Mets - Signed Castillo

New York Mets - Signed 2B Luis Castillo to a 4-year contract worth roughly $25 million.

There’s no real need to gnash teeth here.  Yes, Castillo’s an average-ish 2B with a speed-based game and is old, but that’s the reason the Mets are keeping him for $6 million a year, potatoes for average players on the free agent market.  The Mets are already one of the elite teams in what is currently the weaker league, so there’s no need to roll the dice and nothing wrong with taking a safe choice.  Castillo’s already lost a huge chunk of his speed without it affecting his game too badly and the dollars quoted here are low enough that the Mets will eat it if a better option arises.  There’s not much available elsewise - the Mets sure as hell wouldn’t be bringing Matsui back even if he were a clearly better option than Castillo, which he isn’t, and several teams are reportedly interested in Iguchi, who is probably just as big a risk as Castillo is.

And Mets fans, I’m really sorry that Tom Herr ended up as the best comp for Castillo - I know that you guys wouldn’t be crazy about that.

2008 ZiPS Projection - Luis Castillo———————————————————————————————————-
              AB   R    H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB  SO  SB    BA   OBP   SLG ———————————————————————————————————-
Projection   537  82  158  18  4   3  44  57  55  18  .294  .361  .359
2009?        540  81  156  17  4   2  42  53  54  14  .289  .353  .346
2010?        523  77  148  16  3   2  40  49  51  12  .283  .345  .337
2011?        469  68  130  13  3   2  36  44  48   9  .277  .340  .330———————————————————————————————————-
Opt. (15%)   565  98  177  22  6   4  56  67  49  21  .313  .386  .395
Pes. (15%)   355  47   97   9  2   1  23  32  41   8  .273  .332  .318———————————————————————————————————-
Top Comps:  Tom Herr, Mark McLemore