The first major starting pitching trade has been made, as the Mariners and Reds announced a deal sending two-time All-Star Luis Castillo to Seattle. In exchange, the Reds bring back four prospects — highly-regarded infielders Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo and right-handers Levi Stoudt and Andrew Moore. Cincinnati has selected the contract of reliever Ryan Hendrix to take Castillo’s roster spot.
Castillo had been perhaps the prize of this year’s rotation market. After missing a few weeks due to shoulder soreness to open the year, Castillo made his season debut in early May and has looked like a bona fide top-of-the-rotation arm. He’s made 14 starts and worked 85 innings, pitching to a 2.86 ERA despite playing his home games in one of the league’s more hitter-friendly parks. Castillo has punched out a quality 25.8% of opposing hitters against a solid 8% walk rate. This season’s 47.1% grounder percentage is down a bit relative to his 2019-21 levels, but it remains a few points better than the league average.
That kind of high-end production is about what we’ve come to expect from Castillo, who has cemented himself as one of the sport’s top arms over the past few seasons. He’s posted an ERA under 4.00 in each of the last four years, carrying a cumulative 3.49 mark in 91 starts since the beginning of the 2019 campaign. That’s 24th among 98 qualified starters over that stretch. His 26.8% strikeout rate ranks 23rd among that group, and he’s 12th with a 14.2% swinging strike percentage (whiffs per pitch). He’s complemented the strikeout stuff with a massive 54.8% ground-ball percentage that ranks among the top ten.
Few pitchers can match Castillo’s combination of whiffs and grounders, and the 29-year-old backs it up with an impressive arsenal. He’s one of the harder throwing starters, averaging just shy of 97 MPH on both his four-seam and sinker. Castillo’s bread-and-butter secondary pitch, his changeup, is among the game’s top offspeed offerings, and he’s gotten strong results on his slider as well.
Castillo will move to the front of a rotation that suddenly looks to be one of the more fearsome in the sport. The M’s signed reigning AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to a five-year deal over the winter, and second-year hurler Logan Gilbert has a 2.78 ERA through 21 starts. Rookie George Kirby, who was generally considered among the top handful of pitching prospects entering the season, has a 3.50 ERA through his first 13 big league outings. Chris Flexen and Marco Gonzales aren’t high-strikeout arms, but they’re more than capable back-of-the-rotation types.
Seattle will want to keep an eye on the innings totals for Gilbert and Kirby, so there’d have been sense in even adding a stable back-end arm. Instead, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and his staff swung bigger to bolster the 54-46 club they expect to snap the franchise’s two-decade playoff drought. Should they make the postseason, the front office and fanbase alike would no doubt feel strongly about their ability to match opponents’ top three arms with Castillo, Ray and Gilbert.
The deal is about more than just the 2022 season, as Castillo will be arbitration-eligible for a final time this winter. He’s making $7.35MM this year, around $2.75MM of which has yet to be paid out. He’ll earn a decent raise in arbitration but still have a plenty affordable salary — likely around the $12MM range. That’s an obvious bargain for a pitcher of his caliber, making a year and a half of his services incredibly valuable.
That’s reflected in the return, which looks very strong. Marte and Arroyo were the top two prospects in the Seattle system on Baseball America’s most recent top 100, respectively checking in 47th and 48th in the league. Marte, the most well-known of the group, entered the season ranked among the game’s top 15 farmhands in the estimation of each of Keith Law of the Athletic, FanGraphs and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.
A 6’3″ infielder out of the Dominican Republic, Marte is universally projected as a possible plus power hitter capable of racking up 25 or more home runs annually at his peak. He has played exclusively shortstop in the minors, and while evaluators suggest he might eventually grow off that position, he’s expected to stick on the infield as a possible above-average third baseman. He’s spent the year in High-A as a 20-year-old, putting up an impressive .270/.360/.460 line with 15 homers, a strong 10.8% walk rate and a manageable 21.1% strikeout percentage through 389 plate appearances.
Arroyo, 18, was Seattle’s second-round pick in last year’s draft. The Puerto Rico native has already notably elevated his stock in his first full professional season, raking at a .316/.385/.514 clip in Low-A. He’s collected 13 homers and 19 doubles and stolen 21 bases. That kind of offensive performance was unexpected, as the switch-hitter entered the season more well-regarded for his potential plus defense at shortstop than his bat.
Stoudt recently checked in as the M’s #10 prospect, per Baseball America. The 24-year-old righty has struggled at Double-A this year, pitching to a 5.28 ERA across 87 innings. He has a slightly below-average 22% strikeout rate and a tiny 5.9% walk percentage that look more palatable, however. BA writes that he works in the 94-98 MPH range with his fastball and has a solid array of secondary offerings, led by his changeup. The 2019 3rd-round pick will have to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He’s regarded as a possible back-of-the-rotation starter.
Moore, not to be confused with the former Seattle starter of the same name, was a 14th-round pick out of junior college last year. The 22-year-old righty has worked exclusively out of the bullpen in Low-A, posting a 1.95 ERA through 32 1/3 innings with a ridiculous 43.6% strikeout rate. He’s generally facing younger competition and has walked almost 13% of opponents, but BA recently wrote that he features a 95-97 MPH fastball and a swing-and-miss breaking pitch. He’ll add an interesting lower level bullpen arm to the Cincinnati system.
The trade — which marks the second time in four months these two teams have lined up on a blockbuster — will have plenty of repercussions. Seattle’s decision to push in arguably their top two prospects for one of the sport’s best starters reinforces that the M’s view themselves as a legitimate contender in the American League. It also seemingly signifies they’re out of the running for Juan Soto, although there’s still plenty of upper level talent for Dipoto and his group to further bolster the roster over the next three days. Second base looks like a possible target area, as does backup catcher. Castillo, though, figures to be the splash — the impact addition designed to put a team that’s generally strong around the diamond over the top.
As for the Reds, it’s the second (and likely most notable) trade they’ll make this week as they strip down the big league roster in search of future talent. Castillo’s former rotation mate Tyler Mahle could soon join him in being moved for a marquee return (although not likely one as strong as this). Rental hitters like Brandon Drury and Donovan Solano won’t recoup a franchise-altering package, but there’s little reason for them not to join Tyler Naquin and Castillo in changing clubs.
With Castillo off the market, Mahle and A’s hurler Frankie Montas become the top two rotation trade candidates, in addition to a handful of high-impact arms who might be available despite having control windows extending beyond 2023. Teams like the Yankees, Cardinals, Rangers and Twins are known to be in the market for rotation help. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets that 12 teams were in contact with the Reds about Castillo and suggests the Yankees’ offer was close to the quality of Seattle’s. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic indicates Texas made a strong push as well. In the end, the Mariners put the best offer on the table, leaving plenty of others to look elsewhere over the next 72 hours.
Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report Seattle was nearing a deal for Castillo. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times was first to report the prospects going back to Cincinnati.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Wow.
Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
Reds getting Suarez and Winker back. Jk.
Maybe there will be more than one trade tonight?
I guess Jerry is try’in to win 2-1 every night.. You make this, a big bat better be coming.
Agreed! I’m thinking some more M’s fans might howl if a few more kids are traded for a proven bat or two during the next few days, but the M’s have a good W-L record when they score four or more runs. So yes, it’s great to get Castillo, but I hope there is a bat or two coming next, and that the M’s don’t count on Haniger and Lewis to be immediately productive on their return, or count on those two to stay healthy.
Hanniger back next week more than likely.
Is there any guarantee a new bat would produce right away? No, there’s not. Especially if it comes from the NL.
That being said, I would love to get Ketel Marte back. He’d fit perfectly.
Surprised Kelenic wasn’t in the deal. Has everyone completely soured on him to a degree Reds did not want him?
Reds have like 6 or 7 of Seattle’s top prospects in exchange for 3 players. works for me!
4 and some flyers..
But 1 more decent trade and its enough to claim the bulk of the Mariners coveted farm system. Will be intrigued with how these trades work out in the long run.
Goody for the Mariners! Maybe they can win the AL West now? I hope so, tired of looking up and seeing the Trashtros, all the time.
No worse than seeing the Yankees buy and cheat their way to divisional titles.
obviously an Astro fan from your name. And I remember Bass in the ’86 playoffs as well as the known cheating pitcher Scott.
Right… Mike Scott the cheater. The New York Mets. Why is it that so many whiny crying sissy boy fans come from New York? That hy always perplexed me.
Mike Scott didn’t cheat. The New York Mets were just little crying sissy boys. What they accused him of doing was somet they checked for. Never found him using any material to scuff the balls. The balls were scuffed because that’s what happens when you smash a baseball and 100 mph into the dirt. It gets scuffed.
The New York Yankees get to enjoy the reputation for being the franchise that holds all the major league baseball back with their refusal to allow for a real salary cap. A real minimum spending requirement. To create a genuinely competitive league in all fronts. No they’re just fine with the status quo because it allows them to buy up talent and compete every year. There is no better form of cheating than that.
@bass86- you really don’t have any proof of that, Mr. Trashstro. Good luck though.
>calls NY fans “crying sissy boys”
>cries and whines in the comment section of an unrelated baseball article
LOL ok
@bass86- oh your still crying over losing in 1986, to a much better Mets team? Lolololololol!!! That’s rich!
and then in 88, mets caught dodgers cheating in lcs like scott (probably) was.
oops, turns out davey was right teams were cheating,
Winning in baseball now is going to cost the whole farm system, kinda surprised to see the M’s pay this much always thought he’d go to the Yankees
Am I the only one blown away by 1 years difference… Castillo this year verse berrios last year is crazy. Same control, similar upside (at the respective times) but the blue Jay’s would have been laughed off the phone if they offered their package for Castillo this year!
New CBA, expanded playoffs…going to see some really high prospect returns in 2022 due to the supply-demand dynamics. My guess is few trades, concentrated among small number of buyers who are willing & able to pay exorbitant prices. Will be fun to see if that is how it plays out.
but the blue Jay’s would have been laughed off the phone if they offered their package for Castillo this year!
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The funny part is that I thought they overpaid for Berrios.
See I thought they sold high on two prospects fading out. Martin doesn’t look to have much pop and SWR doesn’t look like a frontline starter at all.
The whole farm? Really? Two of their best is not the whole farm. And no, I don’t count Stoudt. He’s way overrated. His ERA this year in AA is well above 5!
And no one even heard of Andrew Moore.
I remember when no had heard of Castillo when he a lottery ticket… in the Casey McGehee trade.
/sigh
Four players out of 275-280 players in the system is not the whole farm.
Mariners won this trade.
When the Astros traded for RHP Verlander, Astros sent their #3, #9, and #11 ranked prospects to the Tigers. Two of those prospects ended up in MLB’s top 100.
At that time, Astros supposedly “traded the farm” and there were fans that insinuated that Verlander, at age 34, was on the tail end of his career.
Mariners did very well in their trade for Castillo. Their farm system has solid depth and really good balance across all positions. This trade did not hurt the team’s future.
you have an o.k. point….right up until you said “mariners won this trade”. I think you know better than that, honestly. Reds are awful now….but I find the prospects they are stacking to be intriguing! Mariners got a good pitcher for sure, but apples to oranges. are you gonna say the same thing in 4 years? are you gonna tell me Seattle is thrilled with Winker and Suarez? no disrespect….I love our prospects now. the kid we got for sonny gray just got bumped up to double A…(petty) hes gonna be interesting to follow. you get it!
There is no denying that the Talent the Reds received in the trade.
The Reds have not won a playoff series since 1995 and are embarking on yet another rebuild. I feel for the Reds fans.
So many fans obsess over farm system ranking /prospect rankings. The Astros farm system is ranked #27; however, it has been far more productive in GM Click’s tenure since he came over from the Rays. Astros now have more homegrown talent on the 40-man roster than any other team in baseball.
I believe the Rays are the rebuild/retool model other teams should emulate (not the Astros – NOPE and NOPE). The Astros maneuvered from a tank-at-all-costs to a win-at-all-costs philosophy.
Astros had one of the worst cultures in professional sports history – multiple scandals involving the following; tanking, Cardinals hacking, sensitive information leaks, public criticism from former employees, firing Bo Porter, manipulating the draft bonus pool, trading for Robert Osuna, signing players/coaches with a reputation in MLB for “bending” rules, and so on and so forth.
Astros have done a complete 180 since Luhnow was fired. The team hired GM Click from the Rays, hired Manager Dusty Baker, reorganized operations, implemented baseball camps/instructional support for minor league players, gave Reggie Jackson an expanded mentor/advisory role (absolute God Send for the team), improved medical and rehab support for minor leaguers, enhanced facilities, etc.
While the Reds don’t need to go as far as the Astros did in rebuilding the entire organization from the ground up and creating a whole new identity (not just infusing talent in the farm system), they could borrow the Ray’s retool playbook.
The Reds got no major league ready talent in return and given the Reds are trading players from a previous rebuild, I believe the Mariners won this trade. Mariners are a team to reckon with now.
EDWIN ARROYO Is The CROWN JEWEL of this Trade…he’s the next CARLOS CORREA coming out also from PUERTO RICO. .Don’t get me wrong, Luis Castillo is an outstanding pitcher and as Marlins fans, we always regretted the poor judgement of his talent by Miami’s Front Office at the time to sacrifice him (in that trade) for a mediocre pitcher (Dan Straily) who never turned out to be any better than when they traded LC for him. In this trade, getting three other good prospects was a plus, but getting EDWIN ARROYO will make CINCY the winner for years to come.
Cincinnati got 1 other good prospect. Marte.
marte is a GREAT prospect!
wasn’t it San Diego who traded Castillo? i think Miami traded him twice!!!
This move is DiPotto trying to protect his job. When they don’t get far in October he can say he gave it his all. Castillo will still hold good value for his contract year. Trader Jerry will swap him this off season or next deadline and recoup some of the prospect cost he gave up.
As always, we await developments.
You’d rather they wait on putting out the headline until they type up the entire article?
Give me the blurb if that’s all you have for now I’ll take it. I’ll read details later as they come out. No problem. Love this site and everything they do.
It’s this guys joke that stories take a while to develop so we should be patient on the return
All to finish 12 games back of Houston instead of 15.
jjd002 – perhaps, but they hope to still make the postseason and end a 20-year playoff drought.
Yeah but they now have a great short series rotation
Still going to be an underdog in every series. First series they will likely play all games on the road. They would then have to likely beat Astros and Yankees to advance. However, they have not been in the playoffs in a long time.
The first wild card team will get their first series entirely at home. Mariners are clearly in contention for that slot.
I would take Seattle in a short series vs Toronto at this point, home or away.
Manfred will get the Seattle Vs Florida WS he visualized with so many playoff teams.
They can be the top Wildcard and host that series. And they will win it.
Their division is also pretty weak, the A’s are tanking, the Angels are under performing, and the Rangers are doing typical Rangers stuff. Unless the Angels really turn it around next year Seattle is set up to compete for multiple years.
They are not competing with Houston next year, either. They are 3 years away.
I just had to laugh when you said “typical Rangers stuff”. And you’re absolutely right.
Too soon to tell. I prefer my team, but the M’s are better than their record.
Mariners will be extremely tough in the playoffs. Adding Castillo gives them a formidable rotation that can compete against every team.
Mariners are highly confident they will sign Castillo long term. I’ll make this prediction; Castillo will anchor the Mariner rotation for several years.
I agree the Mariners are a much team than their record indicates.
Also. Mariners are not done trading.
not a Ms fan, but I’m simply curious, thunder. how do you ascertain that Mariners are “highly confident ” they’ll sign Castillo long term?
You beat me to it. I can’t haunt everywhere at once after all.
Doesn’t matter. They need to break the longest drought in baseball, and they will.
Really happy for the Mariners. Thinking it’s either going to be Frankie Montas or Pablo Lopez traded to the Yankees before Tuesday’s trading deadline now.
I don’t think so, with Castillo price what it was, don’t see Oakland or Miami taking a lot less for their guys.
The baseline has been set, 3 top prospects for a high end pitcher.
I don’t see the Yankees doing that for López or Montas
Castillo is a true ace and Montas/Lopez are slightly lower tier. Multiple top 100 prospects might be necessary but I think teams could still protect their top prospect, if the system is deep enough.
The gauntlet has been set if you want controllable it’s going to cost a ton
Is nobody here familiar with Castillo’s game log from the first half last year? Now he’s a “true ace”? Wow, short memory
If Oakland and Miami insist on 3 top 10 prospects, I agree with you Mlbfan78 there’s no way the Yankees go for it. I guess they go for bullpen help or a back of the rotation starter.
Exactly I don’t see Cashman giving up any of his top 3 prospects for Lopez or Montas and you know Oakland and Miami is going to want 1 or even 2 of them part of the deal.
Get some relievers and back end starters and hope it’s enough to win a World Series is going to be the Yankees plan.
Pitchers have rough runs all the time, particularly changeup pitchers. If you look at his career it’s pretty clear where the outlier months were
@Mlbfan78- let’s stop pretending that Frankie Montas or Pablo Lopez are better then Luis Castillo all of a sudden. 3 or 4 prospects in a teams top 10-15 definitely gets it done. Waldichuk, Wesneski, Sweeney, Pereira or Vasquez/Sears works. I’m fine with either pitcher in a trade. Whatever team bites lst.
Yanks gone in the first round.
HA HA HA
@Mickey777- I don’t think Montas or Lopez will be as expensive as Castillo. If they are, the Yankees should just trade for Juan Soto instead. Noah Syndergaard is an option also for the Yankees. I believe he would be cheaper then both pitchers(Lopez or Montas) and he’s a rental.
@Mlbfan78- if that’s the case and it may not be, then Syndergaard could be an option for the Yankees. Montas and Trevino for Waldichuk, Wesneski, or Schmidt, Pereira, Vargas, Sears and Warren definitely seems fair for both teams.
Never said they were, but that’s what Miami and Oakland are going to ask for.
Especially Miami for Lopez,
I remember how the Cards always beat him up. It just felt that way to me. I always thought the Cards would win when he pitched. Not a true ace whatsoever. Not dependable for sure.
Case: You must be a Mariners fan and not watched Castillo over the past few years. He is not a true ace whatsoever. A 2 or 3 at best. He is having a good year for him.
Lopez has an extra year of control he’s not a free agent until 2025 he’s going to probably cost as much as Castillo. Montas will only cost slightly less in all likelihood.
Only question l have for Syndergaard is his salary, are the Yankees prepared to pay the tax increase they would have to pay to add his remaining 20 million salary to their books.?
The Angels won’t do the Yankees any favors and pay off the salary unless they get a better return and who knows what Artie is even thinking? Is Noah even available? (He should be though)
Doesn’t that mean Thor would have to cut his hair?
No way Thor is going to cut his hair to play for the Yankee’s.
Putmein: Castillo 10th best fWAR in MLB since 6/1/21, better than Cole or any other Yankee. That’s ace for sure, uncontested.
@TheBoatmen- Thor’s not going to cut his hair? Thor doesn’t want a chance to pitch in another World Series? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Every player goes through a little bit of a rough stretch. The majority of his career he’s been the number 1 guy there in CIncy. Even when he had the rough first half he still was durable and had enough confidence to settle down the second half. A lot of players would just falter all season.
@Captain Judge99. Concerned with the Yankees rotation. Yankees paid BIG money for the Houston version of Garrett Cole, unfortunately they got the Pittsburgh version. Of the top rung starters left prefer Lopez, but as stated previously expect the price to be too high. Would trade Wesneskiand Waldichuk for Montas and Trevino.
By the way, fabulous game last night.
everyone laughed at the last minute trade for Holmes last year. however the Yanks do not have that luxury to work with a pitcher in the off season. I don’t see a trade with Balt happening, Detroit has some good bullpen arms though.
If the Yankees losing the first round I will be laughing my head off! Especially if the Mariners pull it off because that would be sweet sweet revenge for 2001 (2000 won the Mariners had the best record in baseball 116 – 46 And they lose to the Yankees in either the ALDS or the ALCS). Yankees went on to lose in the World Series To the Diamondbacks. I know that and I didn’t even watch the World Series that year (because you can look the stuff up).
Does he have a beard? I know the Royals played him earlier this past week and beat him but all I remember is his hair pulled back in kind of a man bun type ponytail.
You’re just flat out wrong
And then beat the Astros in the playoffs.
Lol. Who? Astros aren’t losing the Mariners in the playoffs. The Mariners most likely lose the first round. Talent gap is huge between them.
@jjd002 – not nearly as huge as the talent gap between A’s and Astros, and we just got swept by them, just days after losing 2 out of 3 to them, at home. This is baseball – I love my Astros, who are second only to the Dodgers in wins since opening day 2015; an absolutely historic run, prob one of the 20 best franchise runs in MLB history; but we lost to the Nats in ’19, the Rays in ’20, and the Braves in ’21, all of whom we ought to have beaten. I’m not counting chickens til they hatch
I don’t disagree with anything you said. But, I doubt the 2022 Mariners are as good as the 2019 Nationals or last years Braves.
It’s possible. Everyone who wanted expanded playoffs can’t say a word. When a team that finished 10+ games back wins a World Series, it will be a true Manfred Utopia. haha
should have beaten Red Sox in ’18, too, but Bregs could only single-handedly carry the offense so far, Cora did some kind of voodoo on our sign-stealing system, and Betts went supernova. 🙂
Drayton McLain would have loved 2022 baseball.
A bit silly to predict the outcome of a three game series.
You can’t be a top franchise if you cheated for the only title ever won lol.
Depends on how long old Verlander’s arm can hold up.
Cheaters… So happy my Braves smoked them last year. Especially in cheatin’ Minute Maid Park.
@jason, Then why do all the teams try to copy their way of doing business? Every team was doing what they were doing
Whatever you’ve got to tell yourself.
Joey, how many amateur players did your “nom-cheating” team illegally sign? Your team broke rules, too.
Executives from other teams have moved on, due the Astros farm system. the Astros are extending their Championship run. Their pitching depth is the best in franchise history.
When the Astros drafted RHP Hunter Brown, he had a 2-pitch arsenal and best projected as a high leverage relief pitcher. He now uses four pitches and is one of the best young pitchers in the game.
In 2019, the consensus on LHP Framber Valdez is that he “best projects as relief pitcher with multiple-inning potential.” He rose from relative prospect obscurity to one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. Farm system publications graded him as a fringe C+ prospect (others were less forgiving).
This trend continues for the Astros with the pitchers in the system. People look at what they see on paper (4.11 ERA for LHP Valdez as an example) and don’t see a top prospect. But these pitchers are refining their mechanics and off-speak pitches. The Astros player development system is one of the best in MLB.
RHP Hunter Brown might be the only Astros minor leaguer on the top 100 MLB prospect list but is not in the top 3 in developing his off-speed pitches. RHP Alex Santos is arguably the best – drafted in 2020 out of HS, he had basically one pitch and also projected as a high leverage relief pitcher. Again, his stats are underwhelming (as were Hunter Brown’s in 1st two pro seasons), but he is now showing solid command of four pitches and repeating his delivery consistently.
RHP Miguel Ullola’s slider is a spectacular pitch and the best in the system. He is up to 99-100 mph on his FB. His secondary pitches are more advanced in development than RHP Hunter Brown’s. Astros love his work ethic. He will end up at AAA next season. Fun player to watch.
Executives from other teams are heavily scouting the Astros system ahead of the trade deadline. Astros are getting more traction in trade talks with various clubs.
You can’t be as dumb as you sound… Using an ill defined set of arcane rules to sign a 16 year old can’t be compared to knowing what pitch is coming at every home game. Atlanta was summarily punished. Last time I checked Houston wrongly still kept the WS trophy.
Hey the 2019 World Series winner started off the year 19 – 31 in their first 50. Anything can happen
I hate it when the Royals have to play in minute maid park. Those Crawford boxes are the worst!
So that level of breaking the rules is ok since your team did it? My guess is most of baseball did the same thing Atlanta did (Dodgers signed Beltre when he was 15), just as most of baseball was doing PEDs in the 90s, and most of baseball was stealing signs electronically. And the Astros were punished severely for a league wide issue.
@Mets698622- you mean the Trashtros?
Probably true. But once in the payoffs it’s a crap shoot and anything can happen.
I have a feeling it’s going to be a bit closer to 5-8 games back now. They just got ALOT better. Gilbert matched Verlander pitch for pitch in his last outing before tonight. Our division just got very interesting.
Wowwwwww
This is a zesty acquisition for the Mariners.
Zesty isn’t used enough
my friend recently got called zesty by a lady, he hasnt stopped talking about it
effervescent could be miss=used more.
Is he Italian?
My mom used to buy Zest soap for the bath. It sucked. I would have preferred Safeguard or even Camay before Zest. Zest was not zesty enough. But hey, this trade certainly is.
But at least you got fully clean. Zestfully clean!
Haha. I forgot that jingle. But no, the Zest soap made me a lackadaisical bather.
Irish springs soap crew
can someone point me in the direction of baseball? I seem to have lost my way…
Someone is getting ‘zesty.’
What was it the leprechaun said in the Irish Spring commercial? I think I remember. Shut up we are in a commercial break. He was a grumpy little leprechaun. Looked a bit like Altuve.
I like this move by Seattle. I think Soto would have been more fun. Him and Julio playing off each other would be golden
I figured Marte would be in any trade. There was a write up that said Marte will end up in LF. He doesn’t have the arm to throw from the left side. It kind of sucked to think we had this superstar SS then find out he will be a LF. Arroya was a tough pill to swallow. Stoudt I really liked had been struggling a bit though. Don’t know about the last guy.
This is hopefully the first of many stepping stones to get Seattle to the playoffs then eventually win a few WS. Been awhile since I have been excited about the team for the first time in a long time. Time for Sodo Mojo to reappear along with refuse to lose. This next half will be so fun to watch.
Dang might have to upgrade them from “losing in the WC round” to “losing in the ALDS”
Step one is breaking the playoff drought. That’s all that matters.
And that’s why they will never go anywhere in the playoffs. You don’t trade your future for one guy just to make the playoffs that you will lose in. A guy that you’ve got under control for a whole extra year. This is not going to work out well for Seattle. This is bad management.
There aren’t many teams with a better pitching staff in baseball. Maybe none, both starting and relieving. And this team still has a ton of payroll space. They tried to throw money at free agents last off-season and no one would come. One more big bat and a usable 2B and this team is a real contender this year and next.
bass86- With all due respect, you gotta be whacked out of your damned mind. Seattle is something like the 3rd youngest team in baseball and had the top ranked farm system last year. They are at a point where their top prospects are being called up, in waves. Prospects are unproven, and when a team expects to compete in the playoffs, they can afford to trade a couple of their top prospects for an all-star pitcher. Seattle’s management is very good from top to bottom as evidenced by turning their farm system from being ranked dead last about 5 years ago, to arguably the best. Their management of the entire pitching staff has been fantastic for the last couple years and is only getting better with the arrival of Gilbert, Kirby, etc. Now Castillo. I could go on and on about the bullpen and all the arms they keep developing into high end relievers. When your farm system has depth you can trade from that depth to improve the ML roster for a playoff run. That’s kind of how it works. Sorry buddy, but you my friend, are ca-ca-ca-clueless bro!!!
@bass86- The 15 months of exclusive negotiating rights is useful. By all accounts, Dipoto wants to extend him.
Seriously, it’s always better when your team is in the playoffs. I’m sure Mariner fans will be happy just to get in and if they advance even better. Some fans bases are just spoiled.
Good for them …
Desperate move by the yankees incoming.
Yankees better sack up and pay the price necessary for Montas
I honestly think Montas in New York would be Sonny Gray all over again
That’s definitely possible. I would rather trade for Pablo Lopez. Maybe they trade for Juan Soto instead now.
As a Jays fan I would rather the Yankees trade for Lopez too
I think that that was what they’ve aiming for all along
That lineup would be nuts with Soto but also expensive if they wish to keep that outfield intact. To resign Judge and Soto in a couple years maybe costs them a billion dollars lol.
@georgebell 2- I feel Lopez is a better pitcher then Montas, so obviously I disagree with you. We’ll see what happens.
Gray was already starting to struggle when we traded him. Montas has been uniformly good but he’s an injury concern.
Don’t you guys feel that Shohei Ohtani is just destined for the Yankees no matter what ?? If not at the trade deadline, then maybe the off-season. Ohtani is Yankees material all the way.
I’ve been a major league baseball fan for five decades now. I just assumed every major talent that requires big contracts will eventually end up playing for the New York Yankees. Because that’s how the New York Yankees win baseball games. They buy them
I’m only at 2 decades, but I assume the same. And now include the Dodgers too. Any major trade or signing, just assume them.
this is a huge misconception. I’ll give you 2009, but please list all the bought teams since 2000, where the Yankees were the original signer. If anything the Yankees helped smaller market teams more than any other. Not only with Luxury tax sharing but with bailing out teams who made terrible decisions and taking those players in the final years of their overbloated contracts.
No thnx, pass. Ohtani is Petrified of New York just like you.
I like NY bro! Second fave team after Seattle in the AL. I haven’t been lucky enough to ever visit the city that never sleeps, but hopefully someday.
Bye bye Volpe
OPEN THE TRADE FLOODGATES!
Yankees better pony up and pay the price necessary for Montas
Groovy. I’m not a Mariners fan, but I am happy for them.
Same I’m a Jays fan but the Mariners are my second choice..although if they play the jays in the WC Toronto could be screwed by this.
1trevor2 – I am a Jays fan as well. I’m old enough to remember when the Jays and the M’s entered the league together. 😮
Moses was well after my time. I was the lead for the steering committee for the development of dirt though.
Good trade for the M’s.
YakAttack – Good one! 😀 To answer your questions, I didn’t vote for Moses because he had the One (and only) vote he needed, from the King Himself.
Yankees better pay whatever necessary for Montas
We got it the first two times man
Kept getting an error message didn’t know it posted haha maybe will get the message now too
Hey, I wonder if the Yankees better pay whatever necessary for Montas?
I have it from a reliable source that they’d better pay whatever is necessary for Montas.
I’m not sure the Yankees will pay whatever is necessary for Montas.
Good news: he gets to keep his braids.
Bad news: he has that defense behind him.
Going from bad to…less bad.
Seattle has one of the better defenses in the game.
that defense he now will have behind him is #1 in baseball atm
the mariners are 1st in fielding% and 8th in OAA across all MLB
Best defense in the AL, what’s your point?
Why do you say that? Seattle has the lowest errors per game in MLB in 2022.
Vive is absolutely clueless.
Can the Yankees force their grooming code on someone they trade for?
Can’t believe the Reds didn’t want Clint Frazier and cash from the yanks smh
Haven’t heard that one before
Apparently Joey Gallo wasn’t made available by Cashman
Yankees weren’t willing to include Andujar.
*Jackson Frazier
@Milwaukee-2208- *Jackson Frazier
God you’re a moron. That has been said 1000 times already.
Yet it never stops being unfunny ♂️
and its been said 2000 times by a straight-faced yankee fan. take your lumps.
*insert* “I feel shocked” -Pepper Brooks. Dodgeball
‘That’s a bold strategy Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for them’
One of Jason Bateman’s most underrated roles. Gary Cole for that matter too.
usually you pay double for that kind of action, Cotton.
OMG WOW mariners are making it this year !!! Drop mic !!! This is insane !!!!
I assume Noelvi Marte will be in return. Along with some other prospects.
Marte && Arroyo! Wow indeed!
Decent haul if it starts with Marte.
2 top 100 prospects in the deal
They parted with marte ?!?!?? WOOOOW. REALLY ?!? DAMN.
Yeah trading for someone who has done something at a pro level for someone who has never down something at a pro level should not be surprising for anyone not a fan of the Yankees.
@passed_balls- why do I feeling you get passed around and tossed at every party?
12 year old Yankee fan logs on to post garbled nonsense… yawn
You just follow me around comment threads like a little puppy. Was kinda cute but now it’s borderline obsessive.
@passed_balls- definitely not as offensive as your screen name, tough guy. Why are you even commenting here truthfully? Lol.
Good news: he gets to keep his braids.
Bad news: he has the M’s defense behind him.
Luis going from bad to…less bad.
M’s have one of the best defenses in MLB.
This was a bad take the first time you posted it.
What makes you think it is any better now?
His defense is upgraded.
Wow cannot believe they parted with marte. Mariners are now a WS contender dang
Lol. No they aren’t. They are a wild card contender. Still way behind New York and Houston.
@jj- And wild card teams have never won the whole thing? Hell, the Braves in 2021 and Nats in 2019? Everybody thought they were one and dones or at least thought “no chance they beat the Dodgers AND Astros.”
Also, I don’t think the M’s are done. I think they’ll add a bat. If that helps them make the playoffs, great. Anything can happen as the MLB playoffs are the most random in all of sports. It’s all about who is hot at the right time.
What?
Can’t believe they parted with a prospect who has never contributed at the pro level for a proven pro? Are you a Yankees fan?
Clint Frazier was the future until he…wasn’t. Prospects don’t matter until they do.
@passed_balls *Jackson
Now to address that offense. Adding Drury would be nice.
No crap. For marte AND ARROYOA we should get Drury thrown in also. Those were my top prospects on our farm for 2 months & a year of Castillo
in 2011 Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda were the M’s top 2 prospects both rated higher in MLB.com top 100. Prospects are a 50/50 chance.
You would think with the haul they gave up they could have added 1 more guy and got Drury too
Nooo… not Drury. That dude cannot hit in the AL.
This @#$@ is crazy never thought I’d see the Mariners making a trade where they are the ones giving up highly touted prospects my mind is seriously blown good for them
I had them as a dark horse for Soto. but thats gone now that the sent their 1, 3 and 5th prospects. Granted only Marte was top 20 over all, I think the Reds did well getting two near ready players
Stoudt and Moore are not major pieces. If you’re seeing Stoudt at #5 you’re looking at an old ranking. He was closer to 5th just in starters in the system
Love the Reds getting Marte in this return! Love the M’s getting Castillo! This is a great trade all around
Figured Seattle or LAD would acquire Castillo. Mariners going for that postseason run.
Dodgers will get ohtani
No
Yea a fair trade would probably have to be centered around will smith to start and maybe throw in a mid prospect to even in out say maybe Jacob Amaya win win for both teams
False.
Ohtani is going to the yanks for Gallo and Andujar.
Seems they maybe out of the Soto race…unless?
* may be
Oh well… lucky Seattle
I don’t recognize many of the prospect names other than Marte. I’m assuming this is a pretty good haul for the Reds if they pulled the trigger today.
They got according to MLB pipeline Seattle’s 1st 3rd 5th prospect and Moore.
So the Reds did a great deal and set the baseline that top pitchers are going for this deadline.
The Reds got a decent haul, especially Arroyo.
And Marte, of course.
Arroyo AND Marte? Well, Sea better open their wallets up in the off-season to obtain some hitting. Their young future hitters have just been fleeced.
Marte is 20 and Arroyo 18, I wouldn’t have counted on them being major contributors to big league team next year. A veteran infield signing would help fill the gap though. They should have some options available in the off-season
Reds did very well ngl
So the Reds got the Mariners 1st 3rd 5th and more for Castillo?
Yeah don’t expect any bargains for top players this trade deadline.
Closer to the deadline the better the bargain. This might be the biggest return unless Soto Ohtani are traded.
Usually the other way around
It’s a reds reunion in the west
Seems like a big return for a rental
Never mind has a bit more control then I realized. Still big return
He’s not a rental. Castillo is signed through the end of next season.
Arroyo AND Marte??? Well, ownership has to open their wallets to get some free agent hitters if they want this train of initial success to continue. Your top hitting prospects have been fleeced.
Yea a fair trade would probably have to be centered around will smith to start and maybe throw in a mid prospect to even in out say maybe Jacob Amaya win win for both teams
Oh yeah, after that haul, definitely out of the Soto race.
Great trade for both sides tbh
Ugh… I hate this move already. We needed another bat or two, and we gave up that much to get Castillo? Come on Jerry….
2 bats that are 2 to 4 years away from the ML club. They weren’t going to contribute for a bit
If it doesn’t work out, you can flip Castillo in the off-season for some bats. It’s a great trade.
The 2001 post season drought ends today!! Good for them.
Really? Regular season ended kinda early this year didn’t it?
Massive deal. But now they have 4-5 Top SS prospects
Sounds like a good problem to have
What list are you even looking at cause it’s not mlb pipeline…
Barrero, McClain, De La Cruz, plus the 2 from the Mariners. Pick whatever list you want.
@ekrog this reply was meant for a comment below. Not sure how it ended up here
This guy makes claims like this all the time and has never once provided a source
So glad it wasn’t the Cardinals who got him.
Just ran this through the Trade Simulator and in that model the Mariners got fleeced 67-41. There must have been a hell of a bidding war.
Can’t blame the M’s for going for it, but if I were a Reds fan, I would be pretty dang pleased right now.
Trade simulator….what a joke
Or MLB teams don’t use baseball trade simulator to evaluate talent and assign value to players…
As a Mariners fan, I am very happy Seattle apparently did not have to give up George Kirby or Emerson Hancock in order to get Castillo! This is great. And Cincinnati is getting good talent in return.
They are saving Hancock for the Soto trade now lol
Farhan where you at? Thought you were buying?? Oh that’s right, we were in on Castillo but he chose Seattle! Just like Harper and Stanton chose not to play in the Bay!!!
Let’s watch an awful organization do what they do best………. Destroy prospect value…..reload from failure….while the ghost of Marge Schott whispers racial slurs through an empty Great American ballpark
According to MLB.com, the Reds are getting the #1, 3, and 5 Mariners prospects (Marte, Arroyo, Stoudt, respectively) with Andrew Moore being a throw-in. Marte is #18 overall with Arroyo at #93.
Damn this is a great trade. The giants need to hop on the trade train and send rodon packing if they can get a return like this it’s unbelievable
Rodon is controlled for only the rest of the season (assuming his options are declined at year’s end, which seems likely) so a return for him would bring back considerably less value.
A looooooot of people who mocked my predictions are looking extremely stupid right now.
As a Mariners fan, I am very happy they didn’t have to give up George Kirby or Emerson Hancock to get Castillo. Seattle needed a boost in the starting pitching department. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hancock go in another deal… the Mariners could also use some more hitting.
Yankees have 5 top 100 prospects ranked higher than the guy the Reds got.
That is just not true. Anthony Volpe is ranked #7 and Oswald Peraza is their next highest rated player at #37 while Dominguez is #38. Noelvi Marte is ranked #18 so Volpe is the only player in the Yankees system ranked ahead of Marte. Next time the rankings come out, Reds SS Elly De la Cruz will jump from being ranked in the 50’s to the Top 10. The kid is the fastest rising star in the minors and is unbelievably talented.
Don’t follow the public ratings. I doubt Marte is thought of as a top 20 guy in most teams’ evaluations. Probably around 40 or 50. Just too young and hasn’t really showed up big time yet. He might, but there’s a ton of risk for his profile.
I don’t love Volpe either but he’s a better fielder and a comparable hitter.. Ezequiel Tovar and a couple other young shorstops are better prospects than both.
he hit 3 double and a hr tonight
@Joe It All- these rankings seem like there garbage. If the Yankees offered Volpe, Peraza or Dominguez(just one) then Castillo would be a Yankee right now. The Yankees obviously we’re asked about 1 of the 3, and said they wouldn’t early on. I think they would of gave in and offered Peraza+ on Tuesday. That said the Reds got some really nice talent from the Mariners back. Good for them.
@ Joe MLB just updated their top 100. De la Cruz got hosed. He’s for sure top 25.
@cap- marte is equal to, more or less, any of those 3 and Arroyo would be ranked w those dudes if he was a yankee click bait prospect. Teams could easily have those guys ranked higher than Yankees prospects on their team boards
According to whom? MLB only has Volpe higher. FanGraphs has Marte higher than Volpe
That was what I looked up, MLB.com so you are probably correct.
Correct Joe when the Mariners included Marte and Arroyo the Yankees were cooked unless they offered Volpe.
Well dream you should the closer to the majors the less chance of busting.
Oops, not so fast….this just in. The trade has hit a snag and Andrew Friedman is on the phone with the Reds.
The Mariners gave up a lot to get Castillo but that should just be a salvo if you want pitching help it’s going to cost you especially cost controlled pitching.
D for M’s. Stoudt hasn’t looked great this year and Moore is a reliever (although a promising one). I don’t have Arroyo and Marte as high as others but they are still top 100 guys. Looking at recent big arm trades the M’s paid the full price and then some for not as much team control.
A for Reds. What a haul.
A U haul
Nah. Castillo is one of the better pitchers to move in recent years, at least of the ones who were not rentals, and he’s cheap.. M’s gave up two very young shorstops who might not be shortstops when/if they make the show, and a couple minor league relief pitchers.
Castillo much better than say Darvish Clevinger Musgrove Bauer? All cost much less.
1, 3 and 5 in the Mariners system. What does Was and LAA get for Soto and Ohtani? A lot for Castillo
Don’t rely on mlb.com’s stupid ratings. There’s almost no information involved and they’re heavily based on draft/signing position (Marte was possibly the #1 guy in his international signing class, which is why he’s so highly rated).
Tip my hat to reds front office. Excellent return.
That is funny, another swing and whiff by the Reds!!
Surprised M’s were able to keep both Kirby and Hancock. Marte and Arroyo are steep, but at least 2 to 4 years ready for MLB action.
Ray, Gilbert, Castillo, Kirby, Flexen, Gonzales and Hancock is good rotational depth… and Seattle was also able to hang on to Dollard.
Me too. They did very well here avoiding giving up a significant pitching prospect.
The Reds now have three of the Top 10 SS prospects in baseball with De la Cruz, Marte and Arroyo. Never a bad problem to have that many stud SS’s. They’re normally the best athletes on the team and a lot easier to transition to CF, 3B or other positions on the diamond. I’m a very happy Refs fan and I also love seeing Castillo reunite with Suarez and Winker in Seattle. That bodes well for the Mariners that he has a couple friends already there to make his transition all that much more smoother.
And Jose berrera in 3A. He’s having a down year but a former top 50 ss prospect
According to the MLB pipeline they have number 7 in the top 10 and that is it.
MLB Pipeline has Elly De La Cruz as their #4 3B. He would be top 10 on their SS list as well.
The Mariners get the best SP on the market and increase the asking price for Montas and Lopez in the process. Rough situation for the Yankees to be in. I hope Cashman doesn’t intend to stand pat now
He might even have to offer Gallo. I hear they’ve been extremely reluctant to deal a talent like Gallo, but they might have to if they want to land Montas or Lopez. Might even need to add Greg Bird.
Oh boy was that funny. Your wit and originality would make Carlos Mencia blush. I think you have a future in the comedy industry
Cashman will drive up the prices and snag Jose Quintana or somebody for himself.
It’s funny when people think logically about trade value with the Marlins, knowing that’s not how they operate. Take whatever value they should get, and divide it by at least 5
They don’t increase any asking price. Every player is evaluated separately. That’s the laziest myth there is.
No, this trade definitely increases the asking price for Montas and Lopez. Sure, Castillo is a step above those two but now that he’s off the market, their demand goes up. The Reds also got more for Castillo than expected, which means the same will likely be true for Montas and Lopez. The reports stated that the Reds had competitive offers from multiple teams before accepting the Mariners package. Do you think those teams are just going to turn away now and not look to trade for a SP?
@ronk
Supply went down, but so did demand, as Seattle won’t be trading for another top arm. Other teams no longer have to out bid Seattle.
It sounds like there were six or seven teams bidding for Castillo. Even with Seattle out of the mix, that’s still a lot of teams looking for a SP
Lol at the Yankees. They sure aren’t what they used to be. Might not win titles anymore but thank god they always have their precious flexibility.
Yeah Marte and Arroyo alone would be a better package than Martin/Simeon W-R for Berrios. Looks like Stoudt has probably seen his stock fall some this year with a 5+ ERA in AA and more hits than IP. I do think Castillo has #1 ability and that made him the deadline pitching prize, as he’s better than Berrios. But that’s still one heck of a prospect cost to pay.
This prospect cost is more than Darvish, Taillon, Musgrove, Clevinger, Bauer. Close to Snell. Heck Dodgers got Scherzer and Turner cheaper imo.
Heck no. Gray And Ruiz had/have much lower bust potential than Marte/Arroyo.
Gray has been okay to date, but is looking more like a number 3 SP. If the power does not develop, Ruiz is valueless…
OMG no. The guys the Nats got for Scherzer/Turner were much closer to the majors and thus WAY more valuable. They were also a pitcher and a catcher, which are much harder to find than shorstops who probably don’t end up at that position.
I evaluate by what I think they can become regardless of level. I value Turner more than Castillo and they got Max. Dodgers received much more and gave up close the same in prospects.
It’s not just prospect rankings that count but also what level these players are at plays a big deal. Gray and Ruiz were ready for the majors. These kids have high ceilings but they played A ball this season.
I wasn’t as high on Ruiz as others. I don’t give more value just because someone is mlb ready.
Well every other GM values prospects performing at a higher level vs a lower level.
Maybe you aren’t the dream GM you claim to be.
If both prospects are performing and projecting at a similar level then yes I will take the more proven closer to mlb prospect every time and value him more. Last year I would rather had Marte over Ruiz.
Insane haul for him .. wow . Going for it M’s. I like it
Not particularly insane. Fair package. The two SS are 20 and 18 years old respectively, both in A ball, and likely neither ends up at SS in the majors, if they make it. The pitchers are nothing.
Happy to see him go to Seattle.. Happy to see that prospect package as opposed to overhyped Yankee prospects and didn’t want half of the proposed Dodger prospects who’s names were getting floated around.. Nice Job Nick Krall
One of my favorite players!! What a day to be a Mariners fan. Believe me they are few and far between!! Noelvi AND Arroyo!? Thats a steep price to pay considering the production from our current middle INF needs a boost but wow Luis Castillo!!! Happy Days M’s Nation. Happy Days
Great days ahead!
Both those guys would be very lucky if they end up as good as J.P. Crawford, who was ranked even higher when he was a prospect and is only 27.
Congratulations aybhoy!
LC is a class act. As a Reds fan, I hate to see him go. Now you guys go and get that ring. We will be rooting for you in Cincinnati!
Cheers Bob! This year I’ll be happy if we just make the playoffs but man! You never know after this trade. That is a seriously good rotation now.
Next year…..hopefully we can make a deep playoff run.
Thanks for the well wishes- that’s classy. Best of luck with our young (former) M’s players. I genuinely hope it’s a Win-Win for both teams.
Thanks for your kindness and good sportsmanship Bob! I know you were talking to ayrbhoy lol, but I am an excited M’s fan as well and it was nice to hear your well wishes. Cheers.
Including both Arroyo and Marte is asinine.
Why? Likely neither one is a shorstop when they get to the majors, and anyway the Mariners have their SS, who’s only 27,
Let’s wait and see how the guys who Cincinnati acquired can do. Until we know what those kids can actually do at the major league level, Seattle is ahead in this deal. I’m just hoping the M’s can hang on to Castillo for a while (beyond next season).
Is this really a “haul” Marte’s a nice piece, but is still a bit of a ways from ready, and Arroyo is even farther down the system.
No it is, a second class owner with no scouting gets screwed again!!
On potential it’s haul. Actual results? Who knows. Let’s come back in 2025 and discuss.
And again the vegetable man strikes again!! Would any city accept this crap owner? Cincinnati would be better off without a team as to have what they have.
Castellini is awful but the Reds just got an amazing return for Castillo. Your reaction tells me that you wouldn’t have been happy with any return. You might want to take a few minutes before you overreact to actually look into what the Reds received and you might feel a lot better about it.
Nicely done, Mariners!
Hmm Ohtani to the Yankees looking slightly more likely now 😉
@Washman- Ohtani hates NY, and he doesn’t want to pitch in NY anyway. He’s the “Japanese Sonny Gray” No thnx.
I wouldn’t expect other teams with SP to trade get anywhere near this kind of haul back for what they have. Castillo was by far the top arm on the market so the Mariners had to overpay to land him. This trade won’t set the market for starting pitching because this was Castillo’s market not the SP market. I could be wrong but I don’t see Montas bringing back anything near this.
I agree. Castillo is likely the best arm to move and probably also cost more simply because he was the 1st one to go (ans SEA probably really wanted to get a controllable arm). I think the whole “set the market” thing is crazy anyways. GMs know roughly what each player’s value and asking price are.
I don’t believe in setting the market either. Market is whatever someone is willing to pay. Just because one team over pays doesn’t mean another will.
Test
I don’t know how this is a nice hall for Cincinnati with Marte at least two years from the Major Leagues
That is the whole point. The Reds are a couple years away from competing so he fits nicely into their timetable of being ready to be competitive. As a Reds fan I’m very happy with the return they received for Castillo. They weren’t getting more from somebody else unless they wanted to overplay too.
It’s not bad. Marte is very well thought of but risky. He may not end up as a shortstop and so far he’s hitting well but not out of this world in high A ball. Although he’s very young. Arroyo’s even younger and is also maybe not a SS, but is hitting the crap out of the ball. Stoudt’s a reliever-to-be. The other guy is a lotto ticket. It’s a reasonable package, not overwhelming for a guy this good.
I like this assessment. CIN got one of the best prospects in the game, a borderline top 100 guy, and a mid-level SP with some issues to iron out. Kinda what you’d expect in such a deal. Sure SEA gave up some real talent, but gotta give to get. 1.5 years of top-level SP work is worth that.
If he was 2 or 3 years younger and wouldn’t arrive for 5 or 6 years they wouldn’t care. You bring talent into your system and when it is ready it’s ready.
Haul
After this, which is a reminder of the Marlins unbelievable stupidity, I feel them about to do something extremely dumb in the next couple of days in my bones. It just fits
Yeah like trading Lopez. They were literally a couple bats away from a dynasty and decided the best course of action was to go to Jacob Stallings and Joey Wendle
Wendle deal was fine and they didn’t give up a whole lot for Stallings, but I do agree Miami needs to set their sights higher.
Doing something stupid like trading Castillo for Dan Straily is something the Loria owned Marlins would do.
I don’t see Kim Ng doing something stupid as gm of the Marlins today.
Then why have those types of things continued to happen? They’re still the same organization they’ve been. Still just as smug as ever too. Still no ability to get value in a trade whatsoever. These last 2.5 years, they’ve no left themselves in a similar situation as 2015-2017. In a couple of years, unless they get lucky, they’re going to have to move people and start over
I bet they get kirk from the jays in a lopez trade. What do you think? Is that stright up or do the jays have to add more? Fish need a bat and catcher and do both with 1 move, both guys have control and are cheap
I can definitely see them going 1 for 1 on something they think is a good idea, that actually isnt at all
Wow, Arroyo is a really high end SS prospect with star written all over his face. Im usually bearish about almost every bum prospect I see but in Arroyo’s case I would say it is likely he ends up a top 10 ranked prospect eventually.
But the best thing about Arroyo and all other good prospects is that he actually produces in the minor leagues.
He’s absolutely on fire as an 18 year old at A Modesto hitting .316/.385/.514
On top of that they’re throwing in Stoudt, who throws 98 and has five pitches. If that weren’t more than enough already, they’re adding Moore also another pitcher that isn’t highly regarded but having a dominant season at A ball, albeit as a 22 year old
Arroyo is way too high end to give up for 1 year plus two months of Castillo, an above average pitcher, but not really close to elite or elite. On top of that, they aren’t really in dire need of starting pitching
Stoudt, if he somehow finds it, could potentially step in next year throwing 98 and dominating
It’s nice to have Castillo, but precious prospect capital like Arroyo and Stoudt, both premium prospects, might have been saved or spent elsewhere
They’re both premium prospects that you could potentially package in a deal for Soto, or other more elite pitcher or bat than Castillo
I don’t see the Mariners having that pressing a need for starting pitching really and Castillo while good is not really in elite strata that would warrant giving up two high upside prospects like Arroyo and Stoudt
However, most prospects don’t pan out. Probably both Arroyo and Stoudt end up not even being average major leaguers or make it at all
If you look at most of the trades throughout history like this, rarely do any of the prospects end up being star players, or have much of a career at all
The great odds are the Mariners get Castillo for this year and next and get Castillo more or less for nothing
But there is definitely a great amount of legitimate premium upside on both of these prospects that the Reds got
Stoudt can throw 98, has five pitches and legitimate Cole-level potential to be an ace, and Arroyo the same potential to be a breakout star like Julio Rodriguez at shortstop. Time will tell
And then I just saw that unbelievably they also added Marte also, their #1 overall prospect
This is a massive, mega overpay. Mariners just blew the upper echelon of their farm on Luis Castillo.
Packages like this you deal for Soto, maybe Trea Turner when he was available, others, but not Luis Castillo
If I was a Mariners fan I would be absolutely livid at this point in the realization that almost all the main prospect capital was spent on a 29 year old starter with statcast metrics mainly in the 70s percentile
See two posts below.
This is a good deal for the Mariners now, and a good deal for the Reds later. Seattle still has plenty of talent left on the farm… it is definitely not like they decimated their minor league system to get Castillo. The organization needs to get back to the playoffs somehow, and in the M’s situation, when you get to the point where you are borderline contenders who haven’t been to the playoffs forever and have a lot of minor league capital for trading, you use some of that capital to help get you where you need to go, from borderline contender to actual contender. You substitute some of the bounty of “potential” for “proven”. Don’t be surprised if some more Seattle prospects go in a trade for a hitter next. If you’re a Mariners fan (or not) who thinks the ball club should keep waiting for later by hanging on to all of their prospects, well… LOL! If your name (Camden453) indicates you are a Yankees fan, I don’t believe you would know what it’s like to miss the playoffs for 20 years (ya lucky dog! 😀 ) . Anyway, Castillo is the guy I was hoping Seattle would get, and I’m very glad they got him.
‘Prospects’ don’t get you over the hump. It’s very possible that one of these kids ever contribute at the major league level. In fact, most don’t.
Throughout your analysis you left out the fact the Reds also got Marte, Seattle’s #1 overall prospect.
Hate losing Castillo, but that’s an excellent return! Arrogant NY and LA wanted him, but refused to offer a fair return…Well, “jack” around and find out! I bet Wink and Geno are thrilled!
What did arrogant NY and LA offer — or don’t you know?
Clearly less than Seattle offered.
That doesn’t equate to an unfair offer.
So you wrote all that before you read everything because you didn’t even mention Marte.
Haha. I said the same thing
Congratulations to the M’s fans.
Diehard Reds fan here. I hate to see Luis Castillo leave. He is a class act. Having said that I am happy with the Trade and thrilled he will be joining Jesse and Suarez in Seattle. I’ll be rooting for you guys in October.
Also being reported here in Cincinnati that Cashman made a snide remark about to including Volpe for Castillo. Nick Krall was turned off by Cashman’s cockiness so ruled the Yankees out early on. The Yankees have been making it sound like they were involved until recently but Krall says that’s not the case the sides had t spoken in weeks.
Got a link? A web search turned up nothing.
The updated article basically said the Yankees came in 2nd place for Castillo.
For a team like the Reds, this was a good deal. Keep in mind, as touted as Marte and Arroyo may be, they’re still a long way from the bigs, and that lowers their trade value in general because so much development still has to happen. Any team would rather top prospects who are much closer to the majors, which is the the type of haul that is being sought for Soto.
While the Reds did well, I don’t think this really changes the market if other offers include MLB ready talent.
I don’t agree w that. There’s tangibles you won’t in players that project the to be quality big leaguers even in A ball. The tangibles are power and walk rate. All pros need to be able to draw walks and a certain amount of doubles turn into homers once your body fills out. So if you are comfortable with a slightly more risk than target 18/19 yr olds. It gives u more time to build around them.
Same reasoning tx is a good fit for soto. They have a slew of 18/19 year olds w those tangibles.
Don’t love this trade. Losing both Marte and Arroyo hurts the future, especially for 1.5 seasons of control…on a team that historically struggles to score. They wasted 13yrs of King Felix losing games where he gave up 2 or less runs not to mention they’ve lost 5 of last 5 to Houston; four of which they scored two runs or less.
I’ve been a fan of the Mariners since 1977. They have a bad history in a lot of areas, for sure. As for what they did when they wasted all those best years of Felix, I view that as water under the bridge now. There is a different GM with a different plan nowadays. Felix’s last good year was arguably 2016, Dipoto has been GM in Seattle since 2015, so there is a little overlap but not much. While you do make good points, I’m going to choose to look ahead with optimism rather than worry about what can’t be fixed (the miserable Seattle Mariners past). Let’s make the playoffs this year, sign some more good players over the winter, and give the Astros a run for their money in 2023! I’m in!
Don’t love this trade. Losing both Marte and Arroyo hurts the future, especially for 1.5 seasons of control…on a team that historically struggles to score. They wasted 13yrs of King Felix losing games where did he gave up 2 or less runs not to mention they’ve lost 5 of last 5 to Houston; four of which they scored two runs or less.
If Cashman did indeed make a “snide remark” about including Volpe it’s only because he realizes Castillo really isn’t that good enough to warrant giving up a premium prospect for him and anyone with any sense would react naturally with “Are you kidding me? You want Volpe too for Castillo?”
I guess Dipoto is the only guy willing to give up three premium prospects for 1 year and two months of him
I guess Dipoto sees exceptional greatness in Castillo
Since 2019 Castillo is 9th in fWAR among starters, so maybe Dipoto is right.
The article literally says there were up to 12 teams in a bidding war for this guy who “really isn’t that good”
Such a bad take
Yes, Camden kept peddling the nonsense that Castillo is no better than a 4th or 5th starter on a contending team.
Apparently Castillo backed out from taking Camden’s sister to the prom.
His bad takes, including not knowing that Marte was “included in the deal” (I.e.was headlining the deal) just keep on coming, one opus at a time.
1st, 3rd, and 5th best Mariners prospects means nothing with out context. They could also the 400th, 500th and 600th best prospect overall. I would hardly call this a haul for the reds. They got a more than likely decent player Marte and 3 more lottery picks. All of them are still far enough away they regress as they move up the minors a la Jeter Downs. If I’m a reds fan we didn’t get enough and if I’m a mariners fan we stole Castillo.
The YANKEES drove the price up? Get a grip. The Reds undoubtedly heard from at least 10 teams (and probably more) regarding Castillo and took what they deemed the best offer. If the Yankees weren’t willing to pay the price, so be it.
Yeah, but they’re not. Arroyo is a really really good prospect. He’s only 97th overall right now because he’s at A. If everything goes well and he keeps hitting he should be in the top 10 when he gets to AAA
If he gets to AAA, Camden. Nothing is guaranteed with A ball prospects. These guys could be high reward but they’re also high risk.
Lots of guys named ‘if’, but they don’t win games at the major league level. IF they make a major league club they MIGHT turn into something. I’ll take a proven top-tier pitcher over a few guys name ‘if’ all day long.
There is enough of the typical Mariner fan in me to be somewhat obsessed with the loss of the prospects the Reds are getting. While I would not call it a haul, Cincinatti got some young players who all have the potential to be very good. I hope they succeed, and I hope the Reds organization is strengthened by the trade. I look forward to following their progress in the Reds organization as much as I look forward to seeing Castillo on the mound for the M’s, I plan to enjoy watching Castillo pitch, without worrying about no longer having Marte, Arroyo, Stoudt and Moore.
No!!! Your screen name gives me nightmares!
Yankees just obliterated the Mariners system. Probably drove the price way up and Dipoto fell for it and dumped all the prospects
lmao, I’m a Mets fan, but even I’m impressed with what Cashman did here
How do you figure the Yankees “obliterated the Mariners system”? They weren’t involved in this trade any more than the other teams whose bids came up short.
And the Mariners didn’t trade a single player that has had success above the low minors. 3 of them combined have just half a season at A+, let alone succeeded at a level where opponents are well trained and in control
Cincinnati is taking a massive risk accepting nothing but guys who may not even be able to play against advanced opposition, let alone MLB capable players. And when all is said and done, they might not get a single game of MLB contribution from this package
Seattle was lucky Cincinnati was willing to accept such far away talent instead of demanding near ready players. It means Seattle can still compete for years to come and worry about system drop-off down the line
Darkstar, the Reds took high-end quality prospects that are young, and thus in the lower minors. Players that are drafted early in the draft don’t start their careers in AAA, they start in the rookie leagues. Both Marte and Arroyo have already advanced up the ladder briskly for their age.
Teams don’t trade major league ready AAA guys. They are happy to trade AAA guys who have deficiencies, and will never amount to more than 4A guys.
The massive risk comes with trying to rush the process by settling for older inferior talent.
@earmbrister
That’s just backwards as far as what many teams target, especially recently – they are often wanting MLB ready talent
That’s why we see Boston wanting guys like Verdugo, Downs and Wong. Washington wanting Keibert Ruiz and Josiah Gray. Cleveland targeting Rosario, Gimenez, Naylor, Miller, Clase, Quantrill, Pilkington, etcetera in their many moves. Miami targeting Luzardo from Oakland, Oakland targeting Langeliers, Pache, Logue, Snead, etcetera
But even back in the day players like Miguel Cabrera were being traded for , Frankie De La Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and Mike Rabelo – all of which were in the MLB for the Marlins that first season. Or Bartoli Colon shipped off for Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips -both of which played for the Indians the first season
And the higher up the prospects are, the less risk they are. So many can’t miss prospects stall out in the jump to AA or AAA. The level of competition is so far superior to what they’d faced, they get exposed. That is why top prospect lists are usually riddled with lower ceiling guys that are knocking on the door – they are no longer the risk young players are.
That Cincinnati is taking no one who has had success over A+, and only one guy who has even been to AA at all, is an unusual, big gamble. They all may faulter at the next two levels and never seem MLB capable.
Really sucks to lose Arroyo and Marte and I don’t agree with including both of them. If this trade works out though, none of that will matter. Castillo is a stud.
Good get for Seattle and a nice haul for Cincy. Looks like both teams won this trade… at least for now.
Reds fans can root for the Mariners this October.
A lot of Reds fans have already been rooting for Seattle, ever since the Winker/Suarez trade this offseason.
The Yankees were considered in lst place this morning for Castillo. They supposedly we’re offering Peraza, Sweeney, Waldichuk, and either Vargas or Warren. The Mariners might of over payed for Castillo, but if they beat the Trashtros, it will definitely be worth it.
Honestly the Yankees should have gotten Castillo because I don’t see the Yankees getting Montes or Lopez for the following reasons.
Cashman and Beane really don’t trade with each other, the Sonny Gray deal was their only trade outside of a minor deal years ago.
Lopez has more team control then Castillo or Montes and add the Marlins way of dealing, even with Kim Ng being Cashman’s old assistant she won’t do him any favors. I rather have Castillo over Lopez but with him being under contract longer, Miami will want the Reds package for him.
Thank you, Dan Straily!
I think this is a great trade for both teams – The Reds get some up-and-coming talent that once they arrive will be stars at 3B and SS. The Mariners get the best available SP that put up insane numbers pitching half his games at a Nerf ball stadium. There’s a good reason why 14 teams submitted trade offers including the Yankees, Dodgers, and Cardinals.
As long as is not NYY or LAD.. i am happy..Good Job Seattle .. now Soto to San Diego and lets Party!
I bet the jays trade kirk for lopez
Note to GMs: Just because a guy is “the top pitcher on the market” doesn’t mean you blow all your top prospect chips on him. It could be that it’s just a weaker market for starting pitching
Simply wait and save the prospects for something in the off-season that’s more worthy of those prospects
Be ready to pull out of the deal, especially when the starting pitching you already have in place can get you to the playoffs
Mariners needed an impact bat way more than they needed a starter. Gilbert is a high end starter that they already have and the other pitchers are solid enough
Not trading the prospects was the best option here but if they were to trade them it should have been for a top bat at some point, not a starter
Or it could be that the Mariners just graduated Gilbert, Kirby, Rodriguez, Kelenic and just drafted a shortstop with their 1st round pick this year, so really Marte wasnt anywhere near there #1 prospect except for graduations.
It’s almost unthinkable that the Yankees would not make the playoffs with their current record.
But when the majority of the Yankee rotation haven’t pitched a full season of work recently and the bullpen is injury-ridden, they do not have enough starting pitching to get THROUGH the playoffs. They can’t afford to limp into the postseason with a burnt-out staff.
The Yankees obviously have no intention of waiting “for something in the off-season.” They’re aiming for a championship now.
Eh, Cole and Cortes can navigate you through the playoffs. As long as you have two top guys and a dependable 3rd guy you’re ok in the playoffs
I wouldn’t say they are in dire need. Montas would help for the regular season but doesn’t really represent a dramatic upgrade over Taillon as a third starter
Mariners see an open window right now! Big move. Credit the reds for getting a kings return in this deal. The prospects are young but have sky high ceilings. In 3 years we will be talking about how great the Reds young core is, mark is down. Good luck to the mariners, it’s your time to make some playoff noise!
You will be talking about the reds young core. And also talk about Castillo on the yankees playing with volpe and dominquez because seattle wont want to pay him
A lot of silly tropes being thrown around here by those who arent in the weeds on these players.
1 . A couple of A ball players! pffft!
Actually, Marte was probably due to go to double A within a month. Been on a crazy tear the last 4-6 weeks. Arroyo likely going to A+ around 19th bday too.
2. They got 3 of the top five prospects. Wow!
Actually, with all the recent graduations and where we’re at with Kelenic, I consider him (JK) a prospect for this exercise. JK Marte Arroyo Ford and Hancock interchangeable as top prospects with decent+ shots of big league success, but 0 slam dunks here. And the shine is off of Stoudt, in a rerank he’s more realistically #8-10 as other hopeful back end types have either met him or passed him by in Taylor Dollard and Bryce Miller
That being said, the price was always going to be outlandish for Castillo. My only gripe is that they couldnt have gotten Drury too for giving up Marte and Arroyo. The Ms have a very strong large group of 17-20 year olds in the system now including recent draftees. Hopefully Hancock and Kelenic are contributors next year, but neither will be counted on to do so. Go Ms, and good luck Reds, we’ll be following these guys in the coming years
“It’s ok we haven’t won in the majors in forever” our A ball teams are chalked full of kids who are now legal to by lottery tickets”. Is that what they sell in Seattle? It’s a good thing all of the players that made their farm enviable are just breaking into the show.
Stoudt is now ranked #15 in the Reds’ system, according to MLB Pipeline.
Can’t believe they traded Marte smh. Didn’t they learn by keeping Julio?!?!
Marte came into the year out of shape and slugged under .400 the first few months. Nowhere near the work ethic of Julio
I heard of a rumor that Castillo didn’t want to go to the Yankees because he didn’t want to lose the locks.
Is Castillo even that good? Seems like a stupid amount of talent to give up for a 3.6 ERA guy. with control issues. There’s absolutely no way they couldn’t have found somebody of comparable quality for much less of a return.
Where are you finding your stats, Tim? Fangraphs and Baseball Reference give Castillo a 2.86 ERA. He was an All-Star this year. He’s plenty good.
I think he meant that Castillo has a career 3.62 ERA.
Okay, but he’s 13th in fWAR among qualified starters since 2017, his rookie year.
MLB Pipeline just added these prospects to Cincinnati’s top 30 list. Marte is #1, Arroyo is #6 and Stoudt is #15. A pretty good haul.
Love a great middke of the night trade!
Mariners!? They must be dreaming.
This isn’t sour grapes in any sense — I hoped the Yankees would get Castillo. But I’m glad Cashman didn’t give up Volpe and Dominguez to get him, especially Dominguez. Even though Volpe ranks higher on the prospect list than the Martian, Dominguez is just one of those players I want to see on the field in New York to see if he can measure up to the hype.
Now Cashman has to land an adequate starting pitcher. There are still some good options available.
“Castillo will be a Yankee by the weekend”- some entitled nyy fan. Lol
“The Sting Rays will win the AL East by the weekend” some entitled tbsr fan. Lol
Where did all the Yankee fans come from….they outnumber Rays fans 5-1…….any home series the Rays have against the Yankees……some sad and jealous Rays fan!
Mr. Sting Ray himself, just peeved the Sting Rays have comeback to earth! It must be nice looking up at the Yankees, paying all your bills for your $39 million dollar payroll. They don’t have to ever worry about EVER going over the luxury tax. Thank you for paying all my bills Hal! We love you! -@StPeteStingRays
pitching trumps hitting every time.
You could put Soto on the Angels to play alongside a healthy Trout and Ohtani and they would still be a bad team.
Pitching is everything.
Great trade by Seattle!
Yankees are the bridesmaids in another major deal.
Cashman over values Yankees prospects and undervalues
the other teams players that can lead to being outbid for players
that could help them get deep in the playoffs.
That’s a lot to give up for a pitcher. Three of their top five prospects for a year and a half just to possibly make the playoffs. With the young arms in that system I’d have just rode it out. I just don’t think this move puts them in a spot to beat either the Astros or the Yankees. You never know but man that’s just a haul. You can always tell the desperate teams at this time of year. This trade only proves that Juan Soto and Ohtani are staying put because if that’s the haul for a pitcher with one more year of control I can only imagine what the Nats and Angels will want. Good for the Reds they added some serious prospects.
I think JP Crawford won this trade. Dipoto has been saying for two years now that he’s their shortstop now and in the foreseeable future but trading away Marte and Arroyo backs up those claims with some big actions.
arroyo is 18, marte is 20, they just drafted cole young in the 1st round who is projected to be a very good shortstop who is also 18 the other 2 were redundant..
That’s all they had to give up? I’m curious did the jays even call? Seems like a average haul for Castillo and a haul the jays could of topped but you know our management team, we don’t do jack amd then miss the playoffs by a game. Or better yet join the trade deadline at the last minute, pick up the scraps and sell it to us fans like hey we tried we added Joe blow
Castillo may prove to have been worth it, but the M’s didn’t get him cheap. The Reds got a haul.
No se si reir o llorar
Did the jays even call? Sure seems like a weak haul that the jays could have topped. Or are we just gonna add some scraps and miss the playoffs by one game again. Can management not see we need some legitimate upgrades to compete in the AL? Of all the teams heading to the playoffs I view us as the weakest. Shatkins sucks
@Justajaysfan- I think the Jays did the right thing. Seattle was asking for Gabriel Moreno, Randy Tiedemann, and supposedly Josh Groshans. Toronto counter offered Orelvis Martinez, Randy Tiedemann and Josh Groshans. I’m not a big fan of trading shortstop prospects, because their so versatile and they can eventually play anywhere on the diamond.
The Seattle farm system is just off the hook, in a league unto itself. These prospects are awesome, but they aren’t going to hurt the Mariners in the long term, they are all lottery tickets more or less. Cash them in now. We’re not going to miss any of them, and in a year our farm system will have them replaced twofold or threefold. Somebody at the Athletic said the Mariners offer just blew all the others off the table. Nobody could even get close, yet these prospects are years away from the Bigs, if they even get there at all (as is the case with most prospects.)
Quit whining Mariner fans! Prospects are assets. You trade assets for assets. Hey, maybe this is the summer of winning, not whining! Better than the Summer of love!
I went to the Mariners home opener in 77’and many, many more since. Life as a M’s fan has been brutal! I love this trade. A solid, top-end starter will go a long way in the playoffs when teamed with Ray & Gilbert. However, I’m far more concerned with scoring runs. We have just two productive hitters on this team (Julio/France). Yes, Saurez & Raleigh can hit a few bombs, but where are the additional runs coming from? Haniger is returning soon, but still not enough. Find me a legit bat to protect our only two hitters, PLEASE.
With all that said the Mariners did up paying way too much. Good for them. Go and catch those Trashtros for the AL West now! I will be rooting for you to do so!
Dang. Reds essentially traded Dan Straily for 800 innings of 3.6 era pitching and 2 top 100 prospects with a couple flyer pitching prospects. Dan fricking Straily
Well that’s bad news for this Yankees fan. Cashman couldn’t get the trade done. Sometimes I feel he is to overprotective protecting his high value prospects.
Marte & Arroyo have a lot of strikeouts on their resume, but this looks like a really nice haul. This is what I was hoping the reds would do last year (as a BB purist). Considering that they picked up a couple of decent prospects in the off-season, in exchange for a modest amount of talent, they’ve done well.
That’s bad news for this Yankees fan. Cashman couldn’t get the trade done. Sometimes I think he’s to overprotective of trading his high value prospects.
He has a despicable track record of developing stars from his draft board. Really only been Judge in 25 years. He’s desperate for another to work out. He won’t trade his top 3 for that reason, so he won’t get the top pitcher they need.
Living in the Seattle area now these fans around here are starving for playoff baseball. Dipito went out and got the best available starter and when I say available I mean truly available. It sounds like there were a lot of teams that wanted this guy Dipito played his hand and won. Did he pay a high price sure maybe but did he strengthen this teams chances of making the playoffs this year the answer is absolutely. Seattle is a football town but this town wants to get behind the Mariners big time Dipito just made the announcement that they are giving it there all to end the longest playoff drought in baseball. Good Job Dipito hopefully this works out.
My point about this trade is that they didn’t really need a starter. Gilbert is an ace and Ray, Gonzalez, and Kirby are all solid enough
Considering that the Red Sox are falling apart, White Sox can’t get it going this year, Guardians have their struggles, Rays are struggling, they’re probably in line for a wild card anyway
If they’re going all-in and trying to win a championship this year, I’m not sure they’re there yet in terms of their offense and development
They would have been better passing and hanging on to prospects and continuing to develop and add to the roster
The Mariners have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way. They’re now surprisingly well-positioned to get one of the three wild card slots in the AL. Let’s see how the other AL contenders to step up!
I love the move, but a little bit of an overpay if you ask me. I guess this the market for an ace for 1.5 years ARB eligible
While I am slightly disappointed that we had to give up Marte and Arroyo; that is overwhelmed by the elation of thinking about our pitching staff. Wow. Best in baseball, no doubt. Go M’s!!!!
Time for Seattle to go after JDM. They’ve managed to give away a fair amount of ABs to guys that are decidedly not hitters.
Assuming they get there, I think the M’s are still a good hitter or two away from being able to advance in the playoffs. Players such as Toro, Moore and Frazier are all very hard-working guys who love the game. They are all good with the glove. They aren’t getting enough of the the job done at the plate though, and the M’s offense has had to rely on them too much. Please, Jerry Dipoto, one more good bat, preferably for 2B. JDM? Fine with me!
Of course JDM doesn’t play 2B, but his bat would be good in the Seattle lineup!
As an Astros fan, I commend the Mariners for getting Castillo and increasing their chances. But from what I’ve seen of their team, they needed to add a bat (or two) more than add pitching. The Stros are “countering” with getting Lance McCullers back from the DL in August, and I hope we can add a bat or two at the deadline to keep the solid distance from the Mariners and go to our 6th straight ALCS. But good luck to the Mariners! It is nice to see them and the Rangers competitive again.
As an M’s fan, I appreciate your take. I also agree with it. Hopefully getting Mitch back will give us a huge lift, not to mention once Kyle gets his timing back. This will be a fun finish for sure!
Kyle has no Business on a big league field right now. He literally cannot run. Mitch is made of glass. They need JD Martinez and andujar min right now. Or else they are going to repeat last year
Good news for the A’s. Montas is now the top controllable starter available and the price they can reasonably demand is now set at a good level (much better than what they got in the Bassitt and Manaea trades).
Although I’m disappointed the Yanks couldn’t wrangle him in at least he isn’t going to the Astros, Dodgers or Mets.
Hopefully Nasty has that clutch moxie bc we need an ace in these playoff series. Cole has unraveled enough times in big spots to know he isn’t the guy for a win or go home game. We need to find that big game pitcher.
M’s also adding a bunch of Reds fans here for the stretch run I think, if I’m a Reds fan sitting in last-place, why not root for Wink, Geno and now LC for the team you hope just single-handedly rebuilt your future!
P.S. As a M’s fan, I don’t mind this trade that much, we got the guy we targeted, have him thru next season and traded away talent from our surplus depth not near ready to help the ML club! Stoudt isn’t better than Ray, Gilbert, Kirby, Marco and a healthy Hancock! Relievers are dime a dozen the way M’s coach them up, and the 2 Top-100 SS’s are blocked by JPCrawford now and just drafted another 18-year old SS with 1st round pick in this year’s draft a couple of weeks ago! GO M’s!!!
I kind of feel bad for Castillo…..when he was in Toronto as opposition this year he seemed very comfortable with the jays players, environment, and club house.
Toronto living in the baseball season is….possibly best in class. This weekend the elite from the nba chose to vacation in Toronto for the Caribbean(a) festival.
Not to say November is the same experience but f…..Seattle!…….for a non coffee drinking, non tech based employee…..kinda blows 365.
The Mariners traded away 4 top prospects for half a season of a pitcher who had the most losses in baseball last year. How am I not suppose to be upset about that?
I bet you won’t be saying that by the end of the season.
Stats aren’t everything, especially W-L records for pitchers.
This is the worst thing about a smaller market team or at least not one of the eight teams with unlimited baseball, seeing your guys having to go before their free agent year.
The only bad thing about our great game is no level playing field for ALL teams like other sports with a salary cap.