In an interview yesterday, it looks like Terry Collins made it clear that he does expect Castillo to be in camp and he does expect him to compete for a job. Essentially this is not Castillo's job to lose, it looks like it will be an open field this year, and he expects Castillo to be in much better shape because of this. This will be a point I'll probably make again in this article: I know I was very negative on Castillo yesterday, and my feelings are that if he earns the job outright in camp because he is the best player, than I cannot argue with that. If he gets the job, even if he is not the best player, then I have a huge problem with that.
What will make it hard for Castillo this Spring is he must win the job as a starter because of the Mets roster. The Mets have several players that are out of options and two rule 5 players (Emaus and Beato) that must be on the roster Opening Day to stay with the Mets. Plus there are two other players, Murphy and Turner, that also pose as a serious threat to be the starter, making Emaus and Hu backups. So once again, Castillo must be the best to make it with the team up North. The following are last season's (or last available seasons) stats for the contenders, followed by their Career numbers:
Luis Castillo:
(2010): 247 AB, .235 BA, .337 OBP, .604 OPS, .267 SLG, 28 R, 17 RBI, 58 H, 4 2B, 2 3B, 8 SB
(Career): .290 BA, .368 OBP, .719 SLG, .351 SLG
Dan Murphy:
(2010- Minors, 2 Leagues): 45 AB, .400 BA, .438 OBP, .622 SLG, 1.060 OPS, 6 R, 14 RBI, 18 H, 4 2B, 2 HR
(2009 – Majors): 508 AB, .266 BA, .313 OBP, .427 SLG, .741 OPS, 60 R, 135 H, 38 2B, 4 3B, 12 HR, 63 RBI
(Career):.275 BA, .331 OBP, .437 SLG, .768 OPS
Chin-lung Hu:
(2010 – Minors): 208 AB, .317 BA, .339 OBP, .438 SLG, .777 OPS, 37 R, 66 H, 11 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 25 RBI
(Career): .299 BA, .341 OBP, .418 SLG, .759 OPS
Brad Emaus:
(2010 – Minors, 2 Leagues): 445 AB, .290 BA, .397 OBP, .476 SLG, .874 OPS, 79 R, 129 H, 32 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR, 75 RBI
(Career): .276 BA, .364 OBP, .426 SLG, .790 OPS
Justin Turner:
(2010 – Minors, 2 Teams): 396 AB, .316 BA, .374 OBP, .487 SLG, .862 SLG, 69 R, 125 H, 30 2B, 3B, 12 HR, 43 RBI
(Career): .309 BA, .373 OBP, .442 SLG, .815 OPS
There is a lot in common with this entire lot. With the exception of Castillo, they are all roughly the same age and they all have similar stats. Castillo jumps out at having the most major league experience, with Murphy being second.
It would be very unfair of me to look at these numbers and try to draw some sort of conclusion as to who is the best out of this lot, because the numbers are so similar. Instead, I think I'm just going to let the numbers sit for themselves. It is very clear that the starting second basement this year, and the backup infielders will have to be clearly be the best in camp, because of either how similar the numbers are and costs and benefits (like for example, Turner has a higher ceiling than Hu, but Hu needs make the roster in order to stay with the organization).
I will leave with this though:
Terry seems to be leaning to having Pagan bat second, meaning the Mets will be looking for pop out of second base than they used to. If this is the case, then this seems to tip the scales early in favor of either Turner or Murphy getting the starting job with with Emaus and Hu on the bench, and Castillo on the outside.
