With less that twenty-four hours remaining before the trading deadline, Omar Minaya made a deal that, in a break from Mets July tradition, seems perfectly reasonable. Minor leaguers Drew Butera, a twenty-three year old catcher, and Dustin Martin, a twenty-three year old outfielder, are on their way to the Minnesota Twins organization in exchange for Luis Castillo, who will play, and likely bat, second for the Mets. Neither Butera nor Martin will be missed and the addition of Castillo's salary is not going to hamstring the Mets so the only real question is whether or not adding Castillo to the major league roster makes the Mets a better team.
At .304/.356/.352 for the year, the thirty-one year old Castillo is not the hitter he once was. From 1999 to 2005 with the Marlins, Castillo put up an OBP of .379 and occasionally hit a ball for extra bases. Neither is he the hitter Ruben Gotay has been so far this season (.350/.382/.504). On the surface this may seem like another instance of the Mets choosing Veteran Presence over plain old performance (see also: the case of Castro v. Lo Duca).
As much as I like Ruben Gotay and think he could be a long term solution at second base for this franchise, he is not going to keep hitting .350. He hasn't hit higher than .290 at any level since 2001, when he hit .315/.398/.457 in 184 at bats in the Gulf Coast League at age eighteen. He is on a hot streak that is bound to come to an end at some point. I would have been quite content for the Mets to just stick with Gotay at second base for the rest of the season, but Castillo is definitely a safer bet to keep getting on base for the next three months. Castillo is in no way big upgrade over Gotay offensively, as Gotay clearly has more power, but Castillo will be a solid hitter for Willie Randolph to stick in the two hole every day.
Of course, if offense was all that Castillo brought to the table, I wouldn't be happy about this deal at all. But, as Minaya has stressed in explaining this move, Castillo represents a significant defensive upgrade. Gotay is just not a good second baseman. He might be someday, but he is not now. Castillo has a strong defensive reputation and by all accounts is still at least solid with the glove. That is a lot more than can be said for Gotay.
This deal isn't anything to get too excited about, but it does improve both the infield defense and the bench, where Gotay can be a serious impact bat. The Mets' offensive issues remain and are unlikely to be addressed by four PM tomorrow afternoon. But if someday Carlos Beltran returns to center field, Lastings Milledge takes over in right and Ramon Castro gets a few more starts at catcher, Luis Castillo will look pretty good at second base.
It was also announced today that Pedro Martinez will make his first rehab start on Wednesday, throwing 45 pitches for the St. Lucie Mets. If he toes the major league rubber this season, it will not be for a few more weeks. But I am still a lot more excited about this than I am about Luis Castillo. The end of July might not be such a bad time to be a Mets fan this year.
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