11:45am: The Reds and Marlins have both announced the trade. Cincinnati has yet to announce a corresponding roster move, though they’ll need to make one shortly, as both Castillo and Brice are on the 40-man roster, pushing Cincinnati’s total to 41.
7:55am: The Marlins and Reds have reportedly agreed to a trade that will send right-hander Dan Straily from the Cincinnati to Miami in exchange for right-handed pitching prospects Luis Castillo and Austin Brice as well as outfield prospect Isaiah White.
The trade represents a significant flip for the Reds, who acquired Straily free of cost when they claimed him off waivers from the Padres last spring. Cincinnati subsequently enjoyed a season in which Straily, who had bounced around the league following a promising 2012-13 debut with the A’s, logged 191 1/3 innings with a 3.76 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 32 percent ground-ball rate and reestablished himself as a Major League rotation piece.
[Related: Updated Miami Marlins Depth Chart and Cincinnati Reds Depth Chart]
Exactly how much of that strong season is repeatable remains up for debate; Straily has long been homer-prone and last year saw his fly-ball rate check in at 48 percent. A move to the much more spacious Marlins Park should help his cause, but he’ll also need to demonstrate that last season’s step forward in his control is sustainable. Straily’s BABIP was a lowly .239 as well, but fly-ball pitchers tend to maintain lower marks in that regard than their ground-ball counterparts, so the regression in that department may not be as sizable as one would assume upon first glance. (Straily’s career .255 BABIP in the Majors is considerably below the league average.)
The 28-year-old Straily finished out the year with two years, 126 days of Major League service time, meaning he fell just shy of Super Two designation. He’ll earn scarcely more than the league minimum this coming season and can be controlled by Miami for another four years in arbitration.
For the Reds, parting with Straily opens a spot in the rotation for one of the team’s many young arms. As it stands, Straily would’ve joined top starter Anthony DeSclafani, veteran Homer Bailey (if healthy) and left-hander Brandon Finnegan in Cincinnati’s starting five. A competition for the fifth spot in the deal would’ve likely included left-handers Cody Reed and Amir Garrett as well right-handers Robert Stephenson and Tim Adleman, though it’s now possible that two of those three could make the Opening Day rotation. Alternatively, the Reds could see the rotation vacancy as an opening to add a veteran arm that can provide some stability and leadership early in the season before possibly becoming a summer trade chip.
Straily joins a Marlins rotation that is also set to feature left-handers Wei-Yin Chen and Adam Conley, newly signed right-hander Edinson Volquez and longtime Marlins righty Tom Koehler. The addition of Straily seems likeliest to bump offseason signee Jeff Locke from the fifth slot in that rotation to the bullpen, which could have a trickle-down effect and bump an out-of-options player like Jose Urena off the roster.
Locke, however, would give Miami a much-needed southpaw option in the ’pen, as Miami previously stood to potentially deploy an all-right-handed relief corps. A.J. Ramos, Kyle Barraclough, David Phelps, Brad Ziegler, Junichi Tazawa and Dustin McGowan all seem like locks to open the season in manager Don Mattingly’s bullpen. The former three constituted an outstanding late-inning trio in 2016, while the latter trio all signed Major League contracts this winter.
The price Miami is paying to acquire Straily is a steep one. Castillo, 24, rates as their No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America and their No. 5 prospect according to MLB.com. The hard-throwing righty is said to have a fastball that can touch triple digits and sits in the upper 90s, and he’s fresh off an excellent season with Miami’s Class-A Advanced affiliate in the Florida State League (plus a brief Double-A appearance late in the year). Castillo posted a scintillating 2.07 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against just 1.4 BB/9 in 117 2/3 innings in High-A, and he kicked in another 14 innings of 3.86 ERA ball at Double-A for good measure.
BA praised Castillo’s “easy velocity” and “smooth delivery” in their offseason scouting report on him, noting that he’s made the jump from power bullpen arm to potential mid-rotation starter. Per their write-up, his slider projects as an above-average offering, and he’s working to develop a changeup that still needs some fine-tuning. The Marlins originally landed him in the trade that sent Casey McGehee to the Giants, and his stock has risen quite a bit since that time.
However, it’s also worth noting that this is the second time the Marlins have agreed to trade the right-hander. Castillo was originally one of the prospects that went from Miami to San Diego in the Andrew Cashner/Colin Rea trade, but the Marlins reacquired him from the Padres after Rea suffered a UCL tear in his first start as a member of the Marlins. That, of course, doesn’t necessarily indicate that the Marlins have soured on him in any way, but Miami knows more about him than any other organization and seems comfortable parting ways with Castillo so long as it nets them a long-term rotation cog.
As for Brice, the 24-year-old gives the Reds an immediate, MLB-ready option to plug into their bullpen if he shows well in Spring Training. Brice made his Major League debut in 2016, and while he struggled to the tune of 11 earned runs in 14 innings, he also allowed only nine hits against five walks with 14 strikeouts. Add to that a composite 2.74 ERA in 102 minor league innings (93 1/3 frames at Double-A plus 8 2/3 in Triple-A), and there’s a chance that Brice could open the year in Cincinnati’s bullpen.
MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis rank Brice ninth among Miami farmhands, noting that he looked to improve upon his longstanding control problems in 2016. Per MLB.com’s free scouting report, he throws a “heavy” fastball in the low to mid 90s and boasts an above-average slider that was newly added to his repertoire. Their report notes that Brice does still have some upside as a potential starter but adds that he could have a quicker impact as a two-pitch reliever that can dominate same-handed opponents.
White, meanwhile, ranks 15th on MLB.com’s list of top 30 Marlins prospects. The 2015 third-rounder spent last season with Miami’s short-season Class-A affiliate, hitting .214/.306/.301 in 51 games and 201 plate appearances. While those numbers clearly aren’t eye-catching, Callis and Mayo call him a plus-plus runner (70-grade speed on the 20-80 scale) with the potential to be a premium defender in center field. White only just turned 20 years of age and is less than two calendar years removed from playing in high school, so he’s raw and represents something of a wild card for the Reds at this point. However, that’s not a bad third piece to add to a pair of more established arms that could conceivably impact the Cincinnati pitching staff within the next two years.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported that a Straily trade was close, adding that Castillo and Brice were involved (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports tweeted that a deal was in place, pending medical reviews. Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM reported that White was the third prospect in the deal (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Getting Castillo is a big deal.
Not really. He’s not a top 150 prospect, and every team has a few prospects like him, live arm types with good low level numbers, and Miami keeps trying to trade him for “reasons”. The fact that he’s #2 in a horrific farm doesn’t mean anything, he probably wont even be in Cincy’s top 20. Still though, why not keep him and just sign Fister or Hammel for not a ton of money? Trading for a worse SP instead of signing a cheapish FA is 20-grade GM’ing.
Lol, I love that last line.
I’d agree…but that takes for granted that a player can BE signed.
Cant believe the giants traded him for Casey McGhee. They have got fleeced in deals recently. He will be joining Duvall who SF also let get away
At the time of the trade, Castillo was an older prospect still in the low minor leagues, and he was still raw. He was being used as a reliever. With the Marlins, his velocity increased, and his secondary offerings got better, and they gave him a chance to start. He kind of gained prospect pedigree after that…
Great sell high. Too bad Walt screwed up so bad with Chapman and Frazier. I very seriously doubt Strailey ever does that again and if he does- losing almost a 100 again is irrelevant when 1-2 of these guys could help for 3-4 years. If management would stop lying to Phillips, move him to open the door for the kids and the good young arms progress- 2018 looks very good to come in 2nd behind Chicago
You think the Reds lost on the Frazier deal? Peraza alone makes it a good deal for the Reds. We haven’t had a good SS since Larkin. Cozart has only put a season and a half of a decent bat together and he’s 31 now. Schebler will be our starting RF out of spring, and Peraza will start as soon as they can move a middle infielder.
Should’ve done better earlier. Peraza might play a passable ss, but don’t confuse how valuable Cozarts glove is. Keep cozart, find a way to appease Phillips to go be a dodger and Peraza at 2b is a very good defensive and offensive situation. I don’t see anyone confusing peraza with a good major league ss and that’s not a position to trade offense for “passable glove”. I hope Schebler can handle it – but he’s the good side of a platoon with somebody like Suarez when sinzel arrives in ’18
At some time, hopefully now, we get over the Chapman trade and move on. He was damaged goods at the time of the trade and if the Reds knew it was only 30 days the trade would not have happened.
I already hate this idea. Ugh.
Hate??? Why? It’s a great deal for the Reds!
Don’t hate it as a Marlins fan. We had to get a starter. This guy has a track record and control even though the reds got him for nothing it makes sense on the Marlins side for me
It would have been far better for Miami to just sign Fister or Hammel and keep the prospects than to aquire a guy playing above his head for three decent prospects that your system will miss
Ruining the farm system
Can you ruin something that is already devoid of any value?
Yes, being #2 in Miami is #20 everywhere else. Their farm is utter trash, worse than the Angels even before this dumb trade for a bad SP.
Is it really worse than the Angels?
Braxton Garrett is far abs away the best prospect in either system, so probably not.
Depends where you look. Keith Law just had the Angels 27, Marlins at 29 (D-backs 30th). I’d imagine any ranking will have Miami and Anaheim firmly in the 3-4 worst farms in the game.
Doesn’t change the fact that Castillo is at least a solid prospect, and Brice is an MLB-ready reliever. That alone is a steep price for Straily before considering a lotto ticket like White, in my mind.
Suggesting that Castillo won’t even be in Cincinnati’s Top 20 prospects seems reactionary at best. He’ll slot in somewhere in the 5-12 range on most lists, though the specific numerical rankings tend to be widely overblown and overanalyzed. They’re reference points, not foolproof lists, and the reality is that those rankings change far more frequently than the lists are updated to reflect.
Castillo now ranks 8th in the Reds system. He is a 50 prospect on the 20-80 scale. Well above average and projects as a regular in the majors.
There are a lot of prospects that are MLB-ready relievers but that doesn’t mean they’ll be effective. Brice had a 4.38 ERA last year once he was strictly a reliever the final 3 months of the season with half that in AA. I do think he grows into a pretty decent reliever though. White I personally don’t think amounts to anything offensively so maybe a backup OF playing all 3 spots at best and that’s a coin flip. Castillo will be 24 in AA next year. I think he has a MLB arm but he can’t take steps backwards pitching at age level. “at least a solid prospect”? Disagree. I think he’s a solid prospect at best. Agree regarding the prospect rankings though
Their system was already ruined
Good trade for the Reds. Didn’t they get him for next to nothing?
for nothing. got off waivers
Waiver claim traded for Luis Castillo, the Marlins’ #2 prospect by Baseball America.
Look, he had a good year in 2016 and the Marlins needed a starter. . That’s why the Marlins made the trade and he does eat innings.
Yeah the article mentions he was claimed on waivers via SD.
He never actually played for SD, they acquired him for minor league signee Eric Kratz, and he was DFAd shortly after because he was out of options. he got better in Cincinnati, but he’s not a very good player. #4 at best.
While the Marlins gave up too much in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with being a #4 or #5 starter. Every team needs guys like Straily to fill out the back end of the rotation. Most teams would have loved to have the kind of production Straily gave the Reds last year.
#5 at best. Reds just robbed the Marlins for a guy that is a replacement level player. Straily had a 4.88 FIP, 5.02 xFIP and a .235 BABIP last season so he was terrible but lucky. It won’t happen again. Maybe in the big park in Miami he puts up numbers around a 4.50 ERA.
@Dwalt it didn’t state that when I typed my comment. Thanks for the reply though.
I worry about what will be on the field every day into years and I do pitching at this point. I don’t feel like there every day players are loaded in the minors.
In 2 years i meant
He will be pitching for the Lancaster Barnstormers by July, lol
Marlins will most likely regret this trade.
No they wont, too stupid to regret it. Same team that reportedly chose nicolino over syndergaard in blue jays deal, chose to give up heaney instead of nicolino in gordon trade. then gave up desclafani for latos, who they subsequently traded months later for garbage, their front office sucks and they are too stupid to know it. And lets not forget giving up trevor williams to pirates in return for jim benedict.
This is the best critique of a front office I have ever seen!
Where’s my drum? Oh, there it is.
Whichever team you root for, they ought to try to get better at developing their own pitching.
Good move for Reds. Not so much for Miami
Straily had a 4.88 FIP last year, he stinks. Miami needs to fire the FO for this one. Why not just sign Doug Fister or Jason Hammel and give up no prospects? I’d rather even have Vance Worley over Straily.
This is like a poor mans version of the Shelby Miller deal, lol why are the Marlins so dumb???
Maybe a broke man’s Shelby Miller deal. This isn’t even close.
This looks like a win for the Reds, but it’s nowhere near as laughably one-sided as the Shelby Miller deal.
Considering you just dumped all over Luis Castillo some 10 comments above this one, not sure how you can even mention this deal in the same breath as the Shelby Miller heist.
And FIP for extreme fly-ball pitchers is often misleading, as FIP assumes more BABIP regression than most fly-ball pitchers will experience due to the fact that fly-balls in the field of play are easier to turn into outs than grounders and line drives. (Marco Estrada. and Jered Weaver before his K rate plummeted come to mind as relevant examples)
I’m not disputing that the Marlins gave up more than was necessary for Straily, and I vastly prefer the Reds’ end of the deal, but evaluating a trade is never as easy as looking at one statistic through a blanket lens and laughing at one side of the deal.
Straily, brad hand, will Harris, etc. Are reasons why you don’t make the dumb “here comes a World Series” comment that so many people seem to like to make when teams add depth.
Straily is not as good as those other guys.
True but look at the return he just got
I mean it’s about fair value for him, so it’s not great.
Great deal for the Reds. Hopefully Castilla turns into at least a mid-rotation starter by 2018/2019. Plus two pieces to go with it? No way you can pass on this deal.
Travis Wood
amen.
Yes, please.
How does this affect the Brewers and Junior Guerra? Similar players that were acquired for nothing? Does this set the market for what Stearns can expect?
I doubt it. much like Shelby miller didn’t set the market for cost controlled starters
I don’t think Guerra’s all that comparable., First, Guerra’s numbers were considerably better than Straily’s but only over 125 innings. He’s older too but actually controllable longer than Straily. Guerra emerged because he developed a dominant splitter, one of the best in the game.. If he stays healthy, he could be close to an ace.
Besides the Brewers have 3 other starters in mid-career all capable of a Straily-like season: Nelson, Peralta, and Anderson…..of that group only Peralta has reached his arby years. So they’ll have movable pieces to deal other than Guerra.
The comparison is both wavier wire claims, both had no history of quality performance until this year, and both some future cheap control A difference is Straily pitched more last year which gave him more opportunity for mistakes and the league to learn his tendencies. Straily was very good for a while last year. I don’t know how he finished. I guess you might say this is a starting point for Stearns to argue with other GMs. Service time is also a major difference. I know the Brewers could trade other starts (Garza would be preferred and some stupid GM might think he has some value with his cheap option) but I was wondering how much value Guerra has even though I am not sure I want the Brewers to trade him.
Straily was an average starter in 2013, he just went backwards from there though.
Guerra is better for sure so that comparison isn’t accurate. None of Nelson, Peralta, Chase put up a better WHIP, ERA, H9, K9, BB9 than Straily (who’s performed pretty decently as a back end rotation arm in 2012/2013/2016)
Brewers? Who cares- this is about the Reds moving forward
Like trade for Reds. Reminds me of DeSclafani for Latos. How did that work for Fish?
Your telling me that the Red Sox couldn’t get Castillo black straight up for Bucholtz but the Reds can get him in return for Straily and some more as well.
The simple answer is years of service and salary.
Four years of cheap control over Straily has considerably more value than one expensive year of Buchholz.
Dan is league min that’s why they wanted him. You would of had to eat all of the salary. It always comes down to money for the fish
Miami over paid here.
Definitely. Great trade for Cincinnati though… Any time you trade a waiver claim for 3 prospects is a win in my book….
76k per 9 is rather impressive…
Exactly what I was thinking. Then I thought, he’said not a Red Sox prospect, so this must be a typo.
Catcher must be letting alot of balls get past him.
Ha, if that number were accurate, the Marlins would have the steal of the century!
Thanks for that.! Added the decimal point in there now.
Reds should do more deals with the marlins. How is that latos for desclafani deal going for them?
Poor Jeff Locke. He thought he’d found a rotation bad enough for him to start.
I had disappointed when the Astros dumped him last year, then he turned in a better ERA than anyone else on the staff. Reds won big. Even if those prospects flop, they still got a good year from Straily for nothing.
he switched up his repertoire a but in Cincinnati (using a 2 seam instead of a 4 seam) and way performed his peripherals. Combine that with the switch to the NL, he’d have probably been peacock level in Houston last year.
R.I.P. Jose, you are missed now more than ever. 🙁
76K/9 is a pretty good strikeout rate.
Reds finished with almost 100 losses with Straily. Prospects Teds got will not only strengthen minor league system but major league team. The players Reds got have much more potential then Straily.
I used to chomp my fingernails down to little stubs every time Straily pitched for the A’s. I can’t tell you how many 1st and 4th/5th inning dingers he served up on a silver platter. And that was at the colosseum.
Solid deal for the Reds, as they have a number of better options to take Straily’s place. It could work out for both teams, but Straily is much more likely to regress. Cheap and controllable back-end makes sense, but def an overpay.
Why did Jose have to do white lines!?!?
48% fly all rate???
As a Marlins fan, we desperately needed a SP that can pitch somewhere in the 3-5 spots of our rotation, and this gives us that. He even comes with 4 years of contril. That being said, this is the 2nd time the Marlins are being fleeced by the Reds, and the 83651725th time they’re being fleeced in general, in the last few years…I don’t understand why the Marlins weren’t in on Nova or Hammel, and then they wait all this time to make a trade, moving arguably their 2 best depth pieces. Both Brice and Castillo would have contributed at some point this season. I’m curious to see if the Reds give Brice a shot to start. Don’t know what the Marlins have left to trade from at this point, if they want to improve their team during the season with another likely bad trade where they go halfway. At least this hopefully pushes Locke to AAA depth, assuming he accepts the assignment after ST. Great waste of $3 million. I would really like to see them add another depth SP at this point, but I don’t see that happening
Not sure about Nova, but you figure with Hammel there is something definitely scaring teams off in his medicals.
I think Hammel wants at least 3 years, and nobody wants to give him more than 2
Hammel isn’t healthy, and most teams believe Nova isn’t good.
Well, nova’s numbers before he got traded to pittsburgh, suggested that he was unlucky, and would turn things around, which is why I was hoping to trade for him before the deadline. Sure enough, he was really good after the trade, and I expect him to continue, maybe not at that level, but still positive
I haven’t seen any suggestions that Hammel isn’t healthy. Teams are just worried about giving him multiple years, at his age and injury history, and the dip in velocity. He’s still an option, and wouldn’t have cost the Marlins their only depth
Locke will be in bullpen.
Reds won the deal
It only appears that way right now, but you can’t determine who actually won a trade until years later. If all the prospects flop and Straily provides serviceable back end starter innings for the next few years in Miami, then didn’t the Marlins win the trade?
If this is indicative of what Dick Williams is going to do as GM, I’m excited.
I don’t have a huge problem with this. A bad farm system minus three prospects is still a bad farm system, but the ML team might be good enough to make a run now. I’d like to see a bat to pair with Bour and a useful fourth outfielder, but overall I kind of like this team.
If a bad farm keeps trading their prospects, they’ll continue being a bad farm.
Nice work Confucius
Way to go Reds! GOOD SCORE