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Castillo Resigns With Marlins (Hooray!)

I would like to personally thank the Florida Marlins for signing Luis Castillo so the Mets didn't have to. I'm sorry, but I guess I'm the only one who wasn't jumping out of my shorts to give away $16 million over three years for a .731 OPS (256 GPA), which is exactly what Castillo has posted since 2001. Granted, he's a gold-glover at second base, the second-most important defensive position after shortstop. You want stolen bases? Look elsewhere. Castillo has been caught almost a third of the time over the past three seasons (102 SB in 152 chances).

The Mets will apparently now turn their attention to Kazuo Matsui, who will probably get a deal similar to that of Hideki Matsui ($21 million over three years). I would sooner do that than spend $16 million on Luis. That is, of course, provided it doesn't require moving Jose Reyes to second base. Mets management is apparently split on this idea. Ownership is in favor of moving Reyes, while GM Jim Duquette and other executives are opposed to the idea (as am I).

Of course, the Mets will be bidding against no less than five other teams (Yankees, Orioles, Mariners, Dodgers, Angels), with the Dodgers, Angels, and Orioles certain to have an opening for him at shortstop. I've read that he won't want to share the Yankee spotlight with Hideki Matsui, preferring to be the prominent Japanese player on any team (cross Seattle of the list?).

There is also talk about the Mets signing Brooklyn's own Rich Aurilia to play second base, or third base with Ty Wigginton moving to second. Aside from his ridiculously-out-of-character year in 2001 (.324 BA, 37 HR, 97 RBI), he's been a pretty mediocre hitter, sporting a .278 career BA, .331 career OBP, and .444 career slugging.

An intriguing possibility that hasn't really been mentioned yet would be trading for Jose Vidro, who is a very good, fairly patient switch hitter with some pop. He's scheduled to make $7 million this year. Maybe the Mets could put together a nice little package of prospects and ship them to Montreal for Vidro and Livan Hernandez ($6 million). That would allow the Expos to free up $13 million in 2004, which might leave them enough wiggle room to afford Javier Vazquez' arbitration award and bring back Vlad Guerrero. I might even be willing to take on arbo-eligible Orlando Cabrera (who won a gold glove in 2001) to play third base. Hernandez and Cabrera would be one-year trials who could be dumped after '04 if they suck it up Robbie Alomar-style.