While the spotlight has been on Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals leading up to the MLB trade deadline on Aug. 2, the Cincinnati Reds held a valuable chip in Luis Castillo, who was considered the best starting pitcher potentially available.
Although the Reds had fallen well out of the postseason picture, there were mixed signals or whether or not they would become sellers. That changed Thursday night when the Reds traded Tyler Naquin and Phillip Diehl to New York Mets for Hector Rodriguez and Jose Acuna.
Cincinnati has now followed that up by trading Castillo to the Seattle Mariners, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
According to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, the Reds are receiving Minor Leaguers Noelvi Marte, Edwin Arroyo, Andrew Moore and Levi Stoudt in the Castillo trade:
Castillo, who earned his second career All-Star Game selection this year, is 4-4 with a 2.86 ERA, 3.20 FIP and 1.07 WHIP over 14 starts.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays were connected to Castillo trade rumors over recent weeks. The Dodgers and Yankees at one point were considered the favorites to acquire the right-hander.
Along with his talent and potential, Castillo was an attractive trade candidate due to being under team control via a final year of salary arbitration through the 2023 season.
Luis Castillo traded, now what for Dodgers trade targets?
With Castillo now traded, the Dodgers could look to a reunion with Frankie Montas in terms of possibly adding an impact starter.
The club could also stand pat and wait for the returns of Dustin May and Walker Buehler.
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