The Mariners announced that they’ve traded righty Luis F. Castillo to Baltimore for cash. Seattle had designated him for assignment yesterday as the corresponding move for the Leody Taveras waiver claim. Baltimore optioned Castillo to Triple-A Norfolk and designated lefty Walter Pennington for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot.
Castillo, the now-former teammate of the Seattle All-Star starter of the same name, has five major league appearances under his belt. He signed a minor league deal over the offseason and was selected onto the big league roster in early April. Castillo took a pair of turns through the rotation. He surrendered seven runs (six earned) on 12 hits and seven walks across seven innings. He struck out five.
Those were Castillo’s first two major league starts. His previous big league experience consisted of a trio of relief outings for the Tigers in 2022. Castillo spent the next two seasons in Japan. He didn’t miss many bats but managed a 2.96 ERA over 94 1/3 innings for the Orix Buffaloes a year ago. The 30-year-old has made four starts for Seattle’s top farm team in Tacoma. He has managed a 12:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio while surrendering eight runs through 14 1/3 frames.
Castillo sits in the 91-92 MPH range with both his four-seam fastball and sinker. There’s not much swing-and-miss upside but he has a full slate of minor league options. He’ll join Brandon Young and Chayce McDermott as depth starters who are on optional assignment to Norfolk.
Pennington, 27, heads back into DFA limbo for the second time in as many weeks. He was designated for assignment and released by the Rangers at the end of April. Baltimore grabbed him off release waivers. He made one appearance apiece at High-A Aberdeen and with Norfolk. Pennington hasn’t been able to find the strike zone, walking six of 10 batters faced while allowing seven runs (five earned) in one combined inning.
Initially drafted by the Royals, Pennington was traded to Texas last summer in the Michael Lorenzen deadline deal. He’s only a season removed from posting a 2.13 ERA with a 32.2% strikeout rate over 63 1/3 Triple-A innings. Pennington had been pitching at the Rangers’ complex before they moved on, and his pair of appearances with Baltimore affiliates were clearly alarming. He’ll likely wind up back on waivers in the next few days. If he goes unclaimed, he would not have the requisite service time to decline an outright assignment.
Why?
Because it didn’t require giving up any prospects.
… which is both a problem and a solution.
It was causing too much confusion, not just among the media, but also the players, coaches, even their own families.
Ok I can think of two things
1. Elias is certain he just acquired the OTHER Luis Castillo assuming this will fool the fans.
2. A lot of fans actually don’t know much and are about to understand what that F means in the name
These are the kinds of moves made by a team in Dead F. Last
THEY DID WHAT?!?!?! My bad.. it’s the OTHER Castillo who’s also a pitcher playing for the Mariners!
Oh nevermind its Luis F lol
I think they skimmed over the F. in the middle of this Luis Castillo’s name. They really thought they got a steal until he stepped off the plane!
“We want Luis F’ing Castillo”.
finally after all these months the O’s have traded for a Luis Castillo.
Yeah, the wrong one. They probably easily could have landed the right one in the offseason.
I read reports that they offered Mountcastle & the Mariners declined. Seattle was looking for infield help.
Apparently they couldn’t have. If Seattle had any intention to trade the All-Star Luis Castillo during the offseason, they certainly could have gotten an acceptable offer from several teams. DiPoto made it clear from the start that he had no desire to trade any of his top 5 SPs.
Right, because Seattle was so overwhelmed with offers from teams across the league that they just decided to hang on to him because they didn’t receive any acceptable offers from Baltimore. It’s all the Orioles fault, they could have easily pried him from Seattle.
I think the Seattle beat said that the M’s were listening on Castillo. This was after that first wave of free agent rejections of Seattle. It would have been a high price to be sure, but the O’s have the assets to get Castillo, and Baltimore chose not to do it.
BAL thought they got the real one. Jerry wanted them to think that.
Dipoto is a genius!
They’ll be calling him ‘La Piedra’ in no time.
Hmmmmm….I was hoping the M’s kept him for depth help. His two outings this season were against the very good hitting teams (Astros and Giants).
Like I mean, can it be worse than Morton or Gibson has been for us? I guess we’ll find out lol.
The second crappy desperate move of the day
just came here to make sure you linked the right person
The Orioles and Pirates are in last place because they both overvalue their prospects.
Combined with the earlier addition of Cruz, Baltimore sure has done transactions.
Only time will tell if these two moves are enough!
Good Lord.
So… The M’s send their 8th starter to the O’s for cash so that he can be their 8th starter. How much cash? $3.79 plus tax?