I wasn't going to weigh in on the whole Starlin Castro incident until I heard Kevin Millar's take on the MLB Network the other day.
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| Turn around Starlin!!!!! |
For those that are unaware on the topic at hand, Castro was caught on camera not paying attention in the field as a pitch was thrown. Castro was clearly miffed at an at bat earlier and his emotions sidetracked his job on the field. A rookie error indeed but unfortunately for him this happened during ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball national telecast. Joe Morgan Bobby Valentine then went on a seven minute rant during that half inning lambasting the young star. At one point Bobby V even stated, "If those things are allowed to exist, then a cancer will form within the team." Really Bobby? This is the cancer that takes the Cubbies down? I guess things like winning games, huge multimillion dollar contracts, Jim Hendry, and Carlos Zambrano have nothing to do with the downfall of the Cubs.
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| Not a cancer |
The next day Millar went on the offensive against Castro, however he waffled continuously over whose fault this was and could never definitively come up with a true opinion. Nobody wants to give this guy any slack only because he has had lack of concentration issues in his short past as a pro. Guess what guys, he's only 21 years old still. Nobody ever yelled at Paul O'Neill of the Yankees for taking imaginary swings out in right field especially after he had a bad at bat earlier. The only argument these guys use is that anyone at that level should know better and it's totally inexcusable. Young players, especially the ones from the Latin countries are pulled up so fast to play ball in the bigs that they have even less time to grow up and mature. It's obvious that we expect way too much from these guys in such a short amount of time. Castro is already being likened to guys like Derek Jeter which are huge expectations for a kid trying to make it. Jeter is a one of a kind superstar and putting pressure on a kid to be something that he may not be is not fair to him and in the end may make him a worse ballplayer.
The Cubs did the right thing for the game after by benching Castro and giving him a "Metal Day Off." I'm sure this is only because on the national attention that this got. I for one know that things like this happen more than not. Even though guys are facing the batter doesn't mean they are paying attention to the next pitch or are ready to field a ball. I've done this, you may have, let's get over it and start paying more attention to a guy who is a bright spot on a Cubs team that is mainly a disaster.
For those of you that can actually manage listening to Bobby Valentine here's the rant:
yea, no, i cannot listen to the entire bobby v rant... in the 1st minute he just kept saying the same thing over and over
ReplyDeleteas for castro, no excuses for not paying attention, as a coach, you take him out right then and there, its over with, then you move on
benching him the next day is the next best thing i guess... but its apparent quade wasnt paying attention to the game either, otherwise i doubt he would have left him in