:: Closing Time ::

:: Thursday, March 27, 2003 ::

Dear lord.... First Lou, then Frankie. Two, two and a half days - and two fixtures of my time with Red Sox baseball gone. Frank Castillo, who just two seasons ago was the #3 starter behind Hideo Nomo.... first to the bullpen, then to the minors, then back to the majors.... and then, even after pitching some 15 odd innings over 7 outings to the tune of a brilliant 1.69 ERA in the spring.... gone. RELEASED?! I have to question the judgement of Epstein on this one. The arms you're keeping on the staff are virtual unknowns - and more importantly, availible later if you keep them in the minor league system. And you gave this guy up - this, a guy who had 10 wins as a starter in 2002... and four of his nine losses while giving up two runs or less. This guy couldn't get a fucking break and got absolutely no run support. And after having seen him perform under the worst kind of pressure - firing the game of his life against Clemens in August, six shutout innings only to have it washed away in a no decision - a game that was only lost 2-1. This guy would have been essential for us in October. In a way, I'm almost certain he'll be signed based on his spring training performance this year - but I'm PRAYING he won't be, so he'll come back to the Red Sox minor leagues, and we can fix this horrible mistake. Dear lord, what a fucking mistake.

Say it ain't so, Theo. Why'd you let Frankie go?
:: Peter 4:29 AM [+] ::
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