can we talk about Starlin Castro?

[Guest]

You see I make a point about how walk rates for half a season can vary quite erratically, Starlin Castros has done this. Therefore, Castros "improvement" the second half of the season is only mildly encouraging. Of course it's better than not improving, but there's no reason to get excited for a pretty insignificant change over his career norm.

 

"Getting excited" in this case meaning "posting a link to a blog post without comment and without reply before you decried it as being more or less pointless".

 

I see even the moderators get in on the fun.

 

"Fun" in this case meaning "pointing out that jumping to snarky conclusions before ultimately agreeing with the consensus(that this is a positive but not definitive sign) is probably not a very agreeable form of conversation".

[treebird]

PETITION TO CHANGE THIS POSTER'S NAME FROM "THE CLASH" TO "THECLASH(CUT THE CRAP ALBUM ONLY)"

[TheClash]

Sort trey. Not interested

[Geech]

This is Kyle, right?

 

It really does seem like Kyle.

[Guest]

This is Kyle, right?

 

It really does seem like Kyle.

Keep guessing...

[Hairyducked Idiot]

This is Kyle, right?

 

It really does seem like Kyle.

Keep guessing...

 

If I wasn't Kyle, I probably would have guessed Kyle too.

[Guest]

This is Kyle, right?

 

It really does seem like Kyle.

Keep guessing...

 

If I wasn't Kyle, I probably would have guessed Kyle too.

The mods were on top of things and tracked it down to a previously banned member.

[Tracer Bullet]

Maybe Kyle is also a previously banned member. Let's ban him just to be safe.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Maybe Kyle is also a previously banned member. Let's ban him just to be safe.

 

Any time there's a site outage, I just assume it's finally happened.

[Guest]

This is Kyle, right?

 

It really does seem like Kyle.

Keep guessing...

 

If I wasn't Kyle, I probably would have guessed Kyle too.

The mods were on top of things and tracked it down to a previously banned member.

Meph, I was going to ask him if he loved Tim Tebow. Is he gone?

[RynoRules]

 

It really does seem like Kyle.

Keep guessing...

 

If I wasn't Kyle, I probably would have guessed Kyle too.

The mods were on top of things and tracked it down to a previously banned member.

Meph, I was going to ask him if he loved Tim Tebow. Is he gone?

 

Meph or Tebow?

[Guest]

Keep guessing...

 

If I wasn't Kyle, I probably would have guessed Kyle too.

The mods were on top of things and tracked it down to a previously banned member.

Meph, I was going to ask him if he loved Tim Tebow. Is he gone?

 

Meph or Tebow?

I swear I didn't write that...

[UMFan83]

Stop posting in this thread. Now that its the offseason, I just assume Castro has **allegedly** raped another girl.

[Guest]

Short Fangraphs piece on Castro's development from a fantasy perspective

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/starlin-castro-skill-plateau-or-even-better-coming/

[Cubswin11]

Short Fangraphs piece on Castro's development from a fantasy perspective

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/starlin-castro-skill-plateau-or-even-better-coming/

Good article, though I don't think anything that most of us didn't know. Basically Castro had a solid year and improved in more areas than he stayed the same/declined at and most things point to him growing in a lot of offensive areas in the coming years and he didn't have a disaster of a season nor do things point to him being a potential disaster in the future.

[NewUserName]

PETITION TO CHANGE THIS POSTER'S NAME FROM "THE CLASH" TO "THECLASH(CUT THE CRAP ALBUM ONLY)"

 

I have gone 20+ yrs without even thinking of this album....thanks Trey

[Cubswin11]

Thought this was interesting. I don't know that I buy the only reason he struggled was the negotiations but I guess it could be part of the equation. Also interesting that he might play winter ball, I haven't heard anything about that until this article.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/14234/agent-contract-pressure-affected-castro

 

NASHVILLE -- Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro is happy to have a pressure-filled season behind him, his agent Paul Kinzer said Monday.

 

Kinzer said the contract extension talks over the summer took a toll on the 22-year-old Castro, who signed a seven-year, $60 million deal on Aug. 28.

 

“The pressure got to him," Kinzer said Monday at the baseball winter meetings. “You should see his stats when we were negotiating. They were up before, then went down, then went back up."

 

Castro hit .264 in June, .235 in July and .252 in August after a batting .317 through the first two months of the season. After signing the deal, he rebounded by hitting .324 in September.

 

“Now the pressure is off him," Kinzer said. “He can just go out and play baseball like he did his rookie season. Everything is behind him."

 

Castro also dealt with a sexual assault allegation during the last offseason. Chicago police investigated the allegation but never filed charges.

 

In addition to the stress from contract talks, Castro's occasional mental lapses on the field and on the basepaths continued.

 

With all of that behind him, Kinzer said Castro should be ready to mature into the star the Cubs expect him to become.

 

“Sometimes you have to fail before you can really succeed," Kinzer said.

 

Castro, who bought his family a house after signing the contract, is debating playing winter ball but Kinzer would rather he didn't.

 

“I just want him to go to the academy and train," Kinzer said. “But sometimes the lure of playing in front of family and friends is pretty great. I think he needs some rest."

 

Castro played in every game last season and all but four the year before. After becoming the youngest player in history to lead the National League in hits with 207 in 2011, Castro's overall numbers dipped in 2012. He batted .283 with 14 home runs and 78 RBIs and struck out 100 times for the first time in his career.

[UMFan83]

That's silly. Anyways if it was true I'd be worried about how he'd handle pressure in meaningful games if he couldn't handle a contract negotiation.

[apete6]

That's silly. Anyways if it was true I'd be worried about how he'd handle pressure in meaningful games if he couldn't handle a contract negotiation.

 

Who knows, though? Some people take different situations differently. Some people get super stressed about work or talking to women or taking a test but can go out and dominate on the field or in a board room or whatever.

 

Maybe worrying about his family's financial future or getting hurt before his big payday was more worrisome to him than just going out and playing in a game, even if that game is an important one. Everyone's personality is different, so that could be a bad comparison.

 

Or it could be true and he will bat .100 in the 2015 World Series. Let's hope there is actually a meaningful game for him to play in one of these days.

[Clem Fandango]

This headline sounds really damning compared to how the quote comes off...

 

Headline: "Cubs Manager Dale Sveum Calls Out Starlin Castro, Says He’s Only Focused ’80-85 Percent’ of Time"

 

Quote: “He came a long way, but still has to even concentrate more. We’ve got him probably — just throwing a number out there — really focused 80-85 percent of the time. We got to get that to 95 percent of the time. I don’t think anybody ever really focuses 100 percent.”

 

http://nesn.com/2012/12/cubs-manager-dale-sveum-says-shortstop-starlin-castro-is-only-focused-80-to-85-percent-of-time/

[Guest]

This headline sounds really damning compared to how the quote comes off...

 

Headline: "Cubs Manager Dale Sveum Calls Out Starlin Castro, Says He’s Only Focused ’80-85 Percent’ of Time"

 

Quote: “He came a long way, but still has to even concentrate more. We’ve got him probably — just throwing a number out there — really focused 80-85 percent of the time. We got to get that to 95 percent of the time. I don’t think anybody ever really focuses 100 percent.”

 

http://nesn.com/2012/12/cubs-manager-dale-sveum-says-shortstop-starlin-castro-is-only-focused-80-to-85-percent-of-time/

It's a stupid, poorly thought out comment by his manager. He doesn't know how much Castro "focuses". Sveum should leave the [expletive] psychology to the likes of Sullivan, Rozner, and White Power Kaplin.

[mookie]

Much ado about nothing. Castro doesn't need to focus. He is plugged into the vibe dial.

[javy knows my name]

I wonder if Sweum et al go "hey Castro, I'm gonna say something stupid about you to placate the media because they think brown people are lazy. Don't, um, pay attention to any of it."

[Tracer Bullet]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if a young superstar on a terrible team didn't focus as much as his manager would like or that his manager, when asked, might be honest. Why is this a story?

[KingCubsFan]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if a young superstar on a terrible team didn't focus as much as his manager would like or that his manager, when asked, might be honest. Why is this a story?

Yeah, all Sveum is saying is that he's made a lot of progress, but he still has work to do. Not sure what else he's supposed to say.

 

This is the part that pissed me off:

 

He’s bumped into problems with the law and his work ethic has been spotty during his tenure with the Cubs.

 

By all accounts, he's been a hard worker his whole career. What a careless statement. All you need to do is see that Starlin and Junior Lake started in the organization at the very same time. One is more naturally gifted, but is noted for not having a great work ethic and having problems with coaching. The other is a two time All-Star in the majors at the age of 23.