Performance Over Contract

Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, Mike Hessman, Mike Jacobs, Gary Matthews Jr., Julio Franco--the list goes on and on of names that the previous front office kept around far part their expiration dates(In some cases, they were acquired after they had already passed). Spring training 2011 was the first test to see how Sandy Alderson and the new front office would deal with players who weren't performing, and by cutting Luis Castillo over a week before the regular season an early precedent was set: Perform or be fed to the dogs.Oliver Perez was soon to follow Luis to baseball Siberia. "Blowing Games" Blaine Boyer? Gone before a blink of an eye.When Chris Young was placed on the 15 Day disabled list earlier this month and Dillon Gee was called up to spot start, nobody assumed that Gee would remain in the major leagues beyond the time it took for Young to return. Besides, there wasn't a need- the starting rotation had been set and it wouldn't make much sense for Gee to ...