Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo has received plenty of interest from various clubs amid a hot market for starting pitching this winter, with the Red Sox and Cubs among the teams who have been connected to the right-hander so far. A report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal this evening name-checks two more clubs who have “at least inquired” after the veteran: the Mets and the Orioles. With that said, however, Rosenthal emphasizes that Mariners are only willing to deal Castillo if the return package improves the big league club as they look to return to the postseason next year.
Both clubs are certainly sensible suitors for the right-hander. The Mets have already added Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas to a rotation that entered the offseason with only Kodai Senga and David Peterson locked into starting roles for 2025, but those additions offer little certainty to the Mets. That makes a steady and reliable arm like Castillo’s a sensible choice for that final rotation spot in Queens, but it’s unclear whether New York has the big-league ready pieces to offer Seattle in order to facilitate a deal. Top prospect Luisangel Acuna would surely be attractive to the Mariners as a big league ready infield option who looked good in a 14-game cup of coffee with the Mets last year, but the soon-to-be 23 year old could be a major factor in the club’s plans for 2025 given his ability to not only play the infield and also a strong center field. That figures to be particularly true if the Mets fail to re-sign Pete Alonso and move Mark Vientos to first base, which would seemingly open up regular playing time for Acuna at either second or third base.
The Orioles, by contrast, have a surplus of talent around the infield that could be attractive to the Mariners as they look for a front-of-the-rotation arm to replace free agent hurler Corbin Burnes. In particular, the club has a bit of a logjam at first base that the Mariners could stand to benefit from. While it’s unclear if Baltimore would be willing to part ways with top prospect Coby Mayo, Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn were forced to share first base duties last year thanks to a crowded positional mix that figures to only become more cramped with the growing playing time needs of youngsters like Mayo, Heston Kjerstad, and Jackson Holliday. With Holliday poised to take over second base on an everyday basis in 2025, it’s also possible that a veteran infielder like Ramon Urias could be available for the Mariners in a deal.
Another obstacle to a potential Castillo deal, Rosenthal writes, is that parting ways with the right-hander could leave the club thin on rotation depth. While their top four of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, and Bryan Woo would remain among the strongest in the sport, big league ready options like Emerson Hancock and Jhonathan Diaz don’t provide much confidence for the Mariners’ back-end. One solution to that problem, of course, could be a young pitcher heading back to Seattle as part of the return for Castillo. The Cubs (Jordan Wicks and Javier Assad), Red Sox (Richard Fitts and Cooper Criswell), Mets (Tylor Megill and Paul Blackburn), and Orioles (Cade Povich and Trevor Rogers) all have players on the rotation bubble who they could at least theoretically make available in trade talks with the Mariners, should improving rotation depth be key to a deal from Seattle’s perspective.
Don’t want Castillo, don’t need to trade prospects for him, I’d rather just sign Sasaki or Buehler
For the Cubs? If so me as well.
Well, whatever your team is has no say in Sasaki, and they’ll have to wait a month anyway.
Sasaki isn’t really a free agent he’s either going to LA or San Diego
Don’t they have to have the Bonus pool?
Well beuhler is a pretty big question mark and we won’t know about sasaki for a month…
For which team? Do they have the International Pool Money to get a deal done?
Since Roki will sign after Jan 15, intl money will be replenished for all. And he’s not going to go to the highest bidder there (like Ohtani), but the team that has the best pitch (pun intended) for him.
Seattle has over $7mill to spend and could get more if need be. You Cubbie fans need to forget him he is a West Coast guy. Will sign in Seattle Dodgers SF or SD. Ichiro will close the deal and bring him to Seattle.
Seattle really has closer to $4M as they already have big commitments to two of the top international free agents for 2025
@jvent: Mets have a cash bully pulpit and higher risk tolerance. Make Buehler turn down as example 5/125mil in favor of others offering 2yrs w/opt out. TJS is the norm. My bet is he hit his groove and last playoffs are start of high quality again.
Easy to bet with someone elses money, eh?
Echo that sentiment in most situations. Few teams can do that. Believe Buehler is back and won’t flinch in high pressure moments as Mets strive for first title since ’86. Just did it for LAD (’20 was joke season no fault of LAD).
Buehler makes perfect sense for the Mets. He should be back to full strength next season. He has been a solid starter, it takes almost 2 seasons to completely recover from Tommy John Surgery, he should be a quality #3 starter going forward. Sign him and Manaea and pitching is good. See how Sproat does in minors next season and they could trade a pitcher during the trading deadline for another need if Sproat is ready to be #5.
It’s possible and reasonable that the Mets view Elian Diaz as a better option than Roki Sasaki. They have the toughest decision because giving up as elite an international prospect as him would be very difficult.
We’ll take him. M’s can have Mountcastle, Rogers, and a scratcher. O’s take Castillo and all the $$
Castillo far better than Buehler and healthier too. Everyone wants Sasaki
Yeah those three are completely different conversations lol
Wasn’t Castillo originally signed by the Giants? Maybe it’s time for him to come back to the Bay in a trade.
Mariner fans, what REALISTICALLY would the Mariners want for Castillo?
Lamonte Wade would save the Ms some money and help solve at least one infield position, but that probably makes too much sense
Mariners cannot fit another platoon player to their roster, so LaMonte Wade Jr wouldn’t work.
Most likely scenario for the m’s IS a platoon at first base with Raley.
The mariners currently have zero platoons marked in pen in their lineup.
I’d say the M’s likely have Raley lead a 1B or DH platoon and either the 2B or 3B situation eventually becomes a platoon between TBD and Moore. You throw in one bench slot for Garver as back up catcher and then you have one bench slot left making it hard to fit another platoon player.
I agree but lamonte wade would be a good fit to platoon with Raley at 1st
LaMonte and Raley are both LHH who can only play against RHP. They’d be an awful platoon pairing.
As a Mariners fan who lived in the Bay Area for 25 years and follow the Giants – LaMonte Wade is not enough for Castillo.
Wade and Black with the M’s covering some cash going the other way.
Idk- not a Mariners fan. Wouldn’t get enough though.
I will say that Mariners need a real splash if they hope to do anything with that offense. They could trade either Kirby or Gilbert for a REAL impact player, but idk if that would happen.
Sorry, but Arozarena and JRod aren’t The Guys-they are good support characters in the long run, but the Mariners need a REAL stud on offense in addition to those two guys if they want to make an impact in the playoffs. It could be worth it- their pitching is deep.
Hell no on trading Gilbert and Kirby
I only want to see you less sad, tormented and neglected.
Which one is going to have a career like Greg Maddux and which one will be Shelby Miller? Trade the Shelby Miller one! (Kirby?)
“…..their pitching is deep.”
Elon’sDOGEbag;
Let’s see if that holds a year and two years from now.
Mr. Dipoto is yet another Baseball Head that doesn’t build balanced teams, he fills holes. One area is strong for awhile, then it regresses but another area becomes strong for awhile. Meanwhile the team continues in circles.
Samuel
I agree.
We all agree! But does it have to be said after every Seattle article? That’s the real question we all want answered!
I don’t read every article on here- and especially not all the comments- so many of them are so angry. Also, who has the time?
Neither of those guys are available… Mariners run it back with the same trash as before and sign JT and maybe Rojas to a 1year deal before they move those guys….
Yeah prob just tradeacuna’s alt account
Yankees should trade Aaron judge because he’s getting old and at his peak!!! Tigers should trade Tarik skubal because he’s going to get TJ!!!
Haha definitely not- I’ve seen that guy…and you are being ridiculous. Skubal is great for the Tigers. If they get a stud like the Cubs got with Tucker, they will probably make the LCS next year.
I’m not talking about stupid trades for the sake of stupid trades. I’m talking about the Mariners doing what it takes to get a REAL stud to help lead their offense.
I’m serious, Mariners should consider trading top pitching to get out of limbo hell- or they have no chance. They aren’t going to compete for much with the worst batting average in the league.
I’d put my money on Kirby being a flop in the near future. Gilbert is a machine.
“I wish I wasn’t out there for the seventh, to be honest,’
-George Kirby
JRod is a “support player”? Are you serious?
He certainly plays like one.
Julio has a higher WAR than Kyle tucker the last 3 years.
Guess tucker is just a support player….whatever that means
Very serious. .270 hitter worth 25 hrs and 20 steals? Not a stud, sorry.
I get wanting to deny the reality of that though because the talent is there. Unfortunately, poor management may have cramped his development the past few years.
The Mariners don’t need to trade Castillo. It isn’t like a Bellinger situation where he’s expensive and they have 5 other outfielders all just as good or better.
The talk of Castillo trades came only after the market went haywire with overpays (as well as prospects being valued less which the mariners would prefer to trade). To trade Castillo will require an overpay from the other team to make it worth their time to trade him. Otherwise they can piece some minor things together and use a loaded farm system that will add a top 50 prospect in the draft to add at the deadline.
It would take a team taking the entire contract and an above average bat preferably at 3B (but definitely in the infield) at the minimum I think.
Well if team(s) are willing to over pay then why not?
hell no… not for Acuna! maybe Marte and McNeil at the minimum… add baty. but hell no, not acuna
They want to IMPROVE their team not take washed up players
M’s don’t want a prospect in Acuna who was awful in AAA and was struggling to hit the ball out of the infield in his cup of coffee.
If the Mets paid down a chunk of McNeil’s contract, there would be a path there with the inclusion of Baty.
McNeil is absolutely worthless and would just become the next Adam Frazier, kolten wong, Jorge polanco in Seattle
I’ll give you the Frazier downside scenario. However, if the Met’s paid half of his guaranteed contract such that it was 2yrs/$15.75M for McNeil, I think it’d be worthwhile as a placeholder/veteran while Young, Emerson and Arroyo finish their development.
I dont think so actually, but i could see why you’d say that. I see mcneil bouncing back. But if i were seattle i’d want acuna.
He had a .641 slugging percentage with 6 extra base hits and 3 HRs in 14 games. Not sure why you added that in there.
In his last 13 ABs he went 2/13. In AAA, he had under a .100 ISO and a 69 wRC+.
I’m not buying his bat at being anywhere near ready.
His last 13 AB’s?
As if 13 ABs is a statistically significant sample size.
“If the Mets paid down a chunk of McNeil’s contract”
Why would they do this? Castillo has 3/$75 million left on his deal. He’s an aging, declining pitcher who is completely different away from T-Mobile Park.
Dh, I know. His .641 SLG and 3 HR IN 39 AB sure shows that he is a barely able to get the ball out of the infield.
If we are counting 39 ABs as statistically significant, why not 13? If we was ready, he would’ve played when everyone was healthy, but instead only got 3 ABs in the postseason. There is a reason why Acuna slipped to being the 12th ranked prospect in their system.
I think Mauricio is a more interesting prospect at this point.
If the M’s are looking for closer to MLB-ready, I would take Acuña over Mauricio. I like both prospects as a Mets fan but Mauricio is apparently recovering slowly from his knee injury last winter and no one is sure if he’ll be ready for spring training.
Acuña has some questions with the bat but has plus speed and a plus glove up the middle at 2B/SS/CF. Feels like he could evolve into a Zobrist-like option with the right coaching.
You’re not serious about Acuña? He wasn’t great in AAA. But he was smoking the ball when he came up here. I think you should probably check his line again. The Mets wouldn’t have made the playoffs without him filling in for Lindor. It’s all good tho. He’s staying put.
FWIW Steamer projects Luisangel Acuna with a 2025 WAR of 0.8 and a wRC+ of 87 in 60 games”
fangraphs.com/players/luisangel-acuna/26548/stats?…
And it projects Ryan Bliss to have 1 WAR and a 94 wRC+ in 68 games. M’s wouldn’t be improving their in-house options by bringing in Acuna and would expect Young to surpass both within the next year anyways.
They’re not looking to give him away. Marte has negative trade value.
I wouldn’t take prospects for castillo either but I’d prefer that over marte and McNeil cuz they washed
Urias for Castillo! Toss in Brandon Young if they want a ML ready depth option.
Urias isn’t even used on the orioles…
I would love to see Castillo and Dylan moore for Jordan westburg (maybe add cade povich too but then that’s overpay)
It would open an infield spot for mayo and Seattle would have an open rotation spot for Hancock/Logan Evans
Westburg is a massive overpay.
Castillo and dylan moore for westburg… and then you thought, oh wait, the Orioles need to add more?!? Jesus man, you need to get a grip
Elias literally gave 2 good players for a triple A pitcher
If the orioles were ran by Dave dombrowski then I wouldn’t have said anything
Seriously. Weatburg’s value is SUBSTANTIALLY higher than Castillo’s. There are two pitchers on the mariners who likely could fetch Westburg but I don’t think the mariners would make those moves themselves. But there’s absolutely no chance that Castillo could get all star third baseman with five years of team control Jordan Westburg. lol. The stupid urias swap proposed above – which is insane btw – is substantially more realistic. And it’s garbage. But many many times more possible.
Dude you’re a clown. You might have taken the title for worst poster on these boards with that comment. Elias has turned two teams around from laughing stocks to perennial contenders. But he makes one move – the results of which we haven’t seen yet since they knew Roger’s needed to be rebuilt – and you’re talking about him like hes trash when he’s literally the most successful executive in the short of the last decade. Btw the “good players” he gave up were Stowers who is a AAAA Ofer with one tool and Norby who has the upside of a utility infielder or bottom 5 in the game 2b man. Real studs those guys. We’ve gotta get you in a room with the other contenders and see which one of you wins the title.
No, there’s 5 pitchers on mariners with more value than Westburg (the rest of our rotation and Munoz). Let the kid have a whole sophomore season in bigs before we act like he’s Brett Boone or Ian Kinsler. Castillo for westy is a good trade even if we throw in garver and pay half his salary.
Are you kidding? That’s a major overpay by the Mariners… Westburg and Mountcastle for Catillo and Locklear maybe… or take out Locklear and pick a 20-30 prospect from the Mariners which is a 10-15 on another team in Baseball….
Please change name to brain dead M’s fan. Westburg is far more valuable than Castillo and Dylan Moore. Castillo can’t even pitch outside of Seattle and Moore is a platoon piece
Outside your mind. Be realistic. Castillo had three years at 25 per and is showing signs of decline. Westburg has five years of control left, was an all star last season, is one of the best lineup “spark plugs” in the sport of the past decade, can play 3b/ss/2b. The list goes on and on. He’s one of the more valuable young players in the game. I doubt the mariners could get him for Castillo AND Emerson. That’s how high his value is right now. The orioles would love Castillo. Love him. For Ryan Mountcastle and urias or a 15-20 lottery ticket. That’s a quite reasonable return.
Ms fans are looking really bad in the comments of late. You guys are giving tigers and Yankees fan’s a run for their money. We have a surprise new contender for dumbest fans in the sport…I really don’t see this one coming but you guys have lost your collective minds.
I’d rather have Castillo than westburg
That’s rich.
You attempted to call out Mariner fans for being dumb with a comment that’s riddled with mistakes.
In case you haven’t noticed, Eric, starting pitching is at a premium right now. That suggestion isn’t the stretch you think it is, so slinging insults probably isn’t a good idea.
Absolutely no way the Orioles trade Westburg. They trade Mayo before Westburg and that’s likely in a Gilbert or Kirby trade, not for Castillo, at least not without Seattle paying some of that contract.
No amount of money would lead to a Mayo for Castillo deal either.
They could pay the full $75 million and I don’t think it’d get them mayo.
FWIW Steamer projects Coby Mayo with a 2025 WAR of 0.3 in 97 games (with a 28 percent strikeout rate):
fangraphs.com/players/coby-mayo/28312/stats?positi…
Urias and Rojas are basically the same guy. Why did they let Rojas go if they were going to trade for Urias?
Mayo and Rogers for Castillo and Ford..
As a Mariners fan. this is a more realistic path than most anything else thrown around. Seattle does not need to trade him for money reasons. Seattle is more than ok with keeping him, it’s not a dump. This is only really being discussed because teams are seeing the FA market blow up and now dwindle. I they are willing to make trades they were not earlier in the off-season. In the end it will likely be something like this or something with Boston around Casas, or even the Nats. Otherwise he isn’t being traded. Too valuable.
Ford makes no sense with the orioles already having enough at catcher
Ford is Cal’s replacement when his knees push him to DH or 1B
Bob, there is no way the redsox are offering Casas in any package headlined by Castillo. One of the other 4 pitchers is the only way they get Casas
And that’s why I’m leaning towards this all being for nothing. Price is too high. And should be from Seattle’s perspective. This is just an exercise of what if.
I think they need to consider trading 1 of miller or woo. Eventually one of these guys will get hurt or come back down to earth so why not fix the offense with one of them? Run prevention is only one piece of the puzzle
Mariners want no part of Casas and his Strikeout numbers, you can bank on that…
@EricS. Why do you assume that they are going to come back down to earth? Is this all a fluke? Why do you want them then? The only way one of the younger 4 are getting traded is to overpay for them. You want ANY of those 4, it starts with Gunner Henderson. That’s not to say any are a better players than Henderson, but thats the overpay. So, give up on the dream of Kirby, Gilbert, Miller or Woo.
It’s not. The only players on Seattles roster who could get Mayo (in a package) are Julio, Kirby, Gilbert…maybe miller straight up. Maybe. Castillo isn’t even a conversation starter.
Your looking for a fair deal. Seattle isn’t trading one of their rotation pieces for a fair deal. It’s going to be a win by Seattle or they’re just not going to do it. How bad do you want a starter is what the FO is telling everyone. Despite what everyone seems to think, Seattle does not HAVE to trade a starter. Other teams want one and if they want one from Seattle, it’s going to hurt.
If the orioles offered Mountcastle and Wells while taking on the full contract the deal would have been done yesterday
Make that Mountcastle, Westburg, Basallo for Castillo, Locklear, and Arroyo maybe you have a deal… biggest part is will Castillo approve a trade to Baltimore?
You are absolutely delusional kid
lol. You couldn’t get EITHER westburg or Basallo in that deal. Much less both. You’re going to be really disappointed in the mariners return given your current delusions. You might need medical attention…
The Mariners were not in the playoffs and haven’t been since 2022.
When they got swept by the Astros.
Meh. As a Mets fan, pass on Castillo. All of his numbers are trending in the wrong direction and his home/road splits are stark. His fastball velo is down to 95.4 and his EV is creeping towards 90 mph. He’s owed a ton of money over the next three years (possibly four with vesting option) into his mid-30s. Unless the Mariners are doing a pure salary dump, I’d rather them just sign someone else than give up anything meaningful for Castillo.
Castillo would get 35M per for 4 years on a FA deal… he’s playing for a discount and he’s Stable without injury history… what market are you seeing? If someone doesn’t over pay Seattle keeps Castillo in case on of the other 4 goes down… Trade Castillo and then lose one of the 4 you have 3 starters and Hancock in the 4slot with Evans, Mercedes, Morales, or Garcia filling the 5Slot… I think he’s putting feelers our there in case they get Sasaki.. otherwise they don’t move Castillo at all…
Castillo wouldnt sniff 4/140. Even in this market.
Yeah I think Castillos surplus value is maybe 10 million. McNeil makes a lot of sense for the Mariners but at best his deal is salary neutral. The Mariners can trade Castillo and then signing another lesser pitcher a lefty because they could use one.
FWIW Baseball Trade Values assigns Jeff McNeill a negative value of $20 million.
Yeah I think it’s more like 10 but hey just my opinion.
Dave Dombrowski PR machine about to start a rumor Phillies interested. Just to make people think he is working.
Mariners won’t trade him. Teams won’t give them the package required to weaken their rotation.
I think the idea is they take some of the money saved from trading Castillo and get a lesser starting pitcher plus help at 2b or 3b which they need. Mariners are poor.
I’d trade him for Holliday
Maybe if you include Kirby
I’d trade George for Holliday maybe
The Mariners don’t need to trade Luis Castillo. If they do, it will be to a team for which Castillo agrees to waive his no-trade clause. And it will have to hurt that team, so these Castillo-for-Trash deals are just stupid. The M’s need a FT raking 3B and a 2B that’s an on base machine. Not prospects. Real live MLB hitters. If they accept anything less, it’s because the other team is taking on Haniger, Garver, or both as well.
You M fans are delusional. Castillo has been on the decline for 3 years straight now. Trending in the wrong direction AND owed $24m AAV for 3 more years. I’m not saying I wouldn’t want him in my rotation right now but why would you trade valuable players for that when you could just sign a mid tier FA and not give up players. A trade would be mostly a salary dump and not net that great of a return unless you eat a lot of money or trade for another decent size contract like a Marte or something. For the O’s STOP ASKING FOR WESTBURG… you just sound dumb
No, you sound ignorant. A players value is what the team holding them says it is. If no one else agrees to pay it, then they don’t get traded. Just because they aren’t traded doesn’t mean that team overvalued them. It means they were more valuable to the team that has them. This is not a hard concept. Only a ridiculous offer will get you Castillo. Otherwise, he starts opening day in Seattle.
Seriously. There are only 3-4 players on their team that might get Westburg and Castillo is definitely not on that short list.
The Orioles aren’t a good trade partner here. Both the Ms and Os were looking to improve by trading prospects and the market has shockingly shifted to massively overvaluing veterans and spurning prospects. If the Mariners trade Castillo they would require a team to overpay for him hoping to take advantage of a team like Boston who can’t financially compete with the Mets, Dodgers, and Yankees for the biggest FAs.
If the O’s do trade, the package needs to somehow include Mountcastle and not Mayo. That way Mayo can platoon 1st with O’Hearn. If Kjerstad has to be a part of it then fine. He doesn’t have a spot in the outfield anyway. If they trade both Mayo and Mountcastle then they should sign Christian Walker as a stop gap until Basaelllo is ready.
Castillo doesn’t get a top young player at this point in his career. He’s good but he’s closer to a good 3 than a 1 or 2 and his away splits over the past two seasons are pretty poor. He’d get Mountcastle plus, certainly. But he’s not getting anybody of a Mayo/kjerstad level from any team.
Castillo for Mountcastle 1 for 1 might make sense.
I ‘ bid for Castillo two years in a row in an auction league except not last year. Why ? I think he is trending downwards. Not a #1 but solid #2 who pitches in an excellent pitchers park. If I’m Seattle, I hold onto my starters and try to emulate the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz Braves. Like my Giants the 0ffense needs a lot of work and they should be drafting offense big time.