A week and a half ago the Mets released Luis Castillo, a lightning rod for criticism and a living reminder of the failures of the Omar Minaya era. It was suggested by Andy Martino of the Daily News that Mets fans hated Castillo in part because we are racist. Mr. Martino is obviously digging for a story because Mets fans do not boo players based on their race, they boo players for having large contracts and playing terribly. No seriously, look at his stats on baseball reference. His best full year with the Mets was the abysmal 2009 season and his OPS+, a simple measure of your offensive proficiency normalized for era, ballpark, competition, etc, was 99 where 100 is average. His BEST offensive year was below average. Add onto that the fact that nagging foot and leg injuries had stripped the one-time speedster of his range at second base and you are left with a statuesque singles hitter whose greatest contribution to a game is his nearly unrivaled ability to lay down a sacrifice bunt. For this unique skill set the Mets were on the hook for $6 million. Instead the front office did the only reasonable thing and cut him to give a younger player a look.
Interestingly Castillo was quickly snatched up the rival Phillies who are in desperate need of a stop-gap solution at second base while their All Star Chase Utley nurses an injured hip. Castillo promptly showed up two days late to camp, performed about as you would expect and was quietly showed the door. Are Phillies Phans also racist for not warming to Luis's professionalism? Can you even consider a group racist if they hate everyone equally? Maybe, just maybe Castillo is what Mets fans perceived him to be, a terrible, terrible baseball player who has no excuse earning the league minimum, much less someone who deserves a roster spot and $6 million.
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