Luis Castillo and the Mets 2010 Offseason by Stuart Miller, Author of “The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports”

New York Mets fans, a bitter and depressed bunch, will not want to acknowledge this, but amidst all the injuries and disappointments, there is one player who had a stellar 2009 year, surprising everyone by finishing second on the team in runs, hits, steals, walks and on-base percentage and third in total bases.

Yet that player is frequently thought of as Public Enemy #1: Luis Castillo.

Unlike past whipping boys (Roger Cedeno, Armando Benitez, Carlos Baerga, Roberto Alomar), Castillo really did turn himself around after a dismal year last year. Sure, he’s still a mediocre defensive player and has little pop in his bat and, of course, general manager Omar Minaya made a huge mistake in signing him to the four-year contract, but…. his .387 OBP was his best since 2005 and third best in his career—before a final swoon in the closing days he was hitting .313 on September 22nd, with an OBP of .401, both marks that put Castillo among the league leaders.

Since the Mets are stuck with him next year they should look at those numbers and think about what Castillo’s re-birth could mean to the 2010 Mets. If they’re smart, they’ll revisit an experiment Jerry Manuel tinkered with in spring training– Castillo, properly deployed, could actually solve a host of the Mets’ myraid problems and give fans hope for next season.

The one way he is worth close to the $8 million is as a lead-off hitter, which not only gives the Mets a true table-setter but it frees them to create a Citi Field lineup—one that would feel like the a vastly more talented version of the 1980s St. Louis Cardinals team that won three NL pennants (including one World Series) in five years, while giving the Mets fits.

With Castillo first, the Mets could drop Jose Reyes to third in the batting order. As a #3 hitter, Reyes could flourish like Hanley Ramirez–if he hits 12 homers, 20 triples and 35 doubles but has only a .350 OBP he is far more effective in that spot, and less likely to get frustrated or to frustrate fans, then he is in the lead-off slot.

With Reyes hitting third, Wright clean-up, Beltran 5th and Francoeur sixth, the Mets have a lineup with moderate power but capable of hitting balls in the big gaps at Citi Field. Angel Pagan, whose knack for triples fits perfectly in this new mindset, could play left and bat second or seventh, sharing both spots with doubles expert Daniel Murphy (who put his best numbers up in the #2 and #7 spots).

Think of it this way–if the lead-off hitter is Reyes, a lot of times he can’t maximize Castillo’s OBP since walks won’t advance Reyes and infield hits or little bloops to the outfield won’t drive home a run. Yet if Castillo leads off and reaches base in any of those fashions, he has the speed to score on a double or triple from Murphy, Pagan or Reyes.

Additionally, this new lineup means the Mets would just need to find a right-hander with power to spell Murphy and Pagan against lefties (like Jonny Gomes of the Reds) instead of a full-fledged star (having screwed up and not signed Adam Dunn last year)—that would be much more affordable in the open market or in terms of talent via a trade.

Thus they could devote more money or trade chips to acquiring a genuine #2 starter (like Jon Lackey), which is far and away the team’s biggest need. Astonishingly, all that can flow from acknowledging Castillo’s one real strength and building from there. If the Mets do it and win then maybe Castillo will even take home the 2010 MVP Award.

Stuart Miller is the author of “The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports” and “Where Have All Our Giants Gone?”. You can visit is website at 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports.

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Anatomy of a Championship Deferred (or Life as a NY Jets fan)

Men who go to strip clubs for lap dances and people who root for the NY Jets have something in common. They are willing to invest their time and money in being teased. If you are in search of a sure thing, the Jets are not the team for you. Their roommates the Giants would perhaps be more to your liking. Jets fans have been the recipient of precisely one guarantee that came to fruition. Joe Namath stated that his team would win Super Bowl III and that’s what they proceeded to do. Subsequently the Jets have been perched on the perimeter of greatness on several occasions. Their fan base has been convinced over and over that the drought was at long last ended. It has been a decades long roller coaster ride. The Jets don’t spend much time near the top of the track, nor do they usually dwell at the bottom for lengthy periods. Instead they perform like the tide, approaching and receding, offering up and taking away, excelling only to screw up opportunities ripe for the taking, teasing us like a seasoned pro who knows her away around a lap well enough to bleed our wallets dry.

Okay, enough metaphor torturing. No doubt you’ve grasped the point. But don’t take my word for it, here are some chronologically ordered examples of post Namath’s #1 finger wag meltdowns by the boys in green. The 1982 Mud Bowl. They’ve made it all the way to the AFC Championship game. Behind the immaculate running of the spectacular Freeman McNeil there is simply no stopping us. Only quicksand could stop our offense, but NFL games are never played on quicksand. Well, the Dolphins manage to come up with the next best thing. Even though descendants of Noah quickly get to work on Ark II as a deluge of rain hits Miami, somehow the Dolphins conveniently neglect to cover the field. With McNeil unable to get his footing in the slop, the Jets must turn to an aerial assault. FIVE Richard Todd interceptions later, no less than THREE of them inexplicably grabbed by LINEBACKER A.J. Duhe who must have given Todd one of his kidneys prior to the game, and the dream is over.

In 1986 a personal foul penalty against Mark “the genius” Gastineau directly results in an overtime loss in the 2nd round of the playoffs to the Cleveland Browns. In 1993 the Jets needed to win just one of their last three games to qualify for the postseason behind the quarterback play of Boomer Esiason. If you’re thinking that they went 0-3 in that span I do believe you’re recognizing a trend here. In 1994 it was once again the Dolphins who did us in as the Jets allowed a 10-point 4th quarter lead to evaporate in a game punctuated by Dan Marino’s infamous “fake spike play”. In 1998 a 10-point halftime lead in the AFC Championship game is not enough for a Bill Parcells coached Jets team to hold against the eventual Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos. Still, getting so close to the Promised Land gives Jets Nation extremely high hopes for the 1999 season. The bubble is burst along with Vinnie Testadverde’s ruptured Achilles tendon in the first half of the first game, effectively ending the season and the Jets chances of becoming the third team to be led into the Super Bowl by Tuna. The 2000 season gave Jets fans the wonderful memory of the Monday Night Miracle game, but that Al Groh coached team which started out an impressive 6 -1 and had their destiny in their hands at 9 – 4 missed the playoffs by going 3–6 over the last 9 games of the season. I’m sure we all remember why Al Groh was coaching the Jets in the first place, how wrong the guy he replaced did us, and how well that guy ended up doing in New England after going Benedict Arnold on us. In 2004 the Jets completely outplayed the Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round of the playoffs, but victory was denied them when Doug Brien suddenly forgot that a critical part of his job security was the ability to kick field goals. And of course last season gave us the splendor of Brett Favre, a real live legend recruited on a short term basis to provide the arm strength lacked by Chad Pennington. Things looked pretty good after starting 8 – 3. Then comes yet another epic collapse and not only do the Jets fail to make the postseason, but the AFC East is won by none other than the Pennington led Miami Dolphins. Sounds like a joke, right? Nope, just another season for the “Same Old” New York Jets.

Other teams have eras of consistent greatness and periods of being steadily awful. Top franchises have many more good seasons than bad while inept ones have far more that are cringe inducing than are marked by superior quality. Game in and game out, season in and season out, even decade in and decade out, fans of those franchises know what to basically expect. If you’re a Steelers fan for example, you probably won’t spend a substantial portion of your life cycle in between championships. Same thing for Giants fans. On the other end of the spectrum, fans of teams such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers probably did not secure extra mortgages on their homes to purchase tickets for the Super Bowl this year because they expected their team to be playing in it. The Bucs have been every bit as bad as advertised. There is a certain comfort in predictability. But the New York Jets rarely provide their fans with such comfort. When you expect them to be terrible, they often turn out to be pretty good, and just when you get used to it and perhaps even dare to gloat about their promising prospects, the clock strikes midnight and they are once again transformed into the Keystone Cops.

2009 is playing out true to form, a microcosm of the team’s history. After three games, all wins, Rex Ryan was declared savior and Mark Sanchez the Messiah. After the next three games, all losses, and visions of the days of Rich Kotite dance demonically in our heads. It is now perfectly clear that the rest of this season will turn out either really really bad, or really really good, or else… Nah, the only thing certain is that nothing is apparent, there is no crystal ball for Jets fans. Expectations serve as devices of torture for us. “Same Old Jets” is the most ironic expression in all of sports because nothing remains the same for them except for the fact that they keep changing from season to season, game to game, quarter to quarter, possession to possession. The fan base is perpetually on the edge of their seats, at the ready to either cheer in triumph or curse in disgust. Only another clichéd sports expression keeps us from the abyss of insanity at the end of yet another promising but ultimately heartbreaking season. Just wait till next year.

- Roy Pickering (aka AuthorofPatches)
http://www.roypickering.net
http://lineaday.blogspot.com
Follow Roy Pickering on Twitter @AuthorofPatches

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Roy Pickering, Author of Patches of Grey and Loyal Jets Fan

Empire Sports Now is thrilled to have author and Jets fan Roy Pickering Jr. contributing with an article about the New York Jets called Anatomy of a Championship Deferred (or Life as a NY Jets fan). Read his article here and check out his book, Patches of Grey, on Amazon.