The Mariners were willing to listen to offers for Luis Castillo at this time last year, but the right-hander ultimately remained with Seattle. The club doesn’t intend to shop Castillo during this year’s winter meetings, reports Adam Jude of the Seattle Times.
The 32-year-old Castillo delivered steady results last season, pitching to a 3.54 ERA over 32 starts. He topped 175 innings for the third straight year. Castillo’s strikeout rate fell to a career-low 21.7%, but he countered the downturn with a career-best 6.2% walk rate. The veteran has now improved his walk rate in each of the past four seasons.
Castillo has two years and $45.5MM remaining on the five-year, $108MM deal he signed with Seattle back in 2023. The contract also includes a vesting option for 2028, which is triggered if Castillo reaches 180 innings in 2027. He’ll easily be the Mariners’ highest-paid player next season, though it’s a reasonable commitment for Castillo’s reliable innings.
Seattle acquired Castillo from Cincinnati at the 2022 trade deadline for a package of Noelvi Marte, Edwin Arroyo, Levi Stoudt, and Andrew Moore. Marte hasn’t completely lived up to his lofty prospect pedigree, but he provided meaningful contributions at the big-league level last season. Arroyo is among the club’s top infield prospects and could reach the majors as soon as 2026. Still, the deal has worked out well for the Mariners.
Castillo has been remarkably consistent with Seattle, recording an ERA between 3.34 and 3.64 in his three full campaigns with the team. His approach has changed significantly as a Mariner, with an increased focus on his fastball/slider instead of the changeup. Castillo boasted one of the more effective changeups in the league while in Cincinnati, and he used it as his primary pitch from 2019 to 2021. With Seattle, he’s pushed the offering behind his four-seamer, sinker, and slider in terms of usage. The changeup has easily been Castillo’s least-effective pitch by Run Value since he joined the Mariners. His fastball has emerged as a dominant pitch, notching a Run Value of at least 12 in four straight years.
Seattle’s standout starting rotation struggled with injuries last season. George Kirby and Logan Gilbert both missed extended stretches. Bryan Woo, who had largely been healthy for the first time, went down in September, but made it back for the ALCS. With Bryce Miller expected to avoid elbow surgery, the group should be back to full strength next year.
The Mariners have been on the offensive this offseason, re-signing Josh Naylor and swapping Harry Ford for Jose A. Ferrer. Even with Ferrer joining the squad, Seattle isn’t done making tweaks to the bullpen, per president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto. “We will continue to add to our bullpen, in all different ways, like we always have,” Dipoto told reporters, including Jude. Dipoto mentioned that the team has been in touch with multiple veteran relievers and expects a deal to get done.
Led by Andres Munoz, the Mariners’ bullpen ranked eighth in SIERA last season. Ferrer will give the team a hard thrower from the left side, joining Matt Brash as a setup option ahead of Munoz. With Emerson Hancock preparing as a starter, Seattle could target a swingman on the open market. Another lefty alongside Ferrer and Gabe Speier could also make sense.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images
So much for the blazing Winter Meetings deals. All I’ve found out so far is who nobody is trading. I think we all knew those already.
Got to pry the nerd buckets away from their spread sheets and stat formula evaluations…..
Poor Luis having to go through this every six months. He doesn’t really deserve that.
The Mariners do not need to add a need for starting pitching.
Understandable. Have a great day
Smart to keep your strength as a strength. Keep your pitching strong, farm system is good enough to add more offense as needed.
Mariners are all set, just make some improvements if they feel they must, but it won’t be major.
I hope we can salary dump him once Anderson is ready
That would probably be foolish. Castillo gives them innings. That’s something rookie pitchers rarely offer and it’s important to limit the load on the relievers.
I’d also add that Seattle could have a hard time attracting free agents if they have a reputation for not honoring their commitments and ditching players prematurely like they already did with Ray and Gonzales. Keyword: could.
Not honoring a commitment? An awful lot of trades can be said to break commitments if you go by that reasoning. Besides, that’s what no-trade clauses are for.
That said, I agree with you as far as trading him being foolish.. We have no idea how good Anderson will be. Actually facing a professional hitter would be a good start.
Well, we’re talking about the only three pitchers in the Dipoto era that had significant contracts via extension or free agency.. How do you think that appears to pitchers potentially considering signing with Seattle?
Hopefully they won’t need free agency to address the rotation, but I still worry about Seattle’s reputation and ability to attract players.
Was the contract expired?
The point remains.. I’m not arguing whether or not the moves were understandable.
Yeah, they should stubbornly keep everyone, regardless of performance.
Why are you reading into this so deeply?
This is pretty simple. I’m saying they should be careful about moving players (like Ray and Castillo) for salary relief. It could deter players from signing with Seattle or signing extensions.
Moving Castillo makes little sense. He’s good, he offers innings, and they don’t have a better alternative, nor an abundance of MLB-ready alternatives.
It’s a good thing they aren’t shopping him.
I feel like you are defending Castillo a little too much
Don’t get me wrong I believe we should keep him in 2026 unless we get a strong offer (which won’t happen) but he is getting older with age and will probably be a 4.00 era pitcher next year looking at advanced stats
If we were a big payroll team he is worth it to keep but he shouldn’t be our highest paid player when he’s our 3rd or 4th starter
His salary isn’t restrictive at 24.15m and the early projections are nearly identical to last season (and the season before that.., and the season before that).
But my point wasn’t even about Castillo. It’s about the way the front office should handle players.
I haven’t said anything you claim I’ve said. Your words, and poor interruption, not mine.
That’s enough.
Money is right, the player will sign. Underperform and get dumped, nobody holds that against a team. It is called trying to win
Note to self: teams don’t want bad players; want to win.
It’s amazing how my comment went over so many people’s heads.
Your first comment about later trading that were signed as free agents could affect player signings was ignorant. There was nothing there to go over anyone’s head.
So, you don’t get it, either. Go learn what a modal verb while I put you on mute.
Could was used because you were hedging your bet. You can’t figure out that I said your statement was total BS, could or no could
So you’re assuming Anderson is going to be majors ready by mid 2027 to allow for a Castillo trade during his last guaranteed year, despite not having pitched a professional inning yet?
Seems maybe a bit hopeful?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Anderson is ready by mid 2026. If he’s not ready by mid 2027, something has gone wrong
Exactly. Eats innings at a 3.88 FIP. Trade George Kirby when Anderson AND Centje are ready. Kirby would get some legit talent back.
Yes, dump for the most consistent pitcher on the roster who you can count on to take the ball every 5 days…
Hopefully, he is still reliable to pitch here through 2027. He helped Kickstart us being relevant again for the first time since 05.
I could see them adding Satoya Imai rather than subtracting Castillo. Injuries happen. When you lose a SP you lose your opportunity to make the playoffs. The M’s used the fewest starters in MLB in 2025. They were able to fill in with Hancock and Evans last year. After those two they have nothing ready to go. Moving MIller into a relief role would strengthen the whole group.
“Dipoto mentioned that the team has been in touch with multiple veteran relievers and expects a deal to get done.”
That means the next relievers will be low-pay lottery tickets, has-beens, and never-wases from the free agent market. At best, Steven Matz and Tyler Rogers, but likelier guys like Jakob Junis or Justin Wilson. Thoughts?
And the Rays signed him for more than the M’s want to spend.
I love George Kirby but if the Mariners are going to trade a starting pitcher, Kirby might be the one who brings the greatest return. Besides, he grew up a Yankees fan and is not likely to sign an extension with the M’s.
Go win the offseason
Sign Geno 2/30
Sign Polo 2/30
Absolutely not, Geno has no place reil in Seattle
Put down the weed and let your brain be able to process again
You don’t trade Kirby with 3 years remaining. Let his contract run to free agency and give him a qualifying offer. We’re in a win now window
He’s the Max Sherzer of our rotation
I hope La Piedra has a career year for us, reminding us that not long ago he was the Ace.
Awesome news. They need to keep all 5 of their ace starting pitchers. they have been very fortunate to have had minimal injuries the past two years, but the odds say that can’t happen every year.
Jerry really has easy homework this off season. Naylor, signed, frontline lhp reliever obtained. now re-sign Polanco to play 2B, and Geno to be DH. Canzone and Robles can platoon in RF until Montes is ready. Williamson can be given first shot at 3B, but if that doesn’t work out they have Emerson not too from being ready, or Geno could move back there. Cole Young, Bliss and Rivas can add infield bench depth. All that is left is a backup catcher. How about Jonah Heim?
Time to go all in for 2026..
Geno can’t hit at T-Mobile. A single timely playoff homer doesn’t necessitate a contract.
The ALCS Game 5 game winning grand slam says otherwise. And it was his 2nd hr other game. he had the record for most hrs for a player traded after the deadline. he has always been Mr clutch and is a teal leader. No coincidence that they went from 5 GB to winning division after he and Naylor arrived. Stanton pocketed enough extra profits from the late season run to spend more for once. And he plays 81 games on the road.
Yeah, and that he couldn’t hit well at home is the same reason he was traded to Arizona last time.