I’ve got to shorten these up or I’m never going to finish them. So here goes this:

The Major League second basemen in April: Luis Castillo, Alex Cora

Overview: Luis Castillo is my favorite player in the Major Leagues. I just decided that this morning, on my train ride into work, when I was thinking about writing this preview and thinking about Luis Castillo.

At one point, Castillo was a good defender. That’s no longer the case. At one point, he stole lots of bases. He doesn’t do that a ton anymore, either.

But Luis Castillo perseveres, because Luis Castillo is really really good at what he does. And what Luis Castillo does is get on base without any discernible batting power, no small feat.

Check it out: In this decade, a player has posted an isolated slugging (slugging average – batting average) of less than .100 with an on-base percentage over .350 in over 500 plate appearances 48 times.

That seems like a lot, I realize, but over 10 years, that means it only happens 4.8 times a season. And Castillo is responsible for eight of the 48 instances. No other player has done it more than four times.

For fun, keep the other qualifiers the same and knock the ISO down to .060, and it’s only happened 12 times in the aughts. No one but Castillo has done it more than once, and Castillo has done it five times.

Poke around the Fangraphs.com plate discipline leaders for the past few years. Every season he qualifies, Castillo swings at fewer pitches outside of the zone than nearly every other batter in the Majors, and makes contact with more of the pitches he swings at than nearly anyone else.

This, I’m certain, is all tied up with the lack of power, and it’s not something you need any fancy stats to identify. Dude has quick wrists and a good eye, and usually chops or slaps at the ball.

Because of his abject refusal to swing at bad pitches and his tendency to put good ones in play, Castillo has maintained a good on-base percentage even as the rest of his skills have eroded. And because the ability to get on-base is the most important offensive skill, Castillo is still a worthwhile Major League hitter, no matter how frustrating it is to know he’ll almost never put one past an outfielder, especially from the left side of the plate.

Castillo is a weird outlier among Major League hitters, and I love weird outliers in general. That’s why he’s my new favorite player.

That shouldn’t be misconstrued to mean I think he’s good, though. His near-hilarious lack of range in the field will hurt the Mets this year, as will his big contract the team is unwilling to see as sunk cost. But those are just two more parts of the Castillo mystique.

It’s a safe bet that as long as Castillo is “healthy” — a relative term, in his case — and on the Mets, they’ll be trotting him out to second base, where he’ll take a couple of steps and fall and flail in the general direction of ground balls hit his way. And at the plate, he’ll keep doing his thing, slapping at balls thrown over the plate, taking balls that are inches off of it.

The Major League second basemen in September: Castillo, Cora

There’s certainly a non-zero chance Castillo gets hurt and Ruben Tejada gets a look, but while I really like Tejada and think he’s an underrated prospect, he’s quite young and will probably be given plenty of time to develop as long as Castillo’s healthy. Plus, there’s that whole contract thing.

Reese Havens is a solid bet to be a quick-mover, too. But he’ll be playing his first full season at second base. Shouldn’t be a terrible transition from shortstop, but he’ll have to work on turning the double-play from that spot, hurdling over oncoming runners and Luis Castillo’s big contract.

How they stack up: Chase Utley is better than Luis Castillo in every conceivable way. Martin Prado probably is too. Dan Uggla might be the only second baseman in the Majors who’s worse than Castillo, but it’s pretty close, and he’s a better hitter. Adam Kennedy is a better defender and had a nice year at the plate for Oakland in 2009, but I’m not guessing that will continue.

So even with his impressive on-base percentage, it’s hard to call Castillo anything more than the second-worst second baseman in the division. And if the OBP slips, the defense gets worse or Kennedy maintains his 2009 offensive output, Castillo will be the worst.

According to Mack’s Mets, Val Pascucci has been released.

If I worked really hard, I could probably drum up a post about how he’d be a better fit at first base for the big-league club than Mike Jacobs, but I don’t actually think that’s true, so I won’t. It might be closer than you think, though.

If I were a betting man — which I am, but I don’t know of an outlet that takes bets on stuff like this — I’d say he returns to Japan, where he was a hero, to make some good guaranteed money and enjoy the sweet sounds of the familiar Hey Pascucci chant, embedded below.

But here’s hoping he stays stateside and lands with some team that isn’t already loaded up with Minor League mashers like the Mets are, and that team ends up with a need for some big-league bench power, and Pascucci produces. Oh, and that team is not the Phillies. I want to root for the guy, after all.

It’s funny that, by the circumstances presented by the 2008 season, I’ve wound up following Val Pascucci’s career so closely. I imagine some Yankees fans are now doing the same for Jon Weber. The pursuit of Major League dreams is a strange thing. Here’s to those guys for keeping on.

Actually, what made the Murphy news feel weighty was the timing yesterday, coming on the same day the Mets practically declared a level of panic over their starting rotation, announcing that Jon Niese is suddenly their No.3 starter when the season opens next week….

Jerry Manuel can try to sell it as merely a case of matchups, but if the Mets are so worried about Pelfrey facing the Marlins that they are already reconfiguring their rotation, it’s hardly a good sign.

And you get the feeling Perez is now No. 5 in the rotation only because there isn’t a No. 6.

– John Harper, NY Daily News.

I’ve mentioned this a billion times before, but fretting over the order of the rotation is a huge pet peeve of mine. Your five best pitchers start. You can worry about who is No. 1 and No. 2 and No. 3 if and when the playoffs come around, but in April? Bah. Whatever.

I’m not arguing with Harper’s point that the Mets’ rotation doesn’t look great coming out of Spring Training. I’d be a fool to quibble with that.

But who really cares if Niese pitches Thursday against the Marlins or Saturday against the Nats? By the end of the season, the pitchers who have stayed healthy and effective will have started 30-34 games, and those who haven’t won’t have.

I’m near certain the reason the Mets shuffled their starters had more to do with saving their bullpen than anything else. Does anyone think the Mets think John Maine is their second-best starter and want to reward him for it by trotting him out in the season’s second game? Likely story.

Smart money says the Mets want to space out Maine and Oliver Perez as best as possible to keep the bullpen as fresh as can be, and do their best to make sure Mike Pelfrey, who for all his warts can eat up some innings, and Johan Santana are pitching between them.

OK, one brief note on Mike Jacobs’ hitting: If he’s being used exclusively against right-handers, he’s not that terrible. In his career, against righties, Jacobs has a .263/.325/.505 line. I’d prefer a first baseman with a higher OBP, but the power is impressive.

It’s a little funny that there’s been little to no talk about Fernando Tatis slotting in at first in Daniel Murphy’s absence. I would guess this has to do with Tatis hitting right-handed, since the Mets will have fellow righties David Wright, Jeff Francoeur and Jason Bay in the middle of their lineup.

But Tatis has not demonstrated a particularly big platoon split across his career — he’s got an .816 OPS against lefties and a .777 OPS against righties — so though the lineup would be more balanced with Jacobs starting, it wouldn’t necessarily be better.

Tatis, after all, has a .340 career OBP against right-handers and posted a .338 mark against them last season, better than Jacobs’ .325 career and .311 2009 marks, albeit with less power, regardless of handedness.

As to what commenter steve wrote yesterday, I have been watching the Spring Training games, and I’ll grant that Jacobs has looked good defensively. The eyes can be deceiving, of course, and a few slick-looking diving plays can make up for a whole lot of lost range.

I try not to blindly follow any metric or line of thought, and I’ll certainly amount that UZR has its flaws and that measuring defense is a difficult thing to do. But both that stat and the Fielding Bible plus/minus place Jacobs among the very worst defensive first basemen in the Majors over the three years he played there regularly, and I trust those measurements more than I do my own eyes over a very small sample of Spring Training opportunities.

Hat tip to Ryan for pointing this one out, upon the Mets signing Mike Jacobs:

That’s not to say it’s a bad move for the Mets to scoop him up on a Minor League deal. It’s a Minor League deal, after all. It will likely be a bad move if they cite his Major League experience and 32 home runs in 2008 and give him a 25-man roster spot over a more capable and deserving player, but since they haven’t done that yet, I’ll wait on it.

It still technically hasn’t happened, so I’m still waiting. At this point, I’m through being baffled by the Mets’ roster decisions, and Jacobs starting in Daniel Murphy’s stead over Frank Catalanotto or Ike Davis or  — heaven forbid — Chris Carter is so utterly predictable that I’m unable to muster up the energy to react with any gusto. I apologize. Maybe tomorrow.

Plus my eyes are doing something funky and I can’t quite focus on my computer screen. Did I have way too much caffeine today? The huge pile of Diet Dr. Pepper cans in the recycling bin says maybe.

I’m going to be honest: I started this whole series of season-preview pieces as an excuse to write about Daniel Murphy again.

It seems like everyone in every corner has decided Murphy is not and will never be a starting Major League first baseman. Sabermetricians, beat writers, newspaper columnists, WFAN callers. Everyone.

I don’t necessarily disagree. I’m just not willing to make any definitive conclusions about the career of a soon-to-be 25-year-old (hey, happy birthday, Murph!) who didn’t completely embarrass himself (at the plate) in his first season and two months of big-league play.

Of course, now Murphy’s limping around Port St. Lucie with a sprained knee, and there’s been some speculation he could start the season on the Disabled List. I’ll proceed as though he won’t, or that he’ll at least return to being the Mets’ everyday first baseman in short time.

The Major League first baseman in April: Murphy, Fernando Tatis and one of Frank Catalanotto or Mike Jacobs.

Overview: Look: I’m not aiming to defend Murphy for being among the worst starting Major League first basemen in terms of on-base percentage and slugging average in 2009. He did not hit like a capable starting first baseman on a competitive team. That’s for certain.

But that’s not to say he will never hit like a capable starting first baseman on a competitive team. That’s my point. Murphy’s season — on some surface level — appeared to pick up down the stretch in 2009 when he started hitting for more power, but a closer investigation reveals that he almost entirely stopped walking.

That would be a damning sign for a more experienced hitter, but for a young player like Murphy — one who entered the big-leagues in 2008 with only four plate appearances above Double-A — I’ll chalk it up to him honing his game and hope that the patience develops.

Murphy’s defense continues to subject him to beat-writer snark, even though he was statistically among the best in the Majors at first base by both UZR and +/-. He certainly made a few missteps at first base to go with his one ridiculously amazing (and certainly ill-advised) behind-the-back assist, but I thought he looked plenty rangy in the infield, if occasionally confused.

Of course, I pay attention to those stats, so maybe my eyes are biased.

I’ll hold out hope that Murph’s defensive excellence was for real, and that he can hit well enough to give the Mets the right type of problem with Ike Davis coming up the pike.

Few doubt that Davis has more offensive potential, and I am not among those few, but perhaps if Murphy can hit like, I don’t know, Aubrey Huff with plus defense, it will be enough for the Mets to consider shifting Davis to right field if Jeff Francoeur’s not performing. Granted, they’ve got Fernando Martinez for that situation, but that’d be the best kind of logjam. Well, maybe the second best kind of logjam.

I’m getting way, way ahead of myself. Here’s the point: Murphy sucked at hitting last year. Despite what you may think, he was probably actually good at defense. And no matter what anyone says, a little over a year of Major League service time is not enough to predict certain doom for any 25-year-old. Ask Huff or Lee May or scores of other guys who went on to productive careers after shaky starts.

Not to say Murphy will, of course. For every guy that does, a dozen more never do. That’s how baseball works. But stop telling me he’ll never be a Major League first baseman. No one knows what he’ll never be.

Spelling Murphy, the Mets will have Tatis, who’s a lot better than most Mets fans think he is. Of course, he’s most valuable for his defensive versatility, something that won’t be put to great use when he’s backing up first base, and he doesn’t hit lefties much better than he hits righties, so he’s not an ideal platoon partner. But he’s pretty good nonetheless.

Sometimes, probably, the lefty bench bat — be it Jacobs or Catalanotto or (fingers crossed) longshot candidate Chris Carter — will see some time at first. If it’s Jacobs, he’ll hit home runs and play poor defense. If it’s Catalanotto, he’ll get on base and play better defense than Jacobs. If it’s Carter, he’ll likely hit more home runs than Catalanotto but fewer than Jacobs while playing better defense than Jacobs but worse defense than Catalanotto.

The Major League first basemen in September: Davis, Tatis and Jacobs/Catalanotto.

I realized today that using “September” as the endpoint here is weak due to 40-man roster expansion, so I figured I’d throw in a bold prediction here and guess that Murphy’s not even on the team by the end of the season.

This is sort of silly, but I can kind of envision a situation playing out similar to the one the Mets endured in 2004: Murphy, like Ty Wigginton that year, plays well but unexceptionally. The team, fumbling on the fringes of contention and in need of a spark, calls up Davis, rendering Murphy redundant. Murphy gets traded, and goes onto a reasonably productive career as a poor-fielding but versatile and decent-hitting journeyman.

That’s a very specific prediction. Oh, and the pitcher the Mets trade Murphy for has a wife who poses for Playboy and wears inappropriate clothing to the team’s annual Christmas charity event for local schoolchildren, and they’re forced to cut bait on that pitcher just to get rid of his loudmouthed wife, even though they’ve just signed him to an expensive contract he clearly didn’t deserve. But the upside is they land John Maine in the deal.

How they stack up: This is funny. For all that “Daniel Murphy is the worst first baseman in the Major Leagues” stuff bandied about this offseason, the first basemen in the N.L. East leave a lot to be desired. Ryan Howard’s pretty awesome. That much we know.

But Adam Dunn, the Nats’ first baseman, was so bad defensively last year that by WAR — a stat that accounts for both offense and defense — he was only barely better than Murphy despite hitting 38 homers with a .398 on-base percentage.  Actually, if you go by WAR, Fernando Tatis was more valuable to the Mets than Dunn was to the Nats last year. That’s how much Dunn hurt Washington with his glove, according to that stat.

The Braves will start Troy Glaus, a converted third baseman who will likely hit better than Murphy if he’s healthy, but who missed nearly all of 2009 with shoulder problems. The Marlins have pegged to start Gaby Sanchez, a rookie who is actually a year and a half older than Murphy. Sanchez hit well in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League last year.

All three of the non-Howard guys could be better than Murphy, but I’m not willing to say any of them will certainly be. Glaus will if he stays healthy, but that’s far from a lock given his history. I’ll guess Murph, as long as he’s around, plays as the 4th best first baseman in the division, maybe 3rd if he’s lucky. Not great, but probably not befitting all the rage this offseason.

UPDATE, 4:45, p.m.: According to SNY, Murphy has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 MCL sprain and the Mets have given the massively vague window of 2-6 weeks for his recovery. Omar Minaya has pegged Mike Jacobs as the favorite to start in his stead, but I’ll go ahead and assume everyone will be clamoring for Murphy once Jacobs exposes his inability to get on base or play defense in those 2-6 weeks.

Omar Minaya on Jenrry Mejia, per SNY:

When you bring up a young kid, it’s more than just his performance. You Think of long-term picture. All things come into play. We did it will Joe Smith and Parnell. But you have to look into a lot of factors.

You have to look at all things. Look at the individual. Each guy has a different personality.

Nice to hear the term “long-term picture” thrown around.

In case you haven’t heard enough of my opinions about the Mets on this here Web site, you can listen to what I have to say about the Mets in REAL AUDIO this evening on the Sportswire on WCWP Sports. The show starts at 6 p.m., and I’m due to join at 6:30.

WCWP is at 88.1 on your FM dial if you’re on Long Island, or online at www.wcwpsports.com.

One of the hosts, Max Caster, played for me when I coached JV football back in the day. I don’t know whether he’ll be disappointed or thrilled to learn that I don’t yell nearly as much on radio appearances as I did at area referees. Unless, of course, he wants Jenrry Mejia in the bullpen.

The Mets caught a lot of Internet snark — from me and others — for stockpiling old backup catchers this offseason in lieu of doing just about anything else to improve their team (insert Jason Bay caveat here).

Now we all owe the Mets an apology, or something, because they lost Chris Coste via waivers to the Nationals yesterday. And Josh Thole will have to endure the start of the Triple-A season without a built-in tutor on the Bisons roster.

Anyway, here we go:

The Major League catchers in April: Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco.

Overview: Given the various ways the Mets’ backstop situation could have played out this offseason, a Barajas/Blanco tandem to open the year isn’t all that awful. It isn’t all that great, mind you, but it’s not all that awful.

The Mets’ much-ballyhooed and widely decried pursuit of Bengie Molina fell apart when the team — smartly — would not offer the aging, impatient catcher more than a one-year contract.

By some fortunate series of circumstances, they wound up with Barajas, a marginally worse hitter than Molina but arguably a much better defender in 2009, plus inarguably a better baserunner and perhaps the person in the organization best-suited for a front-office job.  And for all that, he’ll earn about a quarter of what Molina’s getting.

Behind Barajas, the Mets have Blanco, one of the game’s better backup backstops. Blanco has put up a couple of decent seasons with the bat the last couple of years — respectable-for-a-backup-catcher wRC+s of 87 and 96 in 2008 and 2009, respectively. That’s not entirely likely to last, considering he’s 38 and has a less-than-stellar 67 lifetime figure, but he’ll make up for it with steady defense and badass looks.

Of course, both catchers qualify as stand-ins or contingency plans for prospect Josh Thole, recently ranked fifth in the Mets’ system by Toby Hyde at MetsMinorLeagueBlog.com. Thole, familiar to any Mets fan who braved the final months of the 2009 season, should start 2010 in Buffalo but could crack the big-league roster for good sometime in the middle of the season if he keeps hitting like he did in 2009 and his defense continues to improve.

Hilariously, the loss of Coste means Omir Santos will likely stick with the Mets in Triple-A, meaning Buffalo’s catching situation to start 2010 should look a whole lot like the Major League Mets did to end 2009. That’s novel, I suppose.

The Major League catchers in September: Thole, Barajas and Blanco.

Thole’s on the 40-man roster, so he’ll certainly be called up in September. I imagine he’ll join the club before then, though.

The Mets have some concerns about Blanco’s throwing shoulder, plus he’s 38. Barajas is 34. And since neither seems primed to tear the cover off the ball (with the bat. Blanco looks like he might actually tear covers off baseballs for fun), I would hope that, provided Thole is hitting and his defense has improved, the Mets will be ready to hand him the reins once a convenient opportunity presents itself late in the season.

Should Blanco or Barajas fall victim to injury sooner than that, we’ll enjoy more Extra-Base Omir.

How they stack up: I don’t think Carlos Ruiz will repeat the offensive totals he posted in 2009, but even expecting some regression for the Phillies’ backstop, it’s hard to expect the Mets’ crop of catchers to be anything better than fourth best in the division — better only than the Nats’ group of Ivan Rodriguez and Wilbert Nieves. And should Jesus Flores recover faster than expected from shoulder surgery and Thole not progress, the Mets’ group could be the N.L. East’s worst. But hey, at least they’re not going to be paying Bengie Molina multiple millions of dollars in 2011.

Next up: First basemen, obviously.