FanPost

When do the excuses for Castro end


When do the excuses for Castro end, and we star holding him accountable?

First of all, yes I understand he has a lot of upside and potential. I know he is a good player and has some fine tuning needed, but reality has to start setting in as we close in on the end of his second season.


I have seen on BCB and elsewhere time and time again the same old excuse, he is young and will get better. This is the exact same excuse used in the past for Felix Pie, Corey Patterson, Kevin Orie, Ronny Cedeno, and the list goes on. His power is doubles power, nothing to get too excited about. He does not walk, hell you are more likely to walk Soriano than Castro. He does not take pitches, he averages less than 4 pitches per AB. His defense needs a lot of work, with another ball thrown away last night. His errors are both mental and physical. Sure he gets to balls others cannot, but he also misses balls right at him, they tend to cancel each other out.

Now to this we can add his slacking and day dreaming in the field.

Last night ESPN and Bobby Valentine sadly showcased Castro with his back to the game, looking at the stars and digging in his back pocket for sunflower seeds. While he was doing this, there was a pitch and he missed it. There is the chance that ball could have been hit and smacked him in the back of the head, causing a lot of problems, not just for the Cubs but for him. This cannot be blamed on the coaches, he has to have enough common sense and understanding to be facing the right direction during a pitch. People like to say Theriot has no baseball sense, and place Cedeno below that, yet they have never been caught looking his foolish in the field (over running second base aside).

Castro really needs to either dedicate 100% to improving in these areas, or the next GM needs to be prepared for when Cub fans jump him for no trading Castro when his stock was highest.

If he is playing in MLB, I do not care if he is 21 or 221, he needs to play like one. That means working a count, taking a walk, and as crazy as it may seem, look the right direction when in the field.

If you will make an excuse for Castro and his day dreaming, then do not rip into other players. Be consistent is all I ask.

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