Luis Castillo has come out and said that the Mets mistreated him and didn't give him a fair chance to win the secondbase job this spring. I wondered what Sandy Alderson might write in the way of a letter to Luis in responding to the accusation. And would he send it the next day?
Dear Luis,
I was surprised and saddened to hear that you think that we gave you short shrift this spring. I see you have landed on your feet with Philadelphia and ordinarily I would be happy to wish you the best over there. But now I'm more inclined to wait the month or two until they release you too and we'll see how enthused you are about their organization once that happens.
When I first took the job as GM I was inundated by calls in the media to immediately release you as a sign to our fans of the new face we were putting on the team. I resisted doing such and wanted to give you every opportunity to redeem yourself in the eyes of Mets fans.
After all in the first three years of your four year deal you did the following:
2008 - In 87 games, remember you were injured half the year, you put up an OPS of .660. Keep in mind that the average OPS for 2bmen is .718 so you were well below that mark.
2009- Good year for you. 142 games and an OPS of .733. So offensively you were a smidge better than the average player at your position. Of course, you got paid $6 million for that which is a heck of a lot more than most regular 2bmen make.
2010 - Back to hobbling. 86 games and a robust .604 OPS.
So in three years you gave the team ONE reasonable year and two blechhhhs.
And we haven't even begun to mention all the side stuff.
There's your fielding. Your range is dramatically worse than it was in your prime years with the Marlins. This is clear to me, the fans, the media, and every Sabermetric measurement. Balls you used to scoop up and turn into DPs you now wave at as they dribble by and become singles.
And while I don't hold that famous dropped game-losing pop-up against you I have been told that for a few weeks following that gaffe you started carefully catching fly balls with two hands. But that didn't last long so you went back to the one hander. Old dogs, new tricks. I get it.
Oh, and if we weren't giving you a fair shot at winning the job this spring why exactly did you receive more at bats and more innings in the field than any of the other candidates?
Finally there's the issue of all that bunting. Perhaps it's the team's fault for never making it clear that it is the MANAGER who decides when to give away outs in return for bases, not the player. I am of the belief that you have spent the past three years sacrificing for fear of otherwise smacking into double plays. Personally I think you were protecting your own stats but not really helping the club to win. And helping your team win is what you were being paid to do.
If you and your legion of "fan" want to think that we were unfair to you I guess there's nothing I can say to change your mind. But if you want to know really why Luis Castillo is not on the Mets any longer then drag yourself over to a mirror and take a gander.
Sincerely,
Sandy Alderson
All articles featured on The Apple are fictitious. No Mets were harmed in the writing of this story. Story by Larry Smith. You can follow Larry Smith on twitter @dr4sight
Legion of fan. Win.
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