Juan Castro returns to the Reds

On Thursday, the Reds re-acquired utility infielder Juan Castro from the Minnesota Twins for minor league outfielder Brandon Roberts. Roberts was a 7th-round selection in the '05 draft and had a good year at Rookie-league Billings, hitting 0.318/0.386/0.438 (0.824) w/ 32 steals in 39 chances. Not a huge prospect, but not half-bad either. In contrast, Castro has a reputation as a classic all-field, no hit middle infielder. The reputation is well deserved. Recent Stats:

Year/Team	PA	PA/K	PA/BB	PA/HR	SB/%	OBP	SLG	OPS	PrOPS	GPA	EqA	VORP
2003/CIN	341	5.9	18.9	37.9	2/40%	0.290	0.388	0.678	---	0.228	0.232	-0.5
2004/CIN	314	6.2	22.4	62.8	1/100%	0.277	0.378	0.655	0.657	0.219	0.224	-3.5
2005/MIN	283	7.3	31.4	56.6	0/50%	0.279	0.386	0.665	0.692	0.222	0.237	-0.9

Offensively, Castro has been lucky to reach replacement level the past three years. He doesn't walk much, strikes out fairly often, and doesn't hit a whole lot of homers (though he did hit 9 in half-time work in '03). Defensively, Castro saw most of his innings last year at shortstop, and was 9 plays above average last year according to the fielding bible, which would translate to 21 plays above average in a full season's work. So yeah, the guy can pick it.

So we've got a solid defensive option in the infield for late innings. Frankly that's what I thought we'd have with Phillips before he showed what we can do, and I have no problem with having someone like that on the roster. But carrying 12 pitchers and three catchers does put a premium on roster spots, so it will be interesting to see what happens when, say, Edwin Encarnacion returns from the disable list. Like many, I feel like we're bound to see another trade soon. If only LaRue was hitting... Maybe someone'd be interested in Aurilia? Package with Milton while he's still throwing well for a starter? Or maybe straight up for a reliever? We shall see...