Dang! Not sure why Baez watched that first pitch. He must be trying to work counts, but in a late game situation, swing away, IMO.
MLB: 2014 Chicago Cubs
- Thread starter Bret44
- Start date
When you're down late in the game, the general rule as a hitter is to take a strike.
I get that, but with a hitter like Baez, and with two runners on, I say swing away.
I get that Castro has had an unthinkably hard week, but his mental lapses are becoming unbearable. As Len pointed out, he's now played for Lou, Quade, Sveum and Renteria, at some point the onus falls back on him to play the game the right way. When he came up, he may have been the untouchable, future of the Cubs, but those days are gone. There's going to be an odd man out, especially in the infield, and if he's not careful it could be him. He's doing the same crap this year he did as a rookie...
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Castro is traded in the off season for pitching. He seems like a good kid, but I am not sure he fits the mold of the type of player that Hoyer and Epstein want.
This wouldn't surprise me either. He was an all-star, so you should be able to get something for him, and the Cubs have an awful lot of infield talent in the system. With that said, Castro still has a ton of upside if he can get his head right, so if he gets traded, the return better be big.
He's been far better this year about keeping his head in the game than he's ever been before. Is it frustrating when he does suffer a mental lapse? Sure. But for crying out loud, we don't need to stand him up against a wall because he finally made a mistake this season.
I think the potential is there with Castro, but in looking at his numbers he really hasn't developed much. I remember after his first season, people were talking about him developing power. He has 13 homers this year, but that's pretty much been consistent through the last 3 years. His SLG, OPS, AVG, RBI's have all stayed consistent since 2011. Also, when he came up we heard about his ability to steal bases. He had 22 steals in 2011, 25 steals in 2012, 9 last year and 4 this year. His play in the field has gotten somewhat better, but he's not exactly a stalwart out there either.
I'd agree he's made less mental mistakes in the field. RR talked to him about not running to first earlier in the game, and then this. I mean, it's not often you see mental mistakes directly cost a team a run, and possibly a game, but that was the case last night. Plus, this stuff has been going on since he came up. At some point you just figure he wont learn.
He really hadn't made any mental mistakes this season until last night. He's had a very rough week, it'd be pretty understandable for his focus to not be entirely on baseball right now. And you can say he's done this ever since he came up, thereby just attributing last night to that trend. But hypochondriacs actually do get sick from time to time, and I think that's what last night was for Castro.
That is why I think they trade him. Russell will have to continue to develop of course, but is Castro a player you see doing all of the little things right to win a World Series? Probably not, you can't just give him a flyer because they are in last or not in the race. I am not saying I think it is a sure thing or anything, and I like Castro, but he seems like he is a good fit to be a good player on a bad team.
I get that he's had a bad week, and I feel terrible for him about what happened, but could him having a bad week really have anything to do with him not hustling out of the box? He hit a ball he thought was out, and decided to watch it. I'm not trying to be crass, but I just don't see the correlation between the two. And if he's not able to be focused enough to make routine plays, he should have asked for a few more days off.
That was Baez he talked to about not running to first earlier, not Castro. Maybe the Cubs could trade them both in a package deal to get some guys who really hustle here.
This guy almost never runs hard. He isn't the kind of guy you want if you're trying to win a World Series.
Castro has been fine this year, until the one incident yesterday. You act like he has been doing stuff like this all season, which is not close to accurate. The kid has cleaned up his game quite a bit the last few years.
The Cubs would be dumb to trade Castro. He is one of the best shortstops in the league right now. None of the prospects are proven to be able to play short yet at the big league. I would much rather the Cubs trade away one of the prospects then trade away someone who is proven.
Baez got talked to, not Castro.
