The Chicago Cubs managed to take two out of three from the Minnesota Twins over the weekend, but shortstop Starlin Castro did not help set the tone well in the first inning of the first game of the series.
The 25-year-old continues to struggle with his defense. He misplayed a ground ball with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning on Friday, which allowed a run to score, and then he slowly picked up the ball and got on himself for making the bad play. Another run scored while he wasn't paying attention as he expressed his disappointment.
Minnesota never looked back after that two-run first inning and they won the game 7-2. Castro apologized to his teammates for the physical and mental mistakes, but it was his 11th error in the past seven weeks and it's hard to believe the patience of the coaching and pitching staff isn't wearing thin.
"It's really embarrassing. I apologize for my teammates and the other guys," Castro said, via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. "That's not supposed to happen. I have no excuse for that. ... That's not supposed to happen. None. Not even one time. None."
Clubhouse sources told Wittenmyer that "more than one veteran teammate has gotten in Castro's face this year after a gaffe."
Castro has apologized time and time again, but words will not improve his defense, which has gotten worse as the season continues to progress. Second baseman Addison Russell has been said to be the team's future shortstop, which now has trade rumors afoot involving Castro.
"It wouldn't surprise rival evaluators if the Cubs explored some possible trade ideas with Castro before the July 31 deadline, because you could make the argument that the team would be better with Addison Russell at shortstop right now," writes ESPN Insider Buster Olney.
This is the latest such trade talk involving Castro. We noted earlier this month and in late May that Russell's value was "diminishing" at second base and that the team was waiting for the best deal involving Castro before making a move. Castro is still young and he's a part of an even younger Cubs' roster, but he's been in the MLB for six years now and his ongoing physical and mental errors are perhaps viewed as unacceptable at this point.
"The physical mistake I can suck all those up, and he knows he made a mistake beyond the physical mistake by not being aware of what was going on," manager Joe Maddon told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune.
But how many more physical mistakes can Maddon take? Castro ranks 26th among MLB shortstops with -7 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and his overall defensive value (def) is also 26th overall (-3.2).
The only full-time shortstop behind him in those categories? Marcus Semien of the Oakland Athletics, who leads the MLB with 22 errors at the position.
Chicago is more than likely to at least explore their options before the deadline and it wouldn't at all be a shock if they were shopping Castro.
