Casilla proves Ryan was right -- eventually

FORT MYERS, FLA. - The Twins were seven games behind in the American League Central on July 30, 2007. They responded to this predicament by trading second baseman Luis Castillo to the New York Mets for two minor leaguers.

General Manager Terry Ryan was criticized for giving up by the local sports media. He also received criticism from a more important source: pitcher Johan Santana, the only two-time Cy Young Award winner in franchise history.

This allowed Santana to add a dash of righteous indignation to his mind-set as he rejected the Twins' attempts to re-sign him. He also was traded the Mets, where he remains a teammate with Castillo.

Ryan defended the trade with the suggestion Alexi Casilla, 23 and batting .269 at Class AAA Rochester, was ready to offer as much at second base as Castillo.

Alexi batted .222 in 56 games, and the Twins went 25-32 after the trade and finished 17 games behind.

Ryan resigned (not based on guilt over the Castillo trade). Bill Smith replaced him. And the Twins made sure a second baseman, Brendan Harris, was included in the big trade that brought in outfielder Delmon Young from Tampa Bay.

What about Casilla? The Twins cut him early -- March 14 -- in the spring, with the idea that he would play shortstop at Class AAA Rochester and perhaps mature into a big-league starter for the 2009 season.

Not immediately. Casilla batted .150 in April at Class AAA Rochester. Near the end of the month, he seemed to shake the sadness and put the life back in his game.

A raft of infield injuries allowed him to return to the Twins on May 11. He sat for a week, and then manager Ron Gardenhire decided to find out if the Twins could turn more double plays with Casilla at second base than with Harris.

He was in the lineup the rest of the season, with the exception of a three-week August stay on the disabled list because of a torn ligament in his right thumb.

The fact Casilla came back from that injury ahead of schedule earned him even more credit with the organization.

"He looks really good this spring," said Tony Oliva, a spring training instructor. "He's making all the plays. And his lefthanded swing keeps improving. I think he's a better lefthanded hitter now than right."

"I didn't know what I was doing lefthanded," he said. "I would slap at pitches -- or just wave at offspeed pitches."

Hitting coach Joe Vavra helped Casilla with a lefthanded stance that enabled him to stay back and drive a pitch often enough to keep the outfielders honest.

"The stance let me take a hard swing," Casilla said. "I feel like I have more power."

He hit seven home runs (five lefthanded) in 98 games for the Twins last season, equaling his total in 430 minor league games.

Casilla wasn't hitting early in exhibitions this spring. Now he's the hottest hitter in camp. He credits a refresher course with Vavra.

The Twins have been all over the map with Casilla in his three seasons with the organization. He was the unknown minor leaguer obtained from the Angels for reliever J.C. Romero in December 2005.

He was the Twins Minor League Player of the Year in '06 and made a September appearance in the big leagues. He was very erratic and didn't hit as Castillo's replacement in '07. He was shipped out early in '08 and brought back to the Twins in May because of injuries.

He was going to be heading back to Rochester as soon as Nick Punto recovered from a hamstring pull. Instead, the Twins stumbled into a switch-hitting, playmaking second baseman -- a younger, faster Luis Castillo.

As it turned out, Terry Ryan was right all along about Casilla ... just 10 months early.