Saturday, February 7, 2009By Mike's Mets
I'll be touching on this in more detail at some point very soon, but all of us die-hards who pay attention in the off-season understand that Luis Castillo -- barring an unlikely trade or injury -- will provide a dominant story line in spring training and into the start of the season.
Every year now it seems there is one or two players singled out for special treatment as a vehicle for the fans to express their overall displeasure with the franchise. Second base has been a prime location for these guys over the past few seasons, as both Robbie Alomar and Kaz Matsui have also basked in the love.
In case you missed it, Barry Duchan was kind enough to contribute a series of articles on the Mets second baseman through the years right back to the beginning of this franchise. While third base has been notorious for a revolving door of players coming through Flushing, second base can certainly also lay claim to that distinction.
Barry did a terrific job on these pieces, so check them out if you haven't already. They'll help get you in the mood for the start of camp:
Part 1 - A History of Mistakes
Part 2 - The Sixties
Part 3 - The Seventies and Eighties
Part 4 - Gregg Jefferies
Part 5 - Jeff Kent
Part 6 - The Carlos Baerga era/error
Part 7 - Roberto Alomar
Part 8 - 2004 - 2005
Part 9 - 2006 - 2008
Part 10 - The Future
Great stuff, as always, from Barry. Enjoy.
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Comments (1)
I bear Luis Castillo no ill will; he wasn't the Mets executive who drew up that outrageous contract. All's he did against us was agree to take the money.
Hopefully Castillo will come to camp in better shape than we've seen him. My great hope is that he does so, then goes on to a good couple of months, leading the Mets to trade him away in a deal brings the team something useful. Really; that is all I wish, and the wish wouldn't change if Castillo were leading the league in batting at the time.
There are thirty or more players riding the buses in the minors and riding the pine in the big leagues who can contribute as much or more than Luis Castillo at this stage of his career.
Posted by DD | February 8, 2009 9:27 AM