For some reason, every report out of Port St Lucie mentions Luis Castillo, the washed-up middle infielder who has no future, or present, with the Mets. The lunacy apparently started when Castillo showed up late for camp and Terry Collins took him aside for a private meeting to discuss a pop-up he dropped two years ago. I wonder how that conversation went:
Collins: "Louie, I think that ball you dropped against the Yankees in June of 2009 is bothering you."
Castillo: "No...not really. But I wish you hadn't brought it up."
Collins: "Well your play hasn't been up to standards lately and I'm trying to figure out the problem."
Castillo: "Maybe it's because my knees look and feel like plastic bags full of marbles."
Collins: "No I think it's the drop."
Ken Davidoff bothered to actually look Castillo's stats before and after the drop, and almost predictably, he did better afterwards. Good to see Collins subscribes to the Jerry Manuel school of "I check the stats later. If I'm right, I'm right and if I'm wrong, I'm right." And while I don't think Collins has made any breakthroughs in repairing the scarred psyche of his second baseman, he's hilariously ensured Castillo's departure will be preceded by every New York newspaper re-running their stories about him dropping that ball.
Andy Martino, in his column, has attempted to discover the "disconnect" between the fans' opinion of Castillo and the players', citing such media-contrived controversies as the Walter Reed Hospital incident. Among Martino's shocking discoveries are that Castillo's teammates won't throw him under the bus to some nerd in a speedo and that mong Mets fans on Twitter think the Mets lack "mental toughness."
I haven't looked at Castillo's stats in a long time, but I imagine it's a lot of these, followed by a few of these. The guy has no place on this roster. There's no scenario in which he's a better player than Daniel Murphy or Brad Emaus, and he certainly doesn't have their long-term upside. The guy's about to suffer the ignominy of his release. Please, media, do him and us a favor and stop talking about him.