The Trades Thus Far
Mark Teixeira is an excellent player, but does he really help the Braves all that much? Their major problem has been the back end of the rotation and the back of the bullpen; and if they think that Teixeira is going to love Atlanta so much that he’s going to take short money to stay after a year and a half, all they have to do is look at the name of his agent—-Scott Boras. If they want to keep him from heading to Boston, New York or Baltimore after 2008, they’re going to have to pay him and pay him a lot of money.
Luis Castillo is an excellent pick-up for the Mets "now and for the future" (to quote that noted genius Theo Epstein). He’s a former Gold Glove winner; he can run; hits around .300; and gets on base. He’s a perfect second hole hitter to set the table for the middle of the Mets lineup.
Kyle Lohse has wicked stuff, but he’s going to give up a ton of homers at Citizens Bank Park; and that Philadelphia defense won’t help him either.
princeofny
The only real downside is Castillo’s inability to steal bases at an acceptable percentage. He has to be more selective in that part of his game. He is also 31. His prime is ending this year. So he is a good pickup for the stretch run, but has a few flaws. Not trying to crush your hopes or anything. He also has absolutely no power.
http://statisticianmagician.mlblogs.com/
I can detach myself from team allegiance long enough to give a neutral analysis.
And that “prime-ending” stuff is ****. The Mets know what they’re getting; Castillo is a slap-singles hitter and that type of hitter is resistant to a big change in production due to age. To think that he’s automatically going to downslide because he’s a certain age is like a kid expecting his voice to automatically change on the day of his 13th birthday—it doesn’t work that way.
Listen to Master Yoda: ‘You must unlearn what you have learned.’