The Cincinnati Reds traded Luis Castillo to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for prospects Edwin Arroyo, Noelvi Marte, Andrew Moore and Levi Stoudt. Marte was the Mariners’ top-ranked prospect, Arroyo was third, and Stoudt was fifth.
The Mariners trading for Castillo fortifies their starting rotation as the team looks to reach the postseason for the first time since 2001. Seattle owns the longest playoff drought among the four North American professional sports.
Castillo was the consensus best starting pitcher available at the Aug. 2 MLB trade deadline this season. That title now gets passed to Oakland Athletics right-hander Frankie Montas.
The Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays were among the teams connected to Castillo over recent weeks.
Although the two-time All-Star did not wind up with the Dodgers, manager Dave Roberts took a positive outlook on the Castillo trade getting him out of the National League, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
#Dodgers Dave Roberts on Luis Castillo being traded to Seattle: "Well, he’s out of our league so I guess that’s a good thing."
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) July 30, 2022
Castillo, 29, is under team control through the 2023 season via a final year of arbitration eligibility. Castillo went 4-4 with a 2.86 ERA, 3.20 FIP and 1.07 WHIP over 14 starts for the Reds this season.
He’s a lifetime 44-53 with a 3.62 ERA over parts of six years in the Majors.
How Luis Castillo trade impacts Dodgers, Juan Soto
With the Mariners trading for Castillo, it presumably removes them from the Juan Soto sweepstakes.
The Cardinals, Dodgers, Padres and Texas Rangers are among the teams that most prominently have been reported as having interest in a Soto trade. Though, the Dodgers are said to have attempted to engage the Los Angeles Angels on a potential Shohei Ohtani trade as well.
When recently discussing the trade deadline, Roberts said he didn’t believe the Dodgers have any glaring needs but he anticipated president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman evaluating all options that could improve the roster.
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