the Globetrotters in 1967. Probably set the MLB record for least steals and most double plays. If they change the rules, eliminate 1st base and the single....extra base hits only...it's competitive. Hermida'll steal 20, and depending on who we put at short, we could add another 10-20. Pierre's speed is overrated, and besides, as long as you have 2 OBP guys in front of Delgado and Cabrera, you're in great shape considering they can drive you in easily as long as you're on base. No matter what you think Pierre's speed adds to this team (or his departure subtracts), in '05 and presumably in '06 our team will be playing for that 3 run homer, so you might as well try your best to have 2 guys on base for Miggy and Carlos.
November 10, 200520 yr Personally, I am starting to think it might be best to deal Pierre and Lowell and have Aguila take over in CF so that we can keep Delgado. 1. Louie 2. Conine/Willingham 3. Miggy 4. Delgado 5. Hermida 6. Lo Duca 7. Aguila 8. SS I really think that's a pretty good lineup, especially when you consider the fact that Conine and Willingham both boast pretty high OBP's. We could conceivably have two guys at the top of the lineup getting on base at close to a .400 clip. And I like Aguila's speed at the bottom of the lineup. I actually think this lineup is better than our '05 lineup. What do you all think? Good hitting. Good OBP. Slowest lineup since the Washington Generals vs. the Globetrotters in 1967. Probably set the MLB record for least steals and most double plays. If they change the rules, eliminate 1st base and the single....extra base hits only...it's competitive. Hermida'll steal 20, and depending on who we put at short, we could add another 10-20. Pierre's speed is overrated, and besides, as long as you have 2 OBP guys in front of Delgado and Cabrera, you're in great shape considering they can drive you in easily as long as you're on base. No matter what you think Pierre's speed adds to this team (or his departure subtracts), in '05 and presumably in '06 our team will be playing for that 3 run homer, so you might as well try your best to have 2 guys on base for Miggy and Carlos. That's what I'm saying. Pierre got on base at an unimpressive .326 clip last year. Sure, he stole 55 bases, but do those numbers actually produce more runs than having someone getting on base at a .385-.400 clip? Over the course of 700 plate appearances, a .326 on base percentage yields 228 times getting on base. Someone with a .390 on base percentage (Louie's OBP) would get on base 273 times. That's someone getting on base 45 more times, more than making up for the difference of 40-45 steals. (Afterall, getting a stolen base doesn't put any extra runners on base). Replacing Lowell's horrible OBP (.298) with a good OBP (.385) will yield 62 more times getting on base. That means you'll have a lot of guys on base for Miggy and Carlos to drive in. It's really simple. The only real increase in double plays from last year to this upcoming season if we use this lineup will be Conine/Willingham spot. We'll have better speed in the 7th hole (Aguila v. Lowell), 5th hole (Hermida v. Ency), and possibly the 8th hole (Andino v. Sea Bass). We'll steal less bases, but we won't necessarily hit into more double plays. We might as well just give up if we boast this lineup: 1. Pierre 2. Willingham/FA Left Fielder 3. Conine 4. Miggy 5. Hermida 6. Lo Duca 7. Some second baseman not named Castillo 8. Sea Bass/Andino So, if we get rid of Pierre and Lowell and keep Delgado we'll have a formidable lineup. If we trade Louie, Lowell, and Delgado and keep Pierre, we'll be a sorry team offensively.
November 10, 200520 yr Wait... let me get this straight. Quality replacement at second base? You want to trade Castillo, and for some reason known and understandable to you, sign Pierre to a long expensive contract? I assume my dear friend, you are begging for an explanation. First of all, the word "expensive" in regards to signing Juan Pierre to a multi-year contract, is your word, not mine. I believe that the opposite is true, and in the longrun, much more worthwhile than continuing to pay $5 million a year to a player who only plays part-time at second base. The biggest difference between Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo is that Pierre will give you +/- 700 PAs year in, year out, and while he isn't the perfect leadoff guy (and putting aside for a moment your rabid hatred of him) he is a guy a GM and manager can build a top of the lineup around knowing he'll be there. Castillo on the otherhand has never fully recovered from his hip surgery, playing less and less games for three years straight. If you actually went to games you know that even when healthy, Castillo looks injured, almost always sporting a limp. His speed has evaporated, going from 48 stolen bases in '02 to 21 in each of the next two years, and finally down to 10 last season. Nobody loves Luis more than me but anyone can see his game is in decline. Without asking them, I bet guys like PB and Money, guys I know go to games will agree. Castillo's contract calls for $5 million this upcoming season ('06) and if he has 400 PA in 2006 the team is obligated to extend his contract thru '07 at $5.75 million. Then there's the matter of the $2 million bonus he gets during his contract (which appears unpaid at this point) bringing his total compensation over the next two years to a whopping $12.75 million. Pretty big chunk of change for a guy who may or may not be your leadoff guy down the stretch when you need him the most. Certainly alot more money than a Tony Graffanino or Mark Grudzielanik would cost for the same period. In fact about three times as much. On the other hand you have Juan Pierre, he of the perpetual 650 to 700 PAs, average 55 stolen bases and career .305 BA. I realize a hater like you will start quoting this stat and that to demean the fellow but the fact is half of baseball would line up around the block to trade for him if given the opportunity. He isn't perfect, he needs to improve in some areas but he's still one of the premier leadoff guys in the game. As we all know, Pierre is arbitration eligible this off season and conventional wisdom seems split whether to trade him now or go the arbitration route with him, but I have a different POV. I say let's try and sign him to a three year deal at a price BELOW what he'd receive probably receive thru arbitration, (for example purposes, let's say JP would be awarded $5 million in arb, I'm suggesting we give negotiate a contract of let's say, $14 million for three years, but again these numbers are just for illustration purposes) not unlike the D'Rays just did with Rocco Baldelli, thus creating value in his contract, the exact opposite of the situation we have right now with Delgado, where his remaining contract is above value because the remaining three years of his contract include $$$ to offset the paltry $4 million the Fish paid him in '05. Castillo still has significant value in the marketplace with a dozen teams in search of a leadoff guy and a Gold Glove to boot. Now is the time to trade him, when he has value. Castillo, at the very least should bring either pitching or prospects, or conceivably both. And at some time in the future, if we've negotiated the right deal with Pierre, we may have the opportunity to trade him as well, and bring more resources to the Marlins, whether it be a position player or pitcher, thus continuing to feed the team with fresh blood that keeps payroll low, but still competitive. I could go on and on with a more indepth explanation but I think I've sketched out enough so that you can grok what my thinking is. I don't expect you'll agree and perhaps others will agree with you, but from my perspective, if the Marlins want to get well financially this is one of the tough moves they will have to make going into the 2006 season.
November 10, 200520 yr With all the negativity swirling around it sure would be nice to have the FO or Loria make a statement that Delgado isn't going anywhere. There is no reason I can see where payroll would have to be cut as much as 15%. The market is growing and if Loria wants to continue to watch it grow he needs to be perceived as wanting to field a winning team. Trading Carlos would negatively affect ticket sales next year. Let's say the average ticket next year is $20 and the team gets another $10 on their share of parking, concessions and gifts. An attendance drop of 300K fans would represent a loss in revenue of $9M....about the amount the team might save by trading Carlos. It's a lose-lose situation....the biggest loser will be Loria's credibility that he has worked so hard to establish during his short tenure.
November 10, 200520 yr Marlins2003, it's funny that you should mention how often Louie gets injured. You're right... he didn't play a lot last season. However, get this, despite playing significantly less than JP and getting many less plate appearances, did you know JP still only got on base about 20 more times last season? What do you think of that? :mischief2 And, trust me, in the 40 or so games Louie missed, his replacement (be it Easley or whoever) got on base at least 20 times. Meaning that an injured Louie plus his replacement still get on base more than JP. Interesting, no?
November 10, 200520 yr With all the negativity swirling around it sure would be nice to have the FO or Loria make a statement that Delgado isn't going anywhere. There is no reason I can see where payroll would have to be cut as much as 15%. The market is growing and if Loria wants to continue to watch it grow he needs to be perceived as wanting to field a winning team. Trading Carlos would negatively affect ticket sales next year. Let's say the average ticket next year is $20 and the team gets another $10 on their share of parking, concessions and gifts. An attendance drop of 300K fans would represent a loss in revenue of $9M....about the amount the team might save by trading Carlos. It's a lose-lose situation....the biggest loser will be Loria's credibility that he has worked so hard to establish during his short tenure. :thumbup
November 10, 200520 yr With all the negativity swirling around it sure would be nice to have the FO or Loria make a statement that Delgado isn't going anywhere. There is no reason I can see where payroll would have to be cut as much as 15%. The market is growing and if Loria wants to continue to watch it grow he needs to be perceived as wanting to field a winning team. Trading Carlos would negatively affect ticket sales next year. Let's say the average ticket next year is $20 and the team gets another $10 on their share of parking, concessions and gifts. An attendance drop of 300K fans would represent a loss in revenue of $9M....about the amount the team might save by trading Carlos. It's a lose-lose situation....the biggest loser will be Loria's credibility that he has worked so hard to establish during his short tenure. :notworthy
November 10, 200520 yr By the way, I don't think rferry has a rabid hatred for JP. It's just that JP simply doesn't get on base enough to justify using him as a leadoff hitter. I know steals are nice, but the man needs to get on base at a .385 or higher clip to be a leadoff hitter.
November 10, 200520 yr ...It's just that JP simply doesn't get on base enough to justify using him as a leadoff hitter. I know steals are nice, but the man needs to get on base at a .385 or higher clip to be a leadoff hitter. I'm not going to try to convince you that JP had a stellar year last season, and that might work to our advantage in negotiations, but if you look at his '04 OBP, it was .374, which in my mind, when combined with the terror he creates on the basepaths, is enough for me. I think with a new hitting instructor and a season to work on a few things he has the potential to be better than ever. BTW, you know how many times Castillo has had an OBP of .385 or greater? Once. Last season. In fact, in 2004 Castillo's OBP was lower than Pierre's. You of course have no obligation to agree. That's what makes forums like this work. :thumbup
November 10, 200520 yr ...It's just that JP simply doesn't get on base enough to justify using him as a leadoff hitter. I know steals are nice, but the man needs to get on base at a .385 or higher clip to be a leadoff hitter. I'm not going to try to convince you that JP had a stellar year last season, and that ork to our advantage in negotiations, but if you look at his '04 OPBP, it was .374, which in my mind, when combined with the terror he creates on the basepaths, is enough for me. I think with a new hitting instructor and a season to work on a few things he has the potential to be better than ever. You of course have no obligation to agree. That's what makes forums like this work. :thumbup His '04 OBP was a career high. I am afraid that he won't be at .374 for the next few seasons. Louie's career high is .418. His .391 OBP for this past season was slightly above average for him (especially when you discount 1996-1998, which were terrible seasons for him).
November 10, 200520 yr Wait... let me get this straight. Quality replacement at second base? You want to trade Castillo, and for some reason known and understandable to you, sign Pierre to a long expensive contract? I assume my dear friend, you are begging for an explanation. First of all, the word "expensive" in regards to signing Juan Pierre to a multi-year contract, is your word, not mine. I believe that the opposite is true, and in the longrun, much more worthwhile than continuing to pay $5 million a year to a player who only plays part-time at second base. The biggest difference between Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo is that Pierre will give you +/- 700 PAs year in, year out, and while he isn't the perfect leadoff guy (and putting aside for a moment your rabid hatred of him) he is a guy a GM and manager can build a top of the lineup around knowing he'll be there. Castillo on the otherhand has never fully recovered from his hip surgery, playing less and less games for three years straight. If you actually went to games you know that even when healthy, Castillo looks injured, almost always sporting a limp. His speed has evaporated, going from 48 stolen bases in '02 to 21 in each of the next two years, and finally down to 10 last season. Nobody loves Luis more than me but anyone can see his game is in decline. Without asking them, I bet guys like PB and Money, guys I know go to games will agree. Castillo's contract calls for $5 million this upcoming season ('06) and if he has 400 PA in 2006 the team is obligated to extend his contract thru '07 at $5.75 million. Then there's the matter of the $2 million bonus he gets during his contract (which appears unpaid at this point) bringing his total compensation over the next two years to a whopping $12.75 million. Pretty big chunk of change for a guy who may or may not be your leadoff guy down the stretch when you need him the most. Certainly alot more money than a Tony Graffanino or Mark Grudzielanik would cost for the same period. In fact about three times as much. On the other hand you have Juan Pierre, he of the perpetual 650 to 700 PAs, average 55 stolen bases and career .305 BA. I realize a hater like you will start quoting this stat and that to demean the fellow but the fact is half of baseball would line up around the block to trade for him if given the opportunity. He isn't perfect, he needs to improve in some areas but he's still one of the premier leadoff guys in the game. As we all know, Pierre is arbitration eligible this off season and conventional wisdom seems split whether to trade him now or go the arbitration route with him, but I have a different POV. I say let's try and sign him to a three year deal at a price BELOW what he'd receive probably receive thru arbitration, (for example purposes, let's say JP would be awarded $5 million in arb, I'm suggesting we give negotiate a contract of let's say, $14 million for three years, but again these numbers are just for illustration purposes) not unlike the D'Rays just did with Rocco Baldelli, thus creating value in his contract, the exact opposite of the situation we have right now with Delgado, where his remaining contract is above value because the remaining three years of his contract include $$$ to offset the paltry $4 million the Fish paid him in '05. Castillo still has significant value in the marketplace with a dozen teams in search of a leadoff guy and a Gold Glove to boot. Now is the time to trade him, when he has value. Castillo, at the very least should bring either pitching or prospects, or conceivably both. And at some time in the future, if we've negotiated the right deal with Pierre, we may have the opportunity to trade him as well, and bring more resources to the Marlins, whether it be a position player or pitcher, thus continuing to feed the team with fresh blood that keeps payroll low, but still competitive. I could go on and on with a more indepth explanation but I think I've sketched out enough so that you can grok what my thinking is. I don't expect you'll agree and perhaps others will agree with you, but from my perspective, if the Marlins want to get well financially this is one of the tough moves they will have to make going into the 2006 season. Why would you think JP would welcome a longterm contract here when these guys can't even guarentee Carlos. The FO has lost all credibility. All indications are that this is the start of a firesale. No one will want to sign longterm here. Not Dontrelle. Not Beckett. Not Pierre.
November 10, 200520 yr Castillo's OBP was .418 in year 2000, five seasons ago. See my above post which I edited while you were writing your response. Overall, Castillo's OBP is about 15 points higher than Pierre. In other words he reaches first base about ten times per season than JP. The difference is when JP gets on base he moved along 47 more times than Castillo last season. I'm not disparaging Castillo. I love the guy. But if tough choices have to be made, I say keep JP and trade Castillo.
November 10, 200520 yr Castillo's OBP was .418 in year 2000, five seasons ago. See my above post which I edited while you were writing your response. Overall, Castillo's OBP is about 15 points higher than Pierre. In other words he reaches first base about ten times per season than JP. The difference is when JP gets on base he moved along 47 more times than Castillo last season. I'm not disparaging Castillo. I love the guy. But if tough choices have to be made, I say keep JP and trade Castillo. You want to get rid of the best fielding second baseman in the game? Who do you replace him with Joe Dillon? We saw how dreadful we are defensively with Andino in there instead of Gonzo. Castillo saves so many runs with his glove. This team already gave up way too much defense when Beinfest mis evaluated D Lee. By Beinfest not having the vision to see that Lee was worth $21 mil for three years a few years ago, he instead spent $52 mil on Delgado. Of course the team has no intention of honoring the remaining $48 mil owed to Carlos. Trading Castillo would be yet another personal blunder by Beinfest.
November 10, 200520 yr I think it's early to claim a firesale, these are different owners and they have proved they will spend more to improve the team. Back to Louie and Pierre, I would have to choose Louie just because I think he is a smarter hitter. I think Pierre gives away AB's sometimes, even though he always gets a lot of hits. Louie always seems to work the pitcher every at bat. I'll never forget his hit in the WS in 03 that was crucial in winning one of the games, he doesn't give away at bats. On the other hand, he does always look hurt now when he runs but I think he is a better hitter mentally than Pierre. As for Delgado, there is nothing they can replace him with. He is a bonafide homerun hitter and the Marlins haven't had that since Sheffield basically. Pay him what he's worth and then go from there. If they have to trim payroll, then work Delgado's money around that. I drive from Naples just to see him hit.
November 10, 200520 yr To be objective: Castillo's performance has diminished because he's an aged, injury hobbled, speedster, but there is no reason to suggest that the same won't happen to Pierre, and given the way that this season progressed, it seems that it is coming sooner rather than later. Given that Castillo at about 85% is comparable in many aspects of the offensive game to Pierre at his peak, it is foolish (in my opinion) to suggest locking up an aging, one dimensional speedster in Pierre at the expense of the multi-talented Castillo. Pierre's declined (in one way or another) since his arrival in '03, and while I'd love to have both Castillo and Pierre, I think that if given the choice of one or the other, it's a no-brainer that Castillo's the way to go, and when it's taken into consideration that at least 3 big money teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs) are looking for a center-fielder and a table-setter, I also believe that Pierre's value through trade will never be higher than it is, while Castillo's not likely to bring equal value in return.
November 10, 200520 yr Castillo's OBP was .418 in year 2000, five seasons ago. See my above post which I edited while you were writing your response. Overall, Castillo's OBP is about 15 points higher than Pierre. In other words he reaches first base about ten times per season than JP. The difference is when JP gets on base he moved along 47 more times than Castillo last season. I'm not disparaging Castillo. I love the guy. But if tough choices have to be made, I say keep JP and trade Castillo. You want to get rid of the best fielding second baseman in the game? Who do you replace him with Joe Dillon? We saw how dreadful we are defensively with Andino in there instead of Gonzo. Castillo saves so many runs with his glove. This team already gave up way too much defense when Beinfest mis evaluated D Lee. By Beinfest not having the vision to see that Lee was worth $21 mil for three years a few years ago, he instead spent $52 mil on Delgado. Of course the team has no intention of honoring the remaining $48 mil owed to Carlos. Trading Castillo would be yet another personal blunder by Beinfest. You obviously didn't spend much time reading my post because I gave two examples of free agent second basemen who by all accounts are excellent ballplayers. In fact Grudz led the league on doubleplays last season and we'd be damn lucky to land him, and Graffanino did an extraordinary job as well. If you want to trash Admin Beinfest no one is stopping you but that's not the subject at hand.
November 10, 200520 yr Huh Marlins161? What indications are there that this is a firesale? And what inside info do you have that the Marlins have no intention of honoring Delgado's contract? Please enlighten us. That, or stop being a troll.
November 10, 200520 yr Castillo's OBP was .418 in year 2000, five seasons ago. See my above post which I edited while you were writing your response. Overall, Castillo's OBP is about 15 points higher than Pierre. In other words he reaches first base about ten times per season than JP. The difference is when JP gets on base he moved along 47 more times than Castillo last season. I'm not disparaging Castillo. I love the guy. But if tough choices have to be made, I say keep JP and trade Castillo. You want to get rid of the best fielding second baseman in the game? Who do you replace him with Joe Dillon? We saw how dreadful we are defensively with Andino in there instead of Gonzo. Castillo saves so many runs with his glove. This team already gave up way too much defense when Beinfest mis evaluated D Lee. By Beinfest not having the vision to see that Lee was worth $21 mil for three years a few years ago, he instead spent $52 mil on Delgado. Of course the team has no intention of honoring the remaining $48 mil owed to Carlos. Trading Castillo would be yet another personal blunder by Beinfest. You obviously didn't spend much time reading my post because I gave two examples of free agent second basemen who by all accounts are excellent ballplayers. In fact Grudz led the league on doubleplays last season and we'd be damn lucky to land him, and Graffanino did an extraordinary job as well. If you want to trash Admin Beinfest no one is stopping you but that's not the subject at hand. You obviously don't read what I write. Castillo IS the best fielding second baseman in the league. I'd take him over Grudzielanek any day. I believe when I read Perry Hill says no one is better turning double plays than Castillo that the opinion of Hill is greater than that of yours. So what if the Cardinals turned more double plays, Castillo was hurt the final month so of course his numbers would be down. Plus, you saw that disaster in Andino lobbing underhand slow balls that not even Castillo could turn for two. Graffanino over Castillo? Come on. Not even close.
November 10, 200520 yr Swifty, I might point out Castillo is two years older than Pierre. And Pierre has never had to go under the knife the way Castillo has. But again, this is my thinking, no one has to agree with me.
November 10, 200520 yr Swifty, I might point out Castillo is two years older than Pierre. And Pierre has never had to go under the knife the way Castillo has. But again, this is my thinking, no one has to agree with me. Fair enough, but Pierre is just one bad slide away from having any of the same problems.
November 10, 200520 yr Castillo's OBP was .418 in year 2000, five seasons ago. See my above post which I edited while you were writing your response. Overall, Castillo's OBP is about 15 points higher than Pierre. In other words he reaches first base about ten times per season than JP. The difference is when JP gets on base he moved along 47 more times than Castillo last season. I'm not disparaging Castillo. I love the guy. But if tough choices have to be made, I say keep JP and trade Castillo. You want to get rid of the best fielding second baseman in the game? Who do you replace him with Joe Dillon? We saw how dreadful we are defensively with Andino in there instead of Gonzo. Castillo saves so many runs with his glove. This team already gave up way too much defense when Beinfest mis evaluated D Lee. By Beinfest not having the vision to see that Lee was worth $21 mil for three years a few years ago, he instead spent $52 mil on Delgado. Of course the team has no intention of honoring the remaining $48 mil owed to Carlos. Trading Castillo would be yet another personal blunder by Beinfest. You obviously didn't spend much time reading my post because I gave two examples of free agent second basemen who by all accounts are excellent ballplayers. In fact Grudz led the league on doubleplays last season and we'd be damn lucky to land him, and Graffanino did an extraordinary job as well. If you want to trash Admin Beinfest no one is stopping you but that's not the subject at hand. You obviously don't read what I write. Castillo IS the best fielding second baseman in the league. I'd take him over Grudzielanek any day. I believe when I read Perry Hill says no one is better turning double plays than Castillo that the opinion of Hill is greater than that of yours. So what if the Cardinals turned more double plays, Castillo was hurt the final month so of course his numbers would be down. Plus, you saw that disaster in Andino lobbing underhand slow balls that not even Castillo could turn for two. Graffanino over Castillo? Come on. Not even close. If you want to ignore the financial considerations of keeping Castillo you can. And what Andino has to do with this subject I have no idea.
November 10, 200520 yr Also, Grudz had what amounts to a career year in the field...the redbirds can keep him as far as I'm concerned.
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