Jose de Jesus Ortiz is reporting that Jason Castro could be ready for the Majors by season's end.
No one is as upset about this as Q. Humberto "The Bridesmaid" Quintero hit .226 for the Astros last season, in 59 games - hitting .273 against lefties. Problem is, those 59 games? Yeah, career high. He's 29 years old and has certainly earned at least a shot at the starting catcher position. (Certainly more than JR Towles, who got 30% of his career RBIs in one game. And one of his career five homers was off an infielder in an 18-1 game).
Michael Barrett is a target. Castro, who was worthy of a 10th overall pick in last year's draft is good enough to piss off the Mets because they wanted him, won't be ready until September at the earliest. Maybe 2010. What do you do?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
