the mets have finally dropped luis castillo like a fly ball at yankee stadium. and it’s about time.
now, it may be a bit unfair of me to allude to luis’ mind-numbing, soul-crushing dropped pop-up that let the yankees steal a win from us two years ago. to be sure, it was the defining play of his un-lustrious mets tenure, and yet i was never fully on board with making luis the poster child for the epic fail that has been the mets in recent years.
so long luis
luis’ biggest sin actually belonged to omar minaya. it was our fearless former leader who offered castillo a lucrative longterm deal when it was overwhelmingly evident to anyone with eyes that louie was entering his decline. omar set louis up for failure, because there was no way his aging body could live up to that deal.
and fail he did – he didn’t put up numbers, and he did indulge in the lax atmosphere jokester jerry allowed. but after a season of incredible slovenliness, i thought luis came back in ’09 with a commitment to improving. so while he continued to fail in the box scores, i didn’t think he deserved the hatred fans continued to heap.
i won’t forget the apathy and sluggishness, but i also won’t forget that one season when he came into camp humbled, slimmer and more focused and put up a solid season. to say he was our mvp of ’09 is both depressing and accurate – he hit .302, stole 20 bases and stayed on the field for 142 games, an accomplishment in itself in the mets’ triage season. i haven’t really seen any of the off-with-his-head articles bringing up ’09, but just because it was a lost season for the team doesn’t mean it didn’t soften my view of the guy.
the person who deserves 100% of the hate he’s been sharing with luis is still somehow in port st. lucie. ollie perez continues to wow me with his arrogance, entitlement (again, well done omar) and his steadfast refusal to accept that in reality, he sucks.
actual quote from an ollie postgame this spring! (emphasis mine) ”It was not what I wanted, but you just have to take it easy and try to get ready for the next day … walking three guys in a row is part of the game. It’s going to happen again, maybe next time.” with you on the mound, ollie, i have no doubts.
so why didn’t ollie get his walking papers too? i have to believe that collins and alderson are continuing the charade of letting him audition for a bullpen role, or i’ll flip. but there’s a very paranoid part of me that wonders if the madoff mets are actually considering the fact that we might not have another lefty for the pen. i’ll leave this train of thought for now, first because i gave up swearing for lent, and it’s already not going well, and second, because today is louis’ day, and i hate to sully it. but i’d feel a heck of a lot better if it were ollie whose locker was being mercifully emptied.
i wanted castillo off the team, as much for a spiritual cleansing of the horrors of the past as anything else. we’re a team that appears ticketed for a battle for fourth place with the nationals (hurts. my. soul. to. type. that.) but there is every reason to wipe the 2b slate clean and try to build a future with someone else.
releasing luis was the best move for both sides. we can look to the future, and castillo can start training to become a met-killer (you know it’s going to happen). UPDATE: philthies sign castillo to minor-league deal that’s essentially a 10-day tryout. here is the choose-your-own-adventure moment for luis – does he flame out or flip the right pages to wind up smacking a winning hr (his only one of the year, no doubt) against the metropolitans? i’m a mets fan, so you know which scenario i see coming to pass …
so long luis. i won’t miss you, but i won’t hate you either.
ollie? now that’s a different story.
