Welington Castillo had a strong 2nd half and a lot of bad luck in the first half offensively. His defense, according to some reports, has progressed, and if Soto struggles in 2010, Castillo could be ready to take over for him in 2011, or at least, challenge. I still compare him more to Bengie Molina than the Yadier Molina comparisons that a lot of folks hav emade.

After some positive reports at the end of 2008, James Russell never developed as a starter, but the son of Jeff still has enough of a potential pro arsenal, if looking at stuff, to ponder out of the pen. Has to be more consistent, and some breaking ball development would be nice.

Gaub’s a real intriguing guy, particularly with Lambert ending up being operated on, and Papelbon more in a Marshall-jack-of-all-trades lefty mode (Ruhlman/Russell being a slight notch behind), who burned his way through and has quality LOOGY stuff that has a borderline shot to be utilized as an occasional setup man if he is consistent. Still gets occasionally exposed against righties.

Parker could fit into the pen mix for next year as well, but has to improve the control a tad. Potential 7th/8th inning man, with a good fastball/slider combination.

Of course, there’s Cashner, Castro, and Vitters. With Vitters, I’m not looking for much other than to play. He missed too much time, and to expect some rapid development in discipline in AFL might be assuming too much, considering it is a hitter’s league. If he does improve on that, great. With Castro, I think it’s a matter of consistency. He’s had a long year and change, starting with instructs last fall and burning his way up. Cleaning up defense would be nice, but it’ll be hard for us to hear about that, and expecting power development might be expecting too much. It should come, but let it come naturally. As for Cashner, I’m hoping he tidies up his slider (which we should be able to tell from his K rates down there with the more advanced players) and can go deeper into games.

Samardzija’s over in winter league in Mexico, IIRC. Will be interesting to follow, as I think he could fit in our pen for next year, but will likely start at Iowa.