Community Projection Review: Jose Castillo

Let's review our preseason projection for Jose Castillo.

Yeah, that whole batting .300 thing didn't work out. If y'all want to look at your individual guesses - well, I wouldn't advise that. The closest was SteveZ, who guessed .265/.310/.420 - and even that was way off. ZiPS got closer, but still had no idea that Castillo wouldn't hit for contact.

Actually, Castillo's season was remarkably similar to his rookie 2004 campaign, in which he hit .256/.298/.368. His better 2005 season now looks like it might be an outlier. It may be that the power we thought he'd develop just isn't going to show up.

All indications are that the Bucs are going to trade Castillo in the offseason. I probably wouldn't do that, if only because I don't know why anyone would consider him especially valuable. I probably wouldn't go into spring training with him as a starter, though, either. He had a VORP of 0.7 and miserable defensive numbers across the board. (Obviously, he also looked horrible on defense.) That probably makes him one of the 20 or so worst position players in baseball last year, and hardly someone who's automatically deserving of a starting job.