NEW YORK — Close, but no cigar.
Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo was dealt from Cincinnati to the Seattle Mariners on Friday night, a blockbuster trade that’s poised to open the floodgates ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
That’s great news for the Mariners, a club in search of more talent as they look to end a 21-year postseason drought. Castillo landing in Seattle isn’t what the Yankees wanted to hear, though.
New York had been in on Castillo for quite some time, looking to add another ace to the rotation alongside Gerrit Cole for the stretch run. Castillo was their “number one pitching target” this summer, per YES Network’s Jack Curry. In fact, according to MLB insider Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the Yankees were “close” to making a deal happen to bring Castillo to the Bronx. The Yankees were one of a dozen teams that inquired before Seattle sealed the deal, per Feinsand.
It was even reported within the last 48 hours—by Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media—that while New York pushed hard for Castillo, the Reds responded by telling the Yankees to sit tight with their offer, a sign Cincinnati preferred to wait until closer to the deadline before they traded Castillo away.
Look how that turned out.
So, what led Cincinnati to make this deal with a few days to spare then? Well, the Mariners simply presented them with an offer that would’ve been foolish to refuse, a package of four prospects that includes three highly-touted assets.
Shortstop Noelvi Marte was the Mariners’ No. 1 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. Shortstop Edwin Arroyo (No. 3) and right-hander Levi Stoudt (No. 5) were also top-five prospects in Seattle’s system. Marte (No. 18) and Arroyo (No. 93) are both ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list as well.
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It’s an inexact comparison, but the first, third and fifth prospects in New York’s farm system, per MLB Pipeline, are shortstop Anthony Volpe, outfielder Jasson Domínguez and left-hander Ken Waldichuk. All three of those assets are top-100 prospects.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post said Friday after the Castillo deal went public that the Yankees refused to include Volpe in a Castillo trade, aiming to build a package around their second-best prospect, Oswald Peraza. Evidently, a Peraza package wasn’t going to get the job done. Kudos to Cincinnati for finding a way to bring in more value from another club.
Castillo is tremendous, an All-Star with an additional season of control after this year, but as of now, it seems like New York made the right move sitting out on this one. There are other starters left on the open market and while hugging prospects doesn’t win championships in the short term, there’s also a balance that each organization must follow. A package including Volpe and two other top-tier prospects profiles as the type of combination New York would use to acquire Juan Soto from the Nationals, if that deal ever comes to fruition. It feels a little steep for 1.5 years of Castillo.
Then again, maybe Castillo will prove to be the key piece that orchestrates a deep postseason run for Seattle and New York will be regretting this down the road. Hindsight is always 20/20 when it comes to the deadline.
Now, New York must consider what prospect capital they would be willing to spend on the other starters left on the open market, making sure to address this need in some fashion before the deadline on Tuesday.
The dream to see Luis Castillo pitching in the Bronx again this year is still alive, just not the way the organization and fan base hoped. Assuming Castillo sticks to his five-day progression, after pitching this past Wednesday, the right-hander will make his Mariners debut against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Monday night.
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