Due the Cubs want Castillo...

I think that Louis Castillo is getting a raw deal in NY, if you place his stats for a #2 hitter in front of most Mets fans with no name next to them they would take them in a minute.

Still Castillo is a player that most fans want to be the first player to be traded this off-season.

Let me debunk a few miss-beliefs about Castillo..

Castillo is a lazy fielder who is severely declining. I'm not going to sit here and try to convince anyone that he is an above average 2B nor am I trying to say he's the 2B he was five years ago in Florida. But Castillo's image as a fielder was negatively impacted by a revolving door at short stop of inexperienced players and players being over used at the position and an inexperienced 1B who was fundamentally flawed. The result was that the infield was constantly out-of position, there were numerous blown assignments and clearly Castillo grew frustrated as the anchor of an unstable situation. It seemed that Castillo took the brunt of the criticism but if your really look at a lot of the mistakes they can be attributed to Murphy being out of position and SS missing assignments at second, the worst that can be said about Castillo who is a serviceable 2B is that he allowed his frustration to get to him...

Castillo's offensive numbers are empty, he is too patient, constantly looking for walks and is a slap hitter that's only effect is to pad his batting average. Again Castillo's numbers without a name, in the #2 hole would be a welcome additions, aside from being viewed negatively simply due to his name, he also struggled as a result of the line-up around him. Had Castillo produced as he did in 2009 with a healthy Jose Reyes in front of him and Wright producing his normal numbers behind him, it would be hard to knock Castillo. Castillo was hitting with either an inexperienced Pagan as the lead-off hitter, who is a mess on the base path or a revolving door lead-off man, which I believe resulted in him being more patient or swinging to protect erratic situations when he normally wouldn't or simply bunting to move the runner over. But even when he advanced the runner ( which is his primary job in the two hole) or got on himself, Wright wasn't producing behind him making his .300 BA look empty.

However, at 33 y/o with bad knees and now with his contract looking reasonable to other teams, along with the numbers he produced last year his value could be at the highest it will ever be. Additionally if the Mets feel they need to change the clubhouse atmosphere and Castillo needs to be part of that change, then I can understand moving him but not because he's an awful fielder and empty offensive player. With that sentiment in mind I can also understand why other teams would be interested...

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune takes a look at other ways the Cubs could obtain Castillo now that the Jays clearly don't want Bradley. Rogers goes on to make a case for why the Cubs should want Louie and basically makes him out to be a change of scenery guy for why NY will look to trade him...

What if the Mets would take Pat Burrell from the Rays or someone like Brandon McCarthy or Chris Davis from the Rangers -- and perhaps Mike Fontenot from the Cubs -- to facilitate getting rid of Castillo? source Chicago Tribune