the teixeira trade: most of what I've heard has been "it's a win-win. The Rangers got a lot of young talent and the Braves get a key piece." My take: If the choice is between starting Julio Franco at 1st or making this trade, I make the trade. But why the hell would you start Franco at first? Saltalamacchia can play first and they've been playing him there. What they should've done was play McCann behind the plate and occasionally rest him by putting Salty at catcher and Thorman at first. Then you can save your farm system. To me, Saltalamacchia is more valuable than Teixeira (younger, can play catcher, much cheaper, won't be a free agent anytime soon), let alone adding several top prospects to the equation. the bottom line is that Franco isn't better than Salty defensively, on the basepaths, or obviously offensively. Therefore, it's a bad trade for Atlanta. It gets Franco out of the lineup, but he never should've been in there in the first place.
Since when do we look towards Twins fan for baseball wisdom? Castillo is a three-time Gold Glove Award winner and he's always looked good in the field to me. He probably will enjoy getting away from FieldTurf.
I like the Castillo trade but does it mean the end of Ruben Gotay come September? If i had my way I'd keep Gotay on the roster and tell Valentin to sit on the 45-day DL for a while. However, by the time Valentin gets healthy Gotay or Castillo will have asserted themselves as the every-day 2B. Either way, I still like the trade. If for no other reason that the Braves got a big bat today and we have to keep pace
That's why Valentin needs to just be put out to pasture. He should never play another game for the Mets.
Great trade for the Mets. Castillo is a solid contact hitter and an excellent second baseman. I love Gotay, but I'm not in love with his defense. The Mets essentially gave up two marginal prospects for a solid two hole guy. -X-
so yes, it's confirmed that the prospects are butera and martin. therefore, not a bad trade. if we had given up even one top-shelf prospect, I would've been pissed, because we do have Gotay, Easley, anderson, and even Valentin. I'm not convinced Valentin is done. an article I was looking at: http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spmets0731,0,3739172.story?coll=ny-giants-print In the final hours before the trade deadline, the Mets' loyalty to Ruben Gotay was directly proportionate to the asking price for Luis Castillo. As soon as the Twins lowered their demands Monday, Gotay was out as the team's second baseman and Castillo was in. Refusing to part with any top prospects, the Mets will send Double-A catcher Drew Butera and Class A outfielder Dustin Martin to Minnesota for the veteran Castillo. The Mets announced the trade on Monday evening. Castillo, a three-time Gold Glove winner, once formed a lethal 1-2 punch with the speedy Juan Pierre atop the Marlins' lineup and the Mets are hoping for the same type of attack by hitting him behind Jose Reyes. The No. 2 spot has constantly been in flux with 14 different players hitting there this season. Castillo, who turns 32 in September, is older now and has been slowed some by leg injuries. But he was batting .304 with a .356 on-base percentage in 85 games for the Twins. Plus, the Mets are more concerned about stabilizing the position from a defensive standpoint. As of late Monday, general manager Omar Minaya was not finished yet. With only a matter of hours left before tomorrow's 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline, the Mets were among four teams still in the running for Rangers closer Eric Gagne, along with the Yankees, Brewers and Red Sox. Earlier in the day, the Braves were near completion on a trade with the Rangers for first baseman Mark Teixeira, but Minaya insisted he is not influenced by the actions of his National League East rivals. "That doesn't affect me at all," Minaya said Monday afternoon during a conference call. "Because at the end of the day, whether the Braves make a trade or whether the Braves don't make a trade, we are going to do the best we can to improve this team on a daily basis." Gotay had been a pleasant surprise offensively, hitting .350 with four home runs and 19 RBIs in 54 games. The problem was his lack of consistency in the field. Although Gotay displayed decent range and a strong arm, the Mets were disturbed by two situations in particular when he botched routine double plays with bad throws. A few years ago, the Mets would have been patient with Gotay. But general Minaya built this team with the intent of winning the World Series this year and Monday's trade was done with that in mind. Castillo, who earns $5.75 million, will be a free agent after this season and the Mets felt comfortable making the move once the price became more reasonable for the two-month rental player. "The sellers are trying to work deals out because if you don't work deals out, if you just stick to one demand that you had two or three weeks ago, usually those teams don't end up making trades," Minaya said The Mets intensified their search for a second baseman after Jose Valentin fractured his right tibia by fouling a ball off his shin on July 20 in Los Angeles. Valentin, 37, already had been playing with a large brace on the knee because of a torn ACL, and his offensive production had dropped off significantly from the 2006 season. Still, the Mets were confident that Valentin and Damion Easley could share time at the position with the occasional cameo by Gotay. That thinking changed when Valentin wound up in a full leg cast; he is not expected back until late September, if at all. Valentin was spotted outside the Mets clubhouse sitting in a wheelchair after Saturday's doubleheader. The Mets tried to sign Castillo as a free agent in 2003 before he chose to return to the Marlins for a three-year, $16-million contract. That triggered a chain of events that brought Kaz Matsui to Flushing and led to the regrettable decision of moving Jose Reyes to second base.
First of all, you calling anyone stupid, or accusing anyone of displaying stupidity is laughable. Second, the Yankees getting Hughes, Karstens, Giambi, and Chamberlain amounts to this: A rookie starter with a whopping 10 innings of experience, a guy who has an ERA over 14 in very limited action this year and has given up more than a hit an inning in his ML career, a guy who can hit home runs but do absolutely nothing else, and a guy who has yet to pitch above AA, let alone in the major leagues. The Red Sox will be getting back Schilling and Donnelly: A proven late inning reliever who is pushed to a 7th inning role in the best bullpen in baseball, and a proven starter who can provide ace quality starts and is absolute money in big games. Even if you twist it to try to make your point valid, the Sox are still getting better IMO.
Great trade by the Mets as long as Castillo's platooned with Gotay until Gotay stops hitting. Worst case scenario Castillo sucks and we get a draft pick that's more valuable than the guys we gave up in the first place next year. I didn't even know either of those prospects and I tend to follow the minor league system pretty regularly.
Chamberlain pitched in AAA last week. He gave up a no runs, four hits and had 10 SOs but I wouldn't expect you to have any facts. Exactly what do you think I twisted? The original question? Maybe you should have read it first.
I don't think you should expect him to be like Francisco Rodriguez in 2002, but maybe he will at least make a decent contribution.
He'll be good because nobody will have ever seen him just like any good pitcher that first comes into the bigs. What he does next year will determine how good he really is. He's got a 99MPH fastball and a wicked slider and even big league hitters have problems with those.
I'm a big fan of the Castillo trade: He's a sold every day 2B/2nd hitter. Furthermore, I think it's cool that, when the team is healthy, our first three hitters will all be switch hitting. I hope Gotay gets some playing time, but let's not call this a platoon.
here's some of what omar had to say on a conference call: "[castillo] is a very good defensive 2nd baseman... it's important to have a guy next to delgado to cover ground."
Not really, because look at who they are replacing. The Sox are adding Schilling to the rotation. Who goes? Lester? Gabbard? Both have pitched very well. Do you expect Schilling to outperform them? Who will Donnelly replace, and what is his expected performance over and above the person he's replacing? The Yankees have Hughes replacing Igawa. Now, you can pooh-pooh Hughes' ability or "unknownness" all you want, but I have to assume that is out of ignorance. If there's a can't miss prospect, it's Hughes. But whatever you think of Hughes, you have to admit that he's a HUGE upgrade over Igawa. Karstens is whatever. Giambi adds depth to the bench (whether he is the one who sits or not). Chamberlain will replace (hopefully) Farnsworth. This is another prospect who is more than just a raw stuff kind of a guy. Fairly polished repetoire. Good control. Sick velocity. Good composure/attidue. Even if he shits the bed every other outing, he's better than Farnsworth.
