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Rays give up on Castilla

Tampa Bay caps a $13-million flub by releasing the third baseman (.215 with 2 homers and 9 RBI).

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 11, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Mistakes, as anyone who follows the local nine has learned, are part of baseball.

So too, the Rays are finding out, is admitting them.

The Rays acknowledged a major one Thursday, releasing struggling third baseman Vinny Castilla and eating the nearly $5.5-million remaining on his contract.

The move highlighted a tumultuous day for the Rays, who also sent pitcher Ryan Rupe to Triple A, placed Mike Judd on the disabled list and recalled relievers Travis Phelps, Ariel Prieto and Dan Wheeler from Triple A.

[Times photo: Michael Rondou] Vinny Castilla looks unimpressed with his view from the dugout after his first benching, watching the Rays-Red Sox game April 17.

The Rays don't, and may never, know why Castilla performed so poorly after being acquired in a December 1999 trade from Colorado. The former All-Star hit .219 with eight home runs and 51 RBI in 109 games for Tampa Bay -- while collecting $13-million.

But, having discussed the possibility for months, they decided Wednesday night they had seen enough, cutting Castilla loose and handing the third base job to Aubrey Huff.

"The numbers speak for themselves," Rays general manager Chuck LaMar said. "It was time to go with Aubrey Huff. We think he's a fine young player and want to give him his at-bats, admit a mistake and go on down the road."

The move comes not only at great expense, but also with the potential risk that Castilla, who will be free to sign with any team as of 1 p.m. Tuesday, will rediscover his form in another uniform.

"We never truly saw the Vinny Castilla that we traded for, and I think the player that we traded for is still in there somewhere," LaMar said. "We didn't expect a superstar who was going to carry the team single-handedly. We didn't expect the numbers he was putting up in Colorado. ... We thought we were getting a guy who would hit .270-.280, hit 20 home runs, drive in 80-100 runs, and, with limited range, be a solid defensive third baseman, and I can't tell you today that he's still not that player."

For some reason, Castilla, 33, wasn't close during his stay in Tampa Bay. He began last season on the disabled list and never really seemed to be fully healthy, going back on the DL two more times. He showed up healthy this spring but did not perform well. He began the season as the starter, was benched by former manager Larry Rothschild, was reinstated when Hal McRae took over and was benched again during Monday's game. He was hitting .215 with two homers and nine RBI.

"Things just didn't work out for me here," Castilla said. "If I knew why, this wouldn't have happened."

There have been suggestions, ranging from too-high expectations to injuries to a trickier-than-expected adjustment to the American League to a greater-than-estimated impact of playing home games in Coors Field.

"For whatever reason, when a guy gets off to a bad start and starts to press and the media gets down on him and the fans get down on him and the organization then gets down on him, from then on out that edge is gone, and I think that is what happened to Vinny," LaMar said. "I think he's a better player than what we saw last year when he was injured and I think he's a better player than what we saw this year because of the way the situation has been handled. I just think he never got any momentum going here to feel good about being a Tampa Bay Devil Ray."

Talk among team officials about releasing Castilla started in spring training, and was considered again when Castilla was benched a month ago in Baltimore.

But LaMar was trying to find a way to salvage something from the trade in which the Rays gave up Rolando Arrojo and Aaron Ledesma, hoping Castilla would improve enough to create a market. LaMar said he talked repeatedly with every team, seeking a prospect or some way to recoup some of the salary burden, which was going to be "tremendously tough" for a limited-budget team like the Rays to swallow.

"I felt like I owed it to the organization to continue to explore every opportunity, and it just wasn't going to come about," LaMar said. "I just was not going to be able to move Vinny Castilla for any type of prospect or financial considerations. Someone will sign him immediately and I think he will show people in baseball more ability than what he showed the people in Tampa Bay, but it's still the right decision."

In retrospect, LaMar said the worst part of the deal wasn't losing Arrojo, but giving up the financial freedom by committing $13-million to Castilla for the two years. Especially on top of the $15-million they paid to injured pitchers Wilson Alvarez and Juan Guzman last season and the $14-million they are paying them this season. "That's where it really caused problems for the organization," LaMar said. "It sort of hand-tied us as Guzman and Alvarez have, illustrations of money we could have spent somewhere else and made this club better, but we didn't."

Castilla was at the least relieved, and bordered on seeming pleased by the decision.

"I tried and I wasn't happy here. Hopefully, I'll be happy somewhere else," Castilla said. "A fresh start should help me a lot. I was frustrated here. Things didn't go the way everyone wanted them to. The Devil Rays expected me to do some things and I expected to do some things."

Castilla's agent, Eric Goldschmidt, said he expects there to be considerable interest. A team signing Castilla would have to pay him just $156,284, the prorated share of the $200,000 major-league minimum.

Teams that might be interested include the Rangers, White Sox, Giants, Indians, Orioles and Twins.

Huff, who was so sick with a virus Wednesday that he spent part of the night at the hospital, felt good about the opportunity he now has.

"Playing every day is going to help me a lot," Huff, 24, said. "I'm just going to come in here now and do the job I've always done throughout the minor leagues and hopefully come up here and continue that."

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