Castillo vs. Feliz, the final round

End of summer has been busy for me - I haven't been able to dutifully tend my blarg. So I'm a few days late with my final comparison between the Giants' now-former third baseman Jose Castillo and his predecessor Pedro Feliz. I've compared both fellas twice before (most recently on June 1), and with Castillo being DFA'd on August 13, now is the time for the final head-to-head.

Note that Feliz has been on the 15-day DL since July 26-ish, so the games played and such won't be equal, but I think the more general stats will still be instructive to compare.

Let's start with offense. In 112 games through August 12, Castillo had 96 hits and 150 total bases (including 28 doubles, 4 triples and 6 homers). He also grounded into 16 double plays (it seems like soooo many more). Feliz, in his 99 games through July 25, had 87 hits and 144 total bases (almost as many as Castillo had in 13 more games), which included 17 doubles, 2 triples, and 12 homeruns. His GIDP number was 12 (it seems like soooo many more). Feliz was sporting a .256 batting average when he went on the DL (he's actually been fairly consistent with the bat); Castillo's BA dropped to .244 when he was DFA'd (his production suffered greatly since the break).

The last time I compared the two, their OBP/SLG/OPS numbers were actually pretty similar, with a slight edge to Castillo. This time around, however, we can see how Castillo has been struggling - his .290/.381/.671 is a pretty big drop, while Feliz stayed pretty steady at .304/.424/.728.

And although Feliz had far fewer games, his RBI total still far exceeds Castillo's, at 46 to 35. Castillo's strike out total of 71(!) was far more than Feliz's 42. Castillo had become even more of an offensive liability since the break.

On to defense. The number of games each started at 3B was still similar - 103 for Castillo, 97 for Feliz. Yet Castillo recorded 15 errors to Feliz' 8. Comparing FPCT/RF/ZR, Castillo sits at .934/2.34/.774 (which is yet another drop from his numbers on June 1, which were .950/2.65/.806); Feliz is much better defensively at .968/2.79/.828 (again, consistent with his June 1 numbers).

I was getting very nervous with the front office talk of keeping Castillo around this year and next to see if he could be a productive member of the team. His numbers are worse than mediocre - and he's not going to get any better. So I was relieved when he was DFA'd - that meant that management had wised up and determined that his offensive and defensive futility were not going to be a part of the necessary rebuilding.

Rich Aurilia is currently doing respectably at 3B, while rookie Ryan Rohlinger gets an accelerated promotion and a chance to impress management. So far he seems overwhelmed at the plate, and he's already made a couple of errors, but I'll enjoy watching him play much more than I ever could stand to watch Castillo (who, in turn, was less stomach-turning than Feliz - go figure). At least I'll have the eternal optimism that youth can improve and contribute before cynicism and disappointment creep in.