More on Alex Cora’s departure
I got so excited by the news of Alex Cora’s departure on Saturday that I didn’t spend a whole lot of time assessing the other roster moves involved. Eric Simon did a nice job of it here and I agree with mostly everything he wrote there: Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada likely aren’t ready to hit in the Majors, but if the Mets aren’t going to contend anyway I’d rather watch them than Luis Castillo and Jeff Francoeur.
.jpg/250px-Ruben_Tejada_on_April_9,_2010_(cropped).jpg "Here's what Ruben Tejada looks like.")
One additional note: I’ve seen some bristling about Cora’s departure because Castillo is still with the Mets. And while I don’t doubt that the money the Mets owe their hobbled second baseman is keeping him on the team as much as any other factor, Castillo still has one baseball skill. He can’t play great defense or hit for any power, but he can get on base a bit.
If the Mets are committed to putting Tejada in their lineup, Castillo’s on-base ability makes him more valuable to the current club than Cora. Tejada offers the team defensive flexibility, so if the Mets are going to have one backup middle infielder they might as well choose the one that might actually avoid making an out if called upon to pinch-hit.
Yes, the Mets are probably only keeping Castillo around because of the $6 million left on his contract for 2011. And yes, they should have signed Felipe Lopez or Orlando Hudson on the cheap this offseason and cut bait on sunk costs. And yes, based on everything we’ve seen for the past year or so, it’s fair to guess that the Mets cut Cora more because of his looming vesting option than his inability to contribute anything tangible to a baseball team.
But all that said, if they were choosing between Castillo and Cora to back up Tejada and Reyes for the remainder of the season, the Mets made the right call.
