Stupid me, in my excitement about the Castillo release I promised I would comment later. Now it’s later.
Um….
Well, we all kind of thought this would happen. The only real surprise is that it happened today.
I guess long-term it’s a good sign that Sandy isn’t afraid to make moves, and it’s “cool” that Jeff signed off on it (did I just use cool and Jeff in a sentence?) so it shows hope that ownership understands that money spent ain’t coming back so just move forward.
As for Mr. Castillo, I wish him well. I hope he leads a long and prosperous life and finds happiness.
As I type this I see several Mets fans sitting in the stands (on TV) wearing blue caps. Man those pop.
Oh….I think Sandy accidentally did Andy Martino a favor today.
Watching the game this afternoon I saw that Mookie had not yet reclaimed his number. I hope that changes before the next time he is in uniform.
Doing it that soon would be kinda cheesy. I expect Mookie will be back in #1 come Opening Day.
My take on Castillo after hearing management’s comments is that this was a mercy killing. The conversation probably went something like, “Luis, man, you’ve done everything we’ve asked of you, but no matter what you do, your name is Mud at CitiField and we can’t go into the season with 2nd baseman who’s only good for an extra-base hit once in a blue moon. If we take you back to New York, the fans are going to continue to be all over you, and then us the first time something goes badly. You’ve still got some skills, and there’s bound to be some team out there with whom you’ll be a better fit and where you can make a fresh start. There’s a few weeks left before camps break, and to right by you, we’re cutting you loose now so you can take advantage of that.”
I see a lot of folks scratching their heads that Castillo was released before Perez. That’s a favor to Castillo so he can land on his feet somewhere else before Spring Training ends. The Mets know Perez has nowhere else to go.