The Sky Is Falling: Luis Castillo

The Mets finally cut ties with one of Omar Minaya's ill fated contract extension recipients in Luis Castillo and it appears that he is being snatched up by the Phillies. The Mets will pay Castillo the final $6 million they still owe him to go play for a division rival. Hardball Talk breaks it down...

He’s a shell of the player Omar Minaya traded for and then signed to a four-year, $25 million deal and the deterioration of Castillo’s once-excellent speed has magnified his career-long lack of power, but last season he drew more walks (39) than strikeouts (25) while posting a .337 on-base percentage that was solidly above the NL average of .328 and got on base at a .366 clip during his entire four-year run with the Mets.

Castillo's value is entirely based on his ability to get on base at a decent clip but his days of OBP-ing over .400 are over a decade old now.

The signing makes sense for the Phillies since it won't cost them much and fills a now glaring need for depth in the infield. My initial thought, of course, is "OH MY GOD Chase Utley IS DEAD!" The speculation about Utley missing the entire season already had me pretty anxious but now I'm in full blown "refilling my xanax prescription" panic attack mode.

I'm not a Phillies fan so the fear of having to replace a projected 4.8 WAR player with a basic replacement level player doesn't bother me so much. But as one of Utley's better known stalkers, I'm quite worried. Apparently my get well basket of HGH infused muffins didn't do the trick.

Ollie Perez Future LOOGY?

Oh, what to do with Oliver Perez? The Mets are still on the hook for $12 million for Ollie thanks to some epic prognostic failure on the part of Omar Minaya. Perez is still likely to be released although the Mets are rooting for spontaneous combustion. But in the meantime, the Mets are giving Perez the chance to win a bullpen job as the most expensive LOOGY (Lefty One-Out GuY) in the history of baseball. And it includes dropping his arm slot...

"All my career I've been throwing to lefties sidearm," Perez said. "This year I'm going to use it more."

snip

"He threw strikes," Terry Collins said. "That's what we wanted him to do. He threw strikes, gave them a different look. I thought the 1-2 pitch, he made a real, real good pitch on the outside corner."

But before Mets fans get too excited about paying Perez roughly, according to PECOTA, $87,000 an inning, I should probably temper some expectations. That's some pretty bland praise for a seven pitch pop out of Cardinals middling prospect Daniel Descalso.

Somebody owes me $5. I told you I could write an entire post about one Spring Training at bat.

Shot Of The Night: Mets Fail Edition

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Frankly, I'm surprised Omar Minaya didn't find a way to mortgage the future of the franchise to help the Mets finish 6 games out of first in the NL East at the trade deadline. Maybe trade Ike Davis for David Aardsma or some such nonsense? The shot of the night is late because I pick places without the Internet to do my evening drinking. The shot of last night was a New York Sour: 2 oz blended whiskey, juice of 1/2 lemons, 1 tsp sugar, red wine and it's in honor of the Mets' pitching staff.

Jonathon Niese got the ball rolling for the Mets going a deep 4.1 innings and giving up 6 earned scattering 7 hits, 3 walks and 2 homers. Niese is still young (23) and nowhere near this bad. So I'm surprised Omar didn't trade him for Jake Westbrook. Elmer Dessens would take over for Niese and pitch an effective 2.2 innings only giving up 2 earned on 4 hits, 1 walk and 2 home runs. Ollie Perez would finish off the night by imploding over 2 innings allowing 4 earned on 5 hits.

Honorable Mention: Adam LaRoche
LaRoche did most of the Met slaying yesterday. He went 3-6 with 2 home runs (both of Niese) and 6 RBI. He just missed a third home run as well. I'm surprised LaRoche wasn't moved at the trade deadline but if the Angels weren't a bizzilion games back, he probably would have been. He's still a good bet to be dealt during the waiver period.