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Amaro and the front office leave Phillies fans thankful they’re presumably about to take a little break
By egrissom | November 25, 2009
This says that the Phillies have agreed to terms with Juan Castro and suggests it may be a one-year deal worth $750,000 with a club option for 2011.
Wow.
Casto turns 38 in June and has a career .601 OPS. He can play short, third and second.
What he can’t do is hit well enough to be allowed on the field. Over the last four season’s he has on-based .281, .211, .246 and .311. He has a career .230 average and a .332 slugging percentage.
He’s a right-handed batter who doesn’t hit either righties or lefties. Last year he played for the Dodgers and hit 287/323/322 against righties, but in 2008 he hit 196/228/271 against righties for the Reds and Orioles.
Here’s how Castro’s career rates for getting hits, walks, doubles and triples, home runs and extra-base hits per 100 plate appearances compare to Bruntlett’s:
| H/100 | BB/100 | 2B+3B/100 | HR/100 | XBH/100 | |
| Bruntlett | 20.3 | 8.5 | 4.7 | 1.2 | 5.9 |
| Castro | 21.2 | 5.2 | 4.9 | 1.3 | 6.2 |
Castro has been a little more likely to get a hit, less likely to walk and a little more likely to deliver and extra-base hit over his career.
Bruntlett doesn’t turn 38 in half a year, though.
That’s a pretty disappointing move by the Phillies. Yes, you have to have a backup shortstop. Maybe he can do something else, I hear you cry? You really, really don’t want him to. It’s a bad use of a roster spot for a team that has had big problems on the bench for a while now.
Topics: It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine |
November 25th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Yeah, rather disappointed in the Phils first FA signing. I am alittle in shock to see Bruntlett have a better number than anyone in any catagory and it is against the person they signed to replace him. wow. If they needed to have a backup shortstop other than Bruntlett/Cairo, might have well brought J.J. Furmaniak up. Geez.
November 25th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Yuck. That move is awful. Juan Castro? Really? He’s the guy who is going to help you win the World Series? I don’t agree.
The Phillies need to improve their bench. Period. They don’t need to improve it defensively. They should be trying to do that by getting better baseball players, not specialists that are weak players all around. It’s the same thing as Stairs but with the opposite problem, instead of a guy who is one dimensional in that he can only hit, Castro is a guy who can only field. How about some guys who can do both at least a little? I understand they’re backups and you’re not going to get superstars to back people up. It seems like you should be able to get guys you can put on the field, though.
November 25th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
November 25th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Yes. Precisely.
November 25th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
For this small amount of money, it’s possible that they still might be pursuing DeRosa and/or Polanco and just signed Castro in case they can’t get somebody else better.
November 25th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
So much to be thankful for on this day before Thanksgiving. First Castro, now…
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/phillies-sign-dewayne-wise-wilson-valdez.html\
I know, minor league deals, but still…..
November 26th, 2009 at 11:14 am
I think Castro’s just going to be a backup and they will surely get someone else to play third. Still.
At least there’s always DeWayne Wise and Wilson Valdez.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I like the signing of Wise. 5th OFer, lefthanded bat, speed, great defense.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I guess you’ve got to have some organizational depth, but I hope he never sees the 25-man roster for the Phils. He’s about to turn 32 with a career .255 on-base percentage. He is a fantastic defensive player and very fast, but I still don’t think he’s a guy you want to see on the field for the Phils.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Wise is a better fit than Matt Stairs.
November 30th, 2009 at 9:23 am
When I saw the news on Castro, I was really hoping it was some sort of joke. I know Bruntlett has fallen out of favor, but this far? Wow.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I’m still having trouble believing it. Hopefully that’s as bad as it gets for the off-season.