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The roster for opening day appears to be set, Luis Castillo is gone and the Phils will start their quest for a championship with an offense that includes Wilson Valdez, Pete Orr, Michael Martinez and John Mayberry.

Castillo was released yesterday.

It’s hard not to be at least a little discouraged about the offense and the surprising, to me at least, release of Castillo. Castillo sure seems to have bigger upside for 2011 than any of Valdez, Orr or Martinez. Valdez, who looks to be the everyday second baseman for the Phils for long time, has a career line of 240/289/326, turns 33 in May and never had 150 plate appearances in a season coming into last year.

Yesterday the Phils lost to the Pirates, falling 4-1 to end their spring with a 21-14 mark.

Hamels started and allowed two runs on four hits over three innings. He ends the spring with a 6.67 ERA and a 1.41 ratio in seven starts. Pedro Alvarez hit a two-run homer off of him — Hamels allowed six in 27 innings, which is a lot too many. Allowing home runs at that rate, you would allow about 44.4 over 200 innings.

Blanton also pitched in the game, allowing a run on four hits over three innings. 3.19 ERA and a 1.19 ratio for Blanton, who walked just four in 31 innings.

Kendrick threw a scoreless inning and Juan Perez and Bastardo combined to pitch the ninth, with Perez charged with a run on three hits before Bastardo got the last out of the frame.

The Phils had two hits in the game, a triple by Orr and a single by Rollins. It’s the fifth triple of the spring for Orr.

Martinez went 0-for-2 to drop his line to 233/250/356 in 73 at-bats. I don’t understand what he did to make the team. He must be one electric defensive player.

Mayberry 0-for-1 and Delwyn Young 0-for-2.

Halladay faces Brett Myers tomorrow in a game that counts.

The opening day roster for the Phillies looks like it will include 13 hitters and 12 pitchers.

Hitters: Ruiz, Howard, Valdez, Rollins, Polanco, Ibanez, Victorino, Francisco, Schneider, Gload, Martinez, Mayberry and Orr.

Pitchers: Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels, Blanton, Madson, Contreras, Baez, Herndon, Kendrick, Romero and Bastardo.

Young is the guy who looked like he had a real chance but didn’t make the team. He started strong, but ended spring with a 258/303/389 line in 62 at-bats.

Rollins will bat third for the Phillies with Victorino hitting leadoff. Over the last two seasons, Rollins has hit 248/304/406 in 1,119 plate appearances.

Day one of the Luis Castillo experiment is over and the best news is that Roy Oswalt lived through it. Oswalt was hit in the neck with a line drive off the bat of Manny Ramirez in yesterday’s game, but was able to walk off the field on his own and appears to be okay. Castillo, meanwhile, went 0-for-4, hitting the ball hard once but lining out and handling two defensive chances at second.

Yesterday the Phils fell to the Rays, losing 4-1.

Oswalt started the game for the Phillies and went three innings, allowing three runs on four hits. He started the fourth and gave up a leadoff home run to Evan Longoria before Manny smashed a ball back to the mound that hit Oswalt near the right ear. He left the game and was replaced by David Herndon.

Oswalt has now made four starts in which he’s thrown to a 4.61 ERA with a 1.17 ratio. In 13 2/3 innings, he’s walked just one batter and struck out 13.

Herndon threw two scoreless innings and was followed by Mathieson and Bastardo. Each threw a scoreless inning, but Mathieson walked the bases loaded in the sixth. Madson pitched the ninth and allowed a run on two singles and a double.

Mathieson now has a 2.00 ERA and a 1.00 ratio after seven appearances. In nine innings he’s struck out nine and allowed just three hits, but walked six.

The guys in the bullpen have been rather impressive at preventing the long ball this spring. Baez, Herndon, Madson, Mathieson, Zagurski, Contreras, Romero and Bastardo have combined to throw 67 1/3 innings without allowing a home run. Lidge has allowed one in his five innings. Were the bullpen to have that kind of success at preventing home runs over the course of the regular season, they would wind up with some impressive numbers. In 2010, Phillies relievers allowed 37 homers over 421 innings, which would be about 6.4 over 72 1/3 innings.

Martinez was the only Phillie with more than one hit. He went 2-for-4 with two singles. Rollins was 1-for-3 with a double and Orr 1-for-3 with a triple. Barfield again played center and was 0-for-3. Young 1-for-1 and Mayberry 0-for-1.

Hamels faces the Twins today.

All eyes on Luis Castillo this afternoon as the Phils face the Rays, giving fans a chance to see just how much speed and defensive range the 35-year-old Castillo has lost. We won’t know anything for sure from a single game, but one thing is for sure and that’s that there will be a whole lot more people who have an opinion on the matter before the day is done.

Yesterday the Phils beat the Blue Jays 5-4 to improve to 17-9 in official spring action.

Lee started the game for the Phils and went six innings, allowing a pair of runs on four hits and two walks. Rajai Davis led off the bottom of the first with a triple that led to the first run and Juan Rivera hit a solo homer off of him in the third. Lee has a 4.74 ERA and a 1.21 ERA through five spring starts.

Kendrick and Romero followed Lee and each threw a scoreless inning. Kendrick has allowed 15 hits in 13 innings this spring, but walked just one. Romero has a 2.57 ERA and a 1.43 ratio in seven innings.

Baez started the ninth with a 5-2 lead and allowed singles to the first three men he faced, making it 5-3 with men on first and third before getting Ryan Budde swinging for the first out. Corey Patterson followed that with another single and it was 5-4 with men on first and second. Baez got Jonathan Diaz to hit into a double-play to end the game. He has now thrown to a 2.53 ERA with a 1.22 ratio in 10 2/3 innings.

Ibanez hit a three-run homer in the first to give the Phils an early lead. It was the only extra-base hit of the day for the Phils. Francisco was 3-for-3 in the game.

Mayberry 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. 278/350/630 in 54 at-bats. Orr 0-for-1 to drop his line to 316/316/553 in 38 at-bats. Barfield played center field and went 1-for-4. 325/356/450 in 40 at-bats. He has seen recent action at both third and center, positions he doesn’t really play. Martinez was 1-for-3 with a single and an RBI. 278/298/444. Young was 0-for-1 and has seen his line fall all the way to 280/321/380 as his at-bats have dropped off significantly.

The Phillies didn’t draw a walk in the game.

Oswalt will start today’s game.

Lidge allowed a hit in a scoreless inning in a minor league game yesterday and may pitch in an official spring game tomorrow.

The Phillies will use the next nine games to decide whether Luis Castillo will start the year with the team or be released. In the article linked above, Amaro says, “He’s not going to the minor leagues.”

This says that Castillo hasn’t arrive in camp yet, that he won’t play today and isn’t in tomorrow’s lineup, either.

Halladay was fantastic yesterday as the Phils topped the Red Sox 4-1. He allowed a run on five hits and three walks over 7 2/3 innings, dropping his spring ERA to 0.48. In 18 2/3 innings, he’s allowed one run on 12 hits and six walks.

Madson finished the game for the Phils, allowing a single in 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He has allowed two runs on six hits and two walks over 8 1/3 innings (2.16 ERA and an 0.96 ratio).

The Phils didn’t have an extra-base hit in the game. Barfield was 1-for-4 with two RBI. Martinez 0-for-3 with an RBI. Orr and Delwyn Young were both 0-for-1.

Victorino and Ibanez collided in the outfield in the fifth inning, with Victorino getting the worst of it. He says he’s okay.

Mark Teixeira is mad at Ben Francisco after Francisco tried to knock the ball out of his glove in Sunday’s game.

Jose Contreras is the latest injured Phillie. He will be sidelined for “a few days” with a corneal abrasion.

Update: Castillo arrived in camp around 1:30 this afternoon and is expected to play tomorrow.

This article from the Phillies web site says that the team has agreed to a minor league deal with Luis Castillo and suggests that Castillo won’t necessarily start the year with the team.

A healthy Castillo can help the Phils. A Castillo who’s slow with no range can’t. You have to think he had options and picked a team where he thought he would get to play. We’ll see.

Yesterday the Phils couldn’t figure out CC Sabathia and fell to the Yankees, losing 8-1 to fall to 15-9 in official spring action.

Blanton started the game for the Phils and allowed four runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings. He has a 4.09 ERA and a 1.27 ratio over five starts. In 22 innings, he’s walked just four but allowed 24 hits.

Bastardo followed Blanton and allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning on a single and a double. 1.59 ERA with a 1.06 ratio over 5 2/3 innings for Bastardo for the spring. Contreras followed Bastardo and went an inning, allowing a run on two hits. 2.57 ERA and a 1.00 ERA for Contreras in seven innings over six appearances. Zagurski pitched the ninth and was charged with two runs, both unearned with the help of a Valdez error, on a double and a single. 1.13 ERA and a 1.00 ratio for Zagurski. He’s struck out 11 in eight innings.

Rollins was 3-for-3 with a solo homer for the only run the Phillies scored. Michael Martinez went 0-for-4 and is now hitting 292/320/479 after 48 at-bats. Orr 0-for-1, 333/333/583 in 36 at-bats. Delwyn Young was 0-for-1 and is at 292/333/396 in 48 at-bats. Mayberry 0-for-4 to drop his spring line to 294/368/667 in 51 at-bats. Barfield saw some time in left field and went 0-for-1. He’s at 344/378/500 in 32 at-bats.

Martinez, Orr and Barfield all have better numbers for the spring at this point than Young does.

Hamels struggled again on Saturday, but the Phils got three homers and topped Baltimore 7-5.

Hamels got pounded. He went 3 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks to raise his spring ERA to 6.23. He’s now walked eight in 17 1/3 innings.

Baez threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Hamels, dropping his ERA to 0.93. In 9 1/3 innings, he’s allowed a run on five hits and four walks. Mathieson threw a scoreless seventh and has a 2.25 ERA and an 0.75 ratio in eight innings over six appearances. Herndon followed that with two scoreless innings to drop his ERA to 3.52. He has a 1.30 spring ratio.

Mayberry hit a two-run homer in the second. Victorino had a three-run blast in the fifth and Eric Kratz added a solo shot in the seventh. Barfield 0-for-3 with a walk. Orr 1-for-3. Martinez 1-for-2. Delywn Young 0-for-1 with an RBI.

On Friday, Tuffy Gosewich delivered a walkoff two-run single with two outs in the ninth to give the Phils a 3-2 win over the Pirates.

Oswalt started the game for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing two runs, which were both unearned. He allowed five hits and didn’t walk a batter. Oswalt has now thrown to a 3.38 in three starts for the spring, but four of the eight runs he has allowed have been unearned. Contreras, Romero and Madson all threw scoreless innings after Oswalt’s exit.

Orr went 3-for-4 with a double in the game. Martinez went 0-for-2, but drew a pair of walks, which were his first of the spring. Time to stop hoping Martinez doesn’t make the team and start hoping he can produce offensively. Walking every now and again is a good place to start.

Brian Schneider returned to the team for Friday’s game.

In this article, Manuel won’t say that he won’t start Gload in right field on opening day. I think he won’t.

This says that Lidge and Polanco will be ready for opening day and that Lidge’s bullpen session yesterday went well.

Question of the day is if we would all be happy if Polanco hits .300 this year with all singles. There’s exactly zero percent chance that’s going to happen of course, but the answer of the day is no.

If you’re looking for a real player who hit .300 last year with all of his hits going for singles, you’re probably not going to be able to get much closer than Luis Castillo. Castillo hit .302 in 2009 with just 16 extra-base hits for the season. Here’s what his numbers look like:

So Castillo put up a nifty .387 on-base percentage, but thanks to slugging .346 for the year his OPS was just .732. The average NL team got a .741 OPS from their second baseman in 2009, so, by OPS, Castillo wasn’t an especially good offensive player as a second baseman despite hitting .302.

It would be worse than that for Polanco, who walks less than Castillo did in 2009. In ’09, Castillo walked in 69 of 580 plate appearances. That’s about 11.9%. In his career, Polanco has walked 314 times in 6,017 plate appearances. That’s just 5.2%. Here’s what Polanco’s numbers look like if he hits .300 with all singles but gets walks, hit by pitch and sacrifices at his career levels over the 580 plate appearances that Castillo got in 2009:

Imaginary Polanco goes 160-for-533 with 30 walks, seven hit by pitches and ten sacrifices. Much worse walk rate plus worse rate of getting extra-base hits make things worse overall. The non-existent Polanco year in which he hit .300 he puts up a miserable .642 OPS, which isn’t good enough to play anywhere. .741 was the average OPS by team for second baseman in the NL last year, but third basemen have to hit a little more — the average OPS by team for third basemen in the NL was up to .752.

So, by OPS, if Polanco were literally to hit all singles and wanted to put up the .752 OPS of an average third baseman while getting walks, hit by pitches and sacrifices at his career levels, here’s what he would need to do:

If he walked, got hit by pitches and registered sacrifices at his career levels, Polanco would need to hit .358 to post an OPS that was about the same as an average NL third baseman from 2009 if every hit he got was a single.

That’s not going to happen, of course. For his career, Polanco has registered doubles in about 4.6% of his PA, triples in about 0.5% and home runs in about 1.5%. Based on those numbers, over Castillo’s 580 plate appearances we would expect Polanco to put up 27 doubles, three triples and nine home runs.

And if he did that while registering walks etc over 580 plate appearances, he would need to hit a mere .300 to post an OPS that bettered the NL average third base mark in 2009:

He’s 160-for-533 now, still with the 30 walks and the 39 extra-base hits described above. I think that the answer is not that if Polanco hits .300 with all singles we should be satisfied with his work as an offensive player as a third baseman, but that if he is going to continue to register walks and extra-base hits at his career levels he can be an average third baseman by OPS if he hits .300.

Hamels and Domonic Brown both had big days yesterday as the Phils topped the Tigers 6-1. Hamels allowed an unearned run on two singles over five innings. Brown hit a pair of home runs, one off of Justin Verlander and the other off of Phil Coke, and went 3-for-3 with a walk and four RBI on the day. Bastardo, Madson and Baez all pitched in the game after Hamels and combined to allow one walk over three innings. Bastardo struck out two in a perfect eighth. Howard hit a two-run shot, his first of the spring, to account for the Phillies runs that weren’t driven in by Brown.

Brown was sent to minor league camp after the game.

The article linked above also says that Polanco hopes to play Friday and that Romero will face live batters today.

Lidge is working on holding runners on and, hopefully, remembering to cover third base.