Castillo over Biggio? Castillo with a higher BA and OBP, but lacking elsewhere. Other Marlins already on the squad (Cabrera, Willis) so that wasn't a factor. Comments?
Biggio is having a great year but Luis Castillo is having a great year also. He is a gold glove caliber defender who gets on base at a very high rate. He has 37 BB and only struck out 11 times which is scary. He doesn't drive in runs like Biggio but is having a better overall season. I think La Russa was looking for a speedy, defense 2nd baseban like Castillo because he knows that what you need that at the end of the games. Thats why he chose Castillo and Izturis.
IMO what screwed Biggio is when the moved him to the 3 hole. I know they didn't have a lot of options but he really did struggle in the 3 hole. He batted .225, 3 hr, and had only a .279 OBP in 102 AB's. In the 2 hole, he hit .318, 5 hr, and had a .386 OBP in 170 AB's.
Granted, I don't think it was highway robbery that Castillo was chosen. His numbers are different than Biggio's b/c he is asked to be a tablesetter for the Marlins rather than a run producer. Nonetheless, despite his gaudy AVG. and OBP, there are quite a few of NL 2B's putting up much better numbers than him, including guys that were part-timers for a portion of the 1st half, i.e. Hall and Utley. The media focuses on Morgan getting jobbed, which he did, but at least the other selection in front of him, Aramis, was deserving (can't do much about Rolen starting). Just wanted to throw these numbers other there. More than anything, an All-Star appearance for Biggio this late in his career would have been great for his HOF push b/c it would have shown he wasn't just hanging on in these later years trying to get numbers. Luis Castillo 0.338 59 213 45 72 17 7 2 2 7 5 37 11 4 89 0.418 0.416 Craig Biggio 0.283 79 290 49 82 34 24 1 10 8 1 16 45 7 138 0.476 0.342 Other players also with better numbers than Castillo to this point. Marcus Giles AVG Games AB's Runs Hits RBI's Doubles Triples HR 0.287 75 275 53 79 27 25 0 7 SB CS Walk K's ER TB Slugging OBP 11 2 35 62 5 125 0.455 0.368 Chase Utley 0.303 69 228 36 69 38 15 1 11 7 2 28 51 5 119 0.522 0.385 Bill Hall 0.280 73 239 38 67 36 18 2 13 9 1 16 46 9 128 0.536 0.324
Since I've already monopolized this thread... Kent left yesterday's game w/ a hamstring injury, so it's possible that this will pave Biggio's way to the ASG after all.
