A trade tree

Follow the bouncing roster spot:

In 1999 the Twins drafted right handed pitcher Travis Bowyer in the 20th round. In 2001 they drafted Scott Tyler, also a right-handed pitcher, in the second round. Tyler never got above Double A, but Bowyer reached the majors for eight appearances in 2005.

The Twins traded the two after the 2005 season to the then-Florida Marlins for veteran second baseman Luis Castillo. Castillo was one of the "Piranhas" in 2006; in 2007, with the team out of contention and Castillo approaching free agency, the Twins shipped him to the New York Mets for two minor leaguers, outfielder Dustin Martin and catcher Drew Butera.

Martin is still active, playing this year in the Mexican League, but he has not reached the majors. Butera caught for the Twins 2010-13, then was traded to the Dodgers in a deadline deal for Miguel Sulbaran, a left-handed minor league pitcher.

The following spring, 2014, acting general manager Rob Antony (filling in while Terry Ryan recovered from his cancer treatment) traded Sulbaran to the Yankees for Eduardo Nunez. Sulbaran reached Triple A last year but has not appeared in a game at any level for any team this season.

Nunez, as we know, was a reserve player for the Twins in 2014 and 2015 before emerging as a superutility regular this year, starting games at shortstop, third base and second base and gaining the Twins' All-Star roster spot. As we also know, he was traded Thursday night to the Giants (Antony again) for Adalberto Mejia, a left-handed minor league pitcher.

And the future will tell what Mejia will do -- or be turned into.

This has not been a highly productive trade tree. The Twins have gotten a little more than two seasons of leadoff hitting (Castillo in 2006 and more than half of 2007 plus Nunez this year) and a handful of bench seasons (Butera and Nunez). But it's been more than 17 years since the Twins drafted Bowyer, and that move is still faintly echoing in the system.

Tracking the Luis Castillo tree

There is one former Twin on the BBWAA's Hall of Fame ballot this year: newcomer Luis Castillo.

Castillo will be a one-and-done guy on the ballot, and that's as it should be, even if the most similar player to him in Baseball Reference's "similarity score" is enshrinee Johnny Evers. Evers was a debatable choice himself, and nobody else on the list is in, But Castillo was a fine player for a few seasons: three-time Gold Glove winner, two-time All-Star, regular on the 2003 World Series winning Marlins, two-time NL stolen base leader.

Castillo played second base for Minnesota in 2006-07. The Twins picked up the second baseman from the Marlins for a pair of minor league pitchers (Scott Tyler and Travis Bowyer) who reached the majors but didn't do much, and he was a significant part of the "pirahanas" team that had such a glorious season in 2006.

When the Twins fell out of contention in 2007, Terry Ryan -- in what I beleive was the last significant move he made in his first term as general manager -- traded Castillo at the deadline to the Mets for a pair of minor leaguers. Outfielder Dustin Martin never reached the majors, but catcher Drew Butera did.  Butera spent part or all of four seasons with the Twins, and then they traded him (another deadline deal) in 2013 to the Dodgers for minor league lefty Miguel Sulbaran.

Sulbaran finished 2013 in low A for the Twins. The next April, the Twins traded him to the Yankees for Eduardo Nunez, who remains on the big league roster as a bench piece. So a decade after the Twins traded for Castillo, the move still has a presence.

Luis Castillo, Mr. Met

Luis Castillo: The Mets will pay him $6 million to go away.

The Mets on Friday released original piranha Luis Castillo. They did so even though the veteran second baseman is owed $6 million for the 2011 season and even though they don't have a clearly better alternative for the job.

Read between the lines, and Sandy Alderson, the Mets' general manager, essentially admits it's a PR move:

"I don't think there's any question there's some linkage between his situation and a perception of the Mets that has existed to this point, and that's something that was taken into account. At some point, you have to make an organizational decision that goes beyond just an ability to play or not play. Those things are relevant, and you try not to make them so controlling that it dictates the final decision under any circumstances, but realistically, it's a factor."

Fairly or not, Castillo had become a walking symbol of some the worst aspects of the Omar Minaya regime in Queens. Not all of them, because you can't be simultaneously a prospect rushed haphazardly up the organizational ladder and an overpaid, ineffective veteran, but enough so that Mets fans won't miss him.

A few more disjointed thoughts about Castillo:

His future

A blog commenter wondered Friday if the Twins might pick him up. I don't see that happening; been there, done that. The Twins right now are about establishing multi-year solutions to their roster questions, not about one-year stopgaps. Castillo's 35. He may be free, but he isn't cheap; the price of adding him is that of not giving a younger player a clear shot.

I don't know that he's going to find a landing place. There are teams with holes at second base, but the perception on Castillo is that he's in sharp decline, and he doesn't have the arm to be a useful utility infielder.

The trades

The Twins got him from the Florida Marlins after the 2005 seasons when the Fish went on one of their periodic fire sales.The price was a pair of minor league pitchers, Travis Bowyer and Scott Tyler.  Neither succeeded in the majors; Tyler topped out at Double A, and Bowyer, if I recall correctly, got hurt during spring training 2006; at any rate, he last threw a regular season pitch in 2005.

Castillo was a significant contributor to the Twins' marvelous 2006 run, but he showed signs of decline in 2007 and was approaching free agency; Terry Ryan, then the Minnesota general manager, traded him to the Mets on deadline day and took some criticism from Torii Hunter and Johan Santana for doing so.

This is probably reading too much into it, but I wonder if Santana's decision to accept the Mets as a trade destination was at all linked to his perception that the Castillo trade illustrated a deeper commitment to winning in Queens. If so, it would be another example of why players make lousy GMs. (In truth, I believe Santana's decision was about money.)

The Twins got Drew Butera, currently their backup catcher, and outfielder Dustin Martin in the deal; Martin has hit in the .250s in his two Triple A seasons and does not appear to be a threat to dislodge anybody in the major league outfield.

The broadcaster

The Twins replaced Castillo on the roster in 2007 with Alexi Casilla. The two names are similar enough to give Dan Gladden fits; he's spent much of the past four seasons calling Casilla "Castillo."

Earlier this week, the Twins and Mets played an exhibition and Castillo was in the New York lineup. Sure enough, Gladden repeatedly called him "Casilla."

Milton "Boo" Bradley

Milton Bradley, signed by the Chicago Cubs to a three-year $30 million deal during the offseason, is not having a good year.

It got worse Friday against the Twins.

He did have a two-run double. But he also ran into an out (trying to advance to third on a grounder to third); lost a fly ball in the sun (which resulted in a run for the Twins) and, most embarassingly, lost track of the outs and threw the ball into the seats after Joe Mauer's sac fly.

That brain cramp cost the Cubs a couple of base but no runs. And it got Bradley — hitting all of .224 on the year — roundly booed by the Wrigley Field crowd.

From Cubs manager Lou Piniella: "Do we have to go over the math? One, two, three. I don't know what else to say."

The headline from the Chicago Sun-Times: "Lost and dumbfound"

From the blog "Bleed Cubbie Blue" : "Baseball 101: Milton Bradley needs to go back to class." (And Al Yellon, a guy I happen to know from years in a now-defunct historical simulation game together, is quite fair to Bradley in dissecting him.)

As bad as Bradley's game was, it pales next to the disaster that befell former Twin Luis Castillo, now with the Mets. He dropped a popup with two outs in the ninth inning, allowing the tying and winning runs to score.

"E-Mazing" was the front-page headline of the New York Post. "Amazing Disgrace," said the Daily News.