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Spring Training always seems to produce an out-of-nowhere player who rakes for a couple of weeks and then turns into a pumpkin once the regular season starts. However, for the New York Yankees this spring, the head-turner happens to be Starlin Castro, and the new second baseman already has Yankees fans dreaming of a great season.
Ever since Robinson Cano left the Yankees, second base has been something of a black hole. Brian Roberts was given a shot in 2014, but he proved to be shot and was replaced by Stephen Drew, who came over in a rare trade with the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline. Drew wasn’t much of an upgrade, but the Yankees re-signed him to a one-year, $5 million deal anyway. Drew posted a .201/.271/.381 slash line with 17 home runs, 44 RBI, 43 runs scored and 16 doubles in 131 games. Drew was the target of a lot of ire from Yankees fans last season, and with good reason.
Adding Castro is an instant upgrade at what was the Yankees worst position offensively. The Yankees finished second in all of baseball with 764 runs scored last season while playing Drew and seeing Jacoby Ellsbury have a down year and Mark Teixeira only playing in 111 games. Replacing Drew with Castro will be an immense difference, especially if health stays on their side this season.
Health aside, replacing Drew with Castro gives the Yankees a player who will be 26 by Opening Day and has 991 hits to his resume to go along with his three All-Star Game appearances. Castro led the league in hits in 2011 with 207 and while he is coming off of the worst season of his career, he did show a drastic improvement over the second half of the year.
Last season, Castro hit .247/.283/.321 in the first half of the season. Over the last 65 games of the year, however, he hit .295/.319/.464 and had six home runs compared to the five he hit over 86 games in the first half.
The Yankees are gambling that Castro will resemble the player from the second half of last season and not the first. The first 10 games of Spring Training look like the Yankees made a good gamble. Time will tell if the Yankees are getting a resurgent Castro or a possible pumpkin. Either way, though, Castro will be an upgrade over Drew at second, and that in itself is something to look forward to for Yankees fans.
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