Giants Claim Jose Castillo

Cantu, Wood the winners

Looks like the Marlins have themselves a new third baseman. Jorge Cantu is the guy after the Marlins placed Jose Castillo on waivers and didn't pull him back when the Giants claimed him.

As recently as a week ago I think the Marlins were giving serious thought to carrying both Cantu and Castillo. That changed when they determined Cantu wouldn't be a defensive liability, leaving them to decide whether Castillo or Jason Wood would be the better option off the bench.

The nod went to Wood, not only because of what he did last season but the professionalism he brings to the clubhouse. That's not a knock on Castillo, who unlike Wood is a difference maker defensively. I didn't see anything from Castillo this spring to suggest he would be an undesirable influence in the clubhouse. He did fall out of favor with his former Pirates teammates. One time double play partner Jack Wilson even called him out before the start of last season for what Wilson considered uninspired play.

Maybe the Marlins took that into consideration. Wood has been in the system going on seven years now and the Marlins know exactly what they have.

Cantu has been fabulous this spring with the bat. Is he going to hit .450 this season or even in April? Probably not, but he has enough of a major league track record to suggest this isn't some spring aberration. He hasn't embarrassed himself defensively, but Cantu also has a defensive track record that indicates the Marlins won't be significantly better at third base than they were a year ago.

Neither Cantu nor Castillo was going to make anybody forget about Miguel Cabrera, but at least with Castillo the Marlins had more certainty of steadier defense at third, which in turn could have made Hanley Ramirez a better shortstop.

At this point, does anyone have reason to believe the Marlins will be better defensively than they were a year ago?