I was going to give Big Pud a big "see you in hell' post on account of this news, but I've devoted enough of my time to that waste of sperm and egg. Instead I'd rather take the time to welcome and introduce our newest two headed backstop.
Yorvit Castro, meet Ramon Torrealba. Or what have you.
A lot of people will be moaning about this being another example of Omar and 'Los Mets' and that Lo Duca was the only one who showed any fire or passion last year and we're going to miss him this year. Well, people are stupid. There were not a lot of good options this off season at catcher. Lets looks at what could have gone wrong.
Sign Posada for $13/mil a year for 4 years, at the end of which Posada would be 41. Also give up our 1st round draft pick. May be one of those contract years will work in the Mets favor. Posada is not worth it the way Pedro was. Pass.
Trade what little prospect chips we have for Ramon Hernendez or Whats his name Paulino or someone else who sucks. Sorry, we need those prospects to at least try and make a run at an ace. Pass.
Sign Lo Duca for 2 years at, lets say $5mil each (just a wild guess, he made 6/year and did not have a *horrible* year coming off his contract). This, I'm gathering, is the most popular alternative. Great, you want to pay Lo Duca for his declining years. HE IS THIRTY EFFING FIVE. That is not the red zone for catchers, that is the dead zone. Look up all the productive 36+ catchers. Go ahead. Lets see what we got, Carlton Fisk and uh... uh... 1 year of Posada? Yup, thats it. Lo Duca's OPS+ was 80 last year. Guess which way its headed. Oh plus he can't play defense worth squat anymore, and last time I checked, that was a pretty important part of being a catcher (unless your last name is Piazza). And for the sake of brevity, I will skip the personality stuff. Needless to say, PASS.
That bring us to Yorstro Castroalba. Castroalba will cost at most $7mil a year for two years. Yes, Yorvit Torrealba had a crappy batting average away from Coors last year. But he is 28 and his career OPS+ is 80 (hmm.. where have I seen that number before?). OPS+ takes park affects into account. He also, shoulder problems this year aside, plays nasty defense. Yorvit is going to be a weak hitting (but not that weak, get over his low batting average) defensive stud. We have not had a good fielding catcher in a looooong time. I am looking forward to it. Castro has incredible power and for only being $4mil for 2 years, is a bargain. And his bad back will be mitigated by his role as a back up.
OK, this is not perfect situation. Yorvit's contract looks way to big, both players have weaknesses, neither player bangs 19 year old babysitters or have gambling addictions, etc etc, but still, I'll take it. I'll take it and ride with it all the way to the vicinity of Betelgeuse.
