And it sounds like we totally stole him. Twins must've just wanted something before they lost him as a free agent. As great as Gotay's been playing, there's no way you can pass on a 3-time gold glover who's hitting over .300 and is only 31, at the price the Twins were asking. And now we won't be unloading prospects for Loretta.
Well played, Omar.
UPDATE: Based on the stats, one would have to imagine that of the two prospects we gave up, it was OF Dustin Martin, and not catcher Drew Butera, that most intrigues Minnesota. And with the stable overflowing with OF talent (Milledge/Gomez/F Mart/Coles) I can't worry about trading a guy who's still in high A ball, even with his great rookie campaign in Brooklyn. At St. Lucie he's hitting .280 with 5 HR and a .779 OPS. That's not bad for a 22 year old kid, and could be the foundation for future success. But it hardly makes him a lock for a ML starter.
Butera looks like an aspiring Charlie O'Brien. He must be a good glove guy, since he got promoted from A-ball (hagerstown) last year after hitting below the Mendoza line in nearly 300 AB's. This year at A St. Lucie, he improved to .258 before getting promoted again to AA. And as a result, he's back on the interstate.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
And you have to figure this really ups the chance that Mets will move Gotay right now while is value is at a peak. Castillo's clearly young enough that he could be signed to a 3 year deal.
This from Mark Hale's article in this morning's NY Post:
"Neither Butera nor Martin is viewed as a major prospect, and in fact, one team that had ranked 23 Met players as some level of prospect had neither one on the list."
This has to be viewed as a good move. We desperately could use Castillo's .300 average in the lineup, to get some more contact hitters. At the same time, even if Castillo doesn't add much, we didn't really give much up. For all the talk you'd heard about up-and-comers in Mets organization, I'd never heard those two names. And as Fredo mentioned we're flowing with potential OF talent, so not a big loss there.
I wonder what they plan to do with Gotay. Big trade for pitching? Or keep him as an incredible bat off the bench?
BTW, did you see Omar's quote on the trade? Kind of a big dig at Delgado: "With Valentin going down, this is a move we need to do," Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. "For me, it's important to have a guy to the right of Delgado to cover ground." Wow, talk about calling out your 1Bs range!
Kieth Law over at ESPN.com is not a Castillo fan. Here's what he had to say:
Luis Castillo might represent an upgrade over Ruben Gotay, and he might not. Castillo is a one-dimensional player whose game revolves around his speed. He's a classic slap hitter who can't even turn on average fastballs but who hits the ball on the ground and tries to slap harder stuff the other way and beat balls out with his speed. His speed has already started to decline; his range at second base, never great, is now poor, and he hasn't been an effective basestealer since 2004...
Whether he's really an upgrade depends on how much of Gotay's offensive outburst this season is real...
The Mets are convinced that Gotay's defense isn't good enough to be an everyday second baseman, and he will never be better than average defensively at second, but he's better than Castillo is. Add to that the fact that Gotay has a little more thump in his bat, with a solid line-drive stroke that produces doubles rather than the groundballs Castillo hits, and it's really not clear that the Mets got better here. It's a bit worse if, as rumored, the Mets try to work out a contract extension with Castillo, because once his speed is gone, he'll be close to a replacement-level player.
Luckily, he offered this condolence to Mets fans:
The Mets didn't give much up to acquire Castillo.
I, for one, think Castillo's a great fit. Based on what I've seen, there's simply no way Gotay is a superior fielder to a guy who's a multi-time gold-glover, even if Castillo's range has diminshed.
Secondly, being a slap hitter is hardly the worst thing in the world. Not when you're hitting second in this lineup, and should see plenty of pitches in the zone. I have to think his .300 average should only go up in his new environment. He's tough to strike out, sounds like an ideal hit & run and advance the runner type of hitter, has superior speed to LoDuca (who was used very effectively in a similar role last year), and is a switch hitter. This looks to me like a great fit at a low cost.
Not trading Gotay also gives us the advantage of sticking with Ruben next year if Castillo's clearly in decline.
Post a Comment