Ex-Buc Jose Castillo attacked by motorcycle gang

Former MLB player Jose Castillo was attacked by armed men on motorcycles as he left his luxury hotel in a taxi on Tuesday.

"They stopped the car and those accompanying them entered with two guns, and pointed them at me so that I'd give them my gold chain and wedding ring," Castillo said. Castillo, who played in MLB from 2004-08, plays for the Caracas Lions. -Associated Press

Fortunately, he wasn't hurt. It's unfortunate, but if I were a ballplayer from Venezuela, there's no way I'd be willing to live there over the offseason. The risks are just too high these days.

3 months ago Vlad 13 comments 0 recs |

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A little surprised he’s out of US baseball – he was 28 this season, showed a bit of glove at 2 infield positions, and seemed like he might be able to hit. I don’t think he nec. belonged on a big league roster; I just would’ve thought someone would have signed him to a MiL contract as a warm body who, on a hot streak, could be a decent filler.

Oh well.

by JRoth95 on Nov 11, 2009 9:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That's not entirely accurate.

He seemed like a guy who should be able to hit, but he never actually did much of it (75 OPS+ in more than 2K ML PAs), mostly because he hit too many balls on the ground and didn’t have the speed to play that kind of game. And his defense was actually pretty poor – UZR has him at -9.8/150 as a 2B, in more than 3,000 career innings.

I sometimes wonder whether he would’ve turned out better if we’d let him have another season at AA, instead of rushing him to the majors.

by Vlad on Nov 12, 2009 9:10 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I said “flashed some glove” because I was aware that UZR didn’t love him. But he turned a nice DP, and he showed some instinct to compensate for his general lack of speed/range.

As for hitting, my point was just that I would’ve expected someone to take a flyer with him on the theory that their hitting coach could coax production out of him.

But hey, there’s always more 2Bs coming up.

by JRoth95 on Nov 12, 2009 11:40 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's tough out there for an IF...

…who can’t hit, and can’t cover either SS or CF. For every extra reliever who gets added to a bullpen, you push a guy like Castillo off the back end of the bench.

We’re probably going to have to agree to disagree on the aesthetics of Castillo’s defense.

by Vlad on Nov 12, 2009 11:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If I headed up the players' union,

you can be darn sure that the 25-man roster/12-pitcher issue is one that would be addressed before any collective bargaining agreement would be signed. The roster needs to be increased to 26 or 27 players. Too many position players have been getting screwed for years now, and not a few of the ones who should be utility players in MLB have to go to places like Japan or even Korea of late to make some decent money.

by patthatt on Nov 13, 2009 11:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

What's the concession?

I mean, the GMs would be happy enough with a 26-man roster, but the owners wouldn’t. So what do you give the owners to get 30 more MLPA members? It’s certainly not worth a cap. Fixing the Type-A FA situation is more or less mutually beneficial, so I don’t think that counts as a concession either way (somewhat more in the players’ interests, as they’re the ones getting non-tendered basically for being pretty good, but it screws up GMs as well).

by JRoth95 on Nov 13, 2009 2:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not sure what the concession

should be, but we’ve even seen teams go to 13-man staffs at times recently, so the roster number should change to give managers more flexibility with lineup maneuvers, especially in the NL.

Anybody else have an idea how to change this and make it mutually beneficial?

by patthatt on Nov 13, 2009 3:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Well

What does management want short of a salary cap?

They hate arbitration as it works now. The union wouldn’t give it up entirely just for another roster spot or two, but maybe the format gets opened up to new negotiations. Unfortunately, I think the thing that management hates most is that it’s basically a one-way escalator, but that’s coming largely from the arbitrators themselves – it’s not in the CBA that a soft-tossing LHP with a 5+ ERA deserves $5M, but the arbitrators seem committed to the idea.

Just thinking aloud.

by JRoth95 on Nov 13, 2009 4:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If the roster was 26 or 27 players, I could imagine many teams just carrying another pitcher or two. Definitely in the American League and probably here as well…

by Adam Reynolds on Nov 13, 2009 5:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Another relative to what?

At this point I don’t know what the norm is. Lloyd always said that his desire/goal was to have SPs solid enough that he could go to 11 pitchers (5 SPs, closer, setup, LOOGY, swingman/long reliever, and 2 warm bodies), but I think that 12 is considered the norm nowadays, even in the NL when an extra bench player has a lot of value. I think that, with 26 roster spots, every team carries at least 12, and most carry 13 unless they have a particular reason for carrying, say, a third catcher or an extra IF (maybe they platoon at 2B or something).

Back when 11 pitchers was the norm, it was much more common to see a PH lifted without swinging the bat in order to combat a pitching change. I think that has become very rare (could be wrong – my mental database is basically comparing recent Pirates managers with Davey Johnson in the late 80s). But with 6 bench players, that kind of move becomes feasible again.

Anyway, the MLBPA doesn’t care whether the extra players are pitchers or fielders – it’s just more members to them.

by JRoth95 on Nov 13, 2009 6:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs