2B (or not 2B) - 2010

[Frayed Knot]

Might as well separate out some of these rumors since most of them - real or otherwise - are going to involve moving Castillo somewhere.

Ken Rosenthal says: "The Mets and Diamondbacks are showing the most interest in free agent infielder Adam Kennedy ... The two clubs view Kennedy as a potential starter at second base. The Mets would of course have to unload Luis Castillo to make room. Three other teams like Kennedy for a super-utility role, says Rosenthal's source (the Red Sox have been mentioned previously).

Kennedy, 34 in January, hit .289/.348/.410 in 586 plate appearances for the A's while playing second and third base this year. He was released in February by the Cardinals with $4MM remaining on his contract. The Rays signed him to a minor league deal and shipped him to Oakland in May.

[Guest Number 6]

If the Mets are at a point where they are considering Adam Kennedy as a replacement for Castillo, they may be forgetting that Castillo actually has value.

[Frayed Knot]

That's the thing about Castillo, it's hard to tell if dealing him away actually is mgmt's top priority or if everyone (fans and media) merely assumes so because of some kind of collective short-term amnesia which results in the theory that 2009 never happened and it's Luis Castillo version 20.08 who's owed $12mil over the next two years automatically making any deal into addition by subtraction and any warm body in return an upgrade.
Either way, the result is going to be the inclusion of him in virtually every NYM-based rumor and make the Mets a possible landing site for every bad contract in MLB since the assumption is that we'll gladly take anything that will get Luis outta here.

[smg58]

A second baseman with an OBP close to .400 is not somebody you have to deal. I don't like his defense and lack of power, or that he's at an age where he's more likely to regress with the bat than bounce back with the glove, but I see no point in getting pennies on the dollar for him. If I found a taker who could offer us a useful player that they're either somewhat overpaying or undervaluing, I'd do it. I would stay away from a deal that would require eating a chunk of Castillo's contract and getting nothing in return, and far away from taking on a worse contract (at this point, there are plenty of worse contracts than the $12M over two years he has left).

[Guest Edgy DC]

B... b... but... HE DROPPED THE BALL!

[ashie62]

B... b... but... HE DROPPED THE BALL![/quote:167bprpj]

and the Mets LOST the damn game! to the MFY'S!!

[Frayed Knot]

A second baseman with an OBP close to .400 is not somebody you have to deal. I don't like his defense and lack of power, or that he's at an age where he's more likely to regress with the bat than bounce back with the glove, but I see no point in getting pennies on the dollar for him. If I found a taker who could offer us a useful player that they're either somewhat overpaying or undervaluing, I'd do it. I would stay away from a deal that would require eating a chunk of Castillo's contract and getting nothing in return, and far away from taking on a worse contract (at this point, there are plenty of worse contracts than the $12M over two years he has left).

[smg58]

As for Adam Kennedy, he's a platoon player at best and our reserve middle infielder also bats lefthanded.

[Guest Edgy DC]

A pretty broad look at the 2B situation: http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/looking-for-answers-about-a-castillo-move/

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

A pretty broad look at the 2B situation: http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/looking-for-answers-about-a-castillo-move/[/quote:291uy5mu]

Nice link, but where's the pretty broad?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Here. have Tim Foli's wife:

[Guest Edgy DC]

Sliding further down the tangent: Adding to the mountain of proof that everybody hates their third base coach, Reds fans nicknamed Tim "Prom Date Foli," because, they claimed, he'd even wave home his daughter's prom date.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

To be fair, Adam Kennedy is pretty damn good defensively. His UZR's a bit funky, but his DEWAN plus-minus over the last three years is +19 (19 more plays than league-average) where Castillo is a -28 over the same span.

[Guest Number 6]

The Mets may have dodged a self-inflicted bullet; according to Jayson Stark (by way of MLBTR) a 4-team mammoth trade of bad contracts could have netted the Mets Gary Matthews, Jr. for Castillo, in a deal also sending Milton Bradley and Pat Burrell elsewhere. Fortunately, the deal fell through.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/four-team-salary-dump-trade-fell-through.html