Castillo is a No Show

It was announced this week that Luis Castillo had agreed to an unusual deal with the Philadelphia Phillies: he would report to camp essentially for a 9-game try-out. If the club liked what they saw, he would be the squad's starting second baseman and be paid approximately $400,000 for the year; if the Phils weren't so impressed, he would be cut before opening day and the team wouldn't owe him a penny.

Sounds fair for a guy that only played 86 games last year and was placed on waivers by the Mets just this past Friday, doesn't it? Who wouldn't take full advantage of a team groomed for championships taking a chance on you to fill one of their biggest star's shoes?

The lineup for today's game was announced earlier this morning and within minutes it was being reported that Castillo was already scratched because he hadn't arrived in Clearwater yet. Games left to try-out: eight.

A few minutes after that, the lineup for tomorrow's game was posted sans Castillo. Down to seven games.

Then, ESPN's Enrique Rojas tweeted that Castillo was en route from Miami to Clearwater and that there was a mistake with the hotel reservations that prevented him from being at camp for today's game. Ruben Amaro, Jr. followed up by saying he expects Castillo to arrive at the park by 1 PM and should play tomorrow. Games left: back to eight.

Personally, when the Philadelphia Phillies are giving me a chance (deserved or otherwise) to fill Chase Utley's shoes for even ten minutes, I'm on the first plane to Tampa International and I'm sitting outside Bright House Field in my uniform at 3 AM the next day. Period. I don't care about a hotel room at that point.

Secondly, if you're not nearly as insane as me to be waiting on the steps to the ballpark in the middle of the night, you still make sure you're going to be where you need to be on time and ready to go. You don't leave the organization in limbo. And you certainly notice if you're in Miami and not Clearwater. Take matters into your own hands and just get there.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've never gotten a job by not showing up to the interview.

With a very limited amount of time to work with as it is, Castillo is sacrificing one, maybe two days to show that he deserves to be the starting second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. I can only hope that he leaves everything he has on the field in the time he has left, as Wilson Valdez has been ready to go since day one. If I were running a multi-million dollar organization, I would be taking all of this into consideration before taking a spot away from someone who maybe isn't the best player in the world, but at least comes to work. Pin It Now!