Comments on: Richard Castillo: International Man of Mystery

By: St. Louis Cardinals Community Top 30: Consider the Kids (Vote for No. 27) | Bird Land | STLtoday

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:15:17 +0000

[...] Redbirds has a write up about Castillo and Scout.com is featuring its take on Castillo for free right now. The writeup from Future Redbirds [...]

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:51:43 +0000

Thanks right - I got confused - I was thinking Cedar Rapids not Clinton

By: erik

erik — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:45:36 +0000

Clinton is quite a drive, like an hour and a half, so i don’t think i’d be able to make it considering some other things on my plate right now.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:02:24 +0000

I believe it will be Castillo’s turn Sat. night - he last pitched Monday - in Clinton. Erik will you get a chance for a 1st hand view

By: Shhh

Shhh — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:28:17 +0000

When did the Giants ever pay Bonds too much money?

I agree with you somewhat, in that Beane is trying to make a splash and giving a kid 4M is sure to do that. Remember last year when everyone was mad the Cards didn’t pick Porcello, well this kid will get less than half of what Porcello will end up making after his options for ‘11 and ‘12 are picked up. Now you are putting all your eggs in one basket with this kid, but he does have phenomenal projection. It probably is more smart to sign about 45 100k guys for the same price, but those guys won’t get the fans excited like Iona will, at least the first few years.

By: lassie01

lassie01 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:26:17 +0000

Yep, I meant signing period, sorry had draft on the brain.

By: Beau

Beau — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:58:22 +0000

Baseball is a business. As such, Beane needs to think about competing with the Giants for paying fans. His franchise has traditionally been much poorer. SF is the more affluent side of the Bay. SF pays Barry Bonds and Barry Zito too much money, whereas Beane cannot even pay slot bonuses in 2002 for all his high picks.

There need be no conflict between showboating and wanting to win. The advertising function is to get the good news message broadcast to fans: while the Giants labor under the burden of the Zito contract, the As are signing the best prospect of the decade from Latin America. Its a good message for the Bay area fan base.

And if Inoa is indeed this good, then it may not be a bad move.

Beane cannot outbid the BoSox for D-Mat or the next D-Mat. He has to pick his opportunities. He does not have to make recommendations and suck up to a Steinbrenner, Beane can just act. Go for it, Billie boy.

By: erik

erik — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:14:46 +0000

I really doubt Beane does anything w/ showboating in mind. I think the man wants to win ball games.

By: Beau

Beau — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:01:50 +0000

Billie Beane is decisive. And he wants to market his franchise as clever. He is playing in a 2 team market and the Giants used to be much more popular. Beane has to position the As as more loveable. What does he do? He makes a big gesture on Inoa.

I do not doubt Inoa is good, but the Cards are not going to get into Showboating. We are going to look to make the best yielding investments. This probably does not mean plunking down $5M on one kid, no matter how good he is. We are going to invest smaller amounts in many more guys.

By: erik

erik — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:41:56 +0000

If the low budget A’s are that high on Inoa, than he must be a heckuva player. It’s not as big of a risk for the Yankees or Red Sox, but for the A’s to believe that much in him say something to me.