Mariners Make The First Big Splash By Acquiring Luis Castillo From The Reds

By making the first blockbuster deal of the trade deadline season, the Mariners retroactively made it abundantly clear they did in fact also make the first official move of the trade deadline season.

The long weekend that is the trade deadline got off to a rollicking start late Friday night, when the Mariners declared their intentions to go for it by dealing four prospects to the Reds in exchange for starting pitcher Luis Castillo, a two-time All-Star.

This four-for-one deal was as much about quality as it was quantity on both sides. Shortstops Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo and pitcher Levi Stoudt were regarded as three of the Mariners’ top five prospects and have a chance to be cornerstone players in the Reds’ long rebuild. Reliever Andrew Moore, who has a 1.95 ERA at Single-A Modesto, could be a solid bullpen option in a couple years.

It’s a lot to give up for the Mariners, but an appropriate price to pay for the lone big league franchise without a World Series appearance and whose last trip to the postseason came in October 2001 — the month Marte was born and almost two years before Arroyo was born.

As noted today by Baseball-Reference, Castillo ranks among the top five in baseball in strikeouts, innings pitched, ERA, ERA+ and batting average against since 2018. He’s not eligible for free agency until after next season and provides the Mariners a third ace-caliber pitcher for their rotation along with defending AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray and promising second-year hurler Logan Gilbert. Castillo is expected to make his debut on Monday or Tuesday against the Yankees — a delicious coincidence since the Yankees were reportedly the Mariners’ competition for the right-hander’s services.

It’s also an indication of how teams that would have been borderline contenders under the previous two playoff formats are going to be much more aggressive with the field expanded to 12 teams — three division winners and three wild cards per league — and the one-and-done wild card game shelved.

The Mariners entered Saturday 12 games behind the Astros in the AL West and in possession of the second AL wild card, 1 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays and two and 2 1/2 games clear, respectively, of the Guardians and Orioles (the Orioles!), who are fourth and fifth in the wild card race.

Even with Castillo remaining under the Mariners’ control through next season, the cost they paid for him would have been awfully high if their lone path to the playoffs was the wild card game. But with Castillo, Ray and Gilbert, the Mariners will be well-positioned for a best-of-three first-round series against either a fellow wild card or the division winner with the worst record in the AL.

Most importantly for the Mariners, the trade justified the long- and short-term faith general manager Jerry DiPoto has expressed in the club. DiPoto signed Ray and acquired sluggers Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker from the Reds after the Mariners missed the playoffs by a game last season despite finishing with a negative run differential.

DiPoto remained bullish on the Mariners even after they went 10-18 in May and ended the month at 21-28 and further from a wild card spot (5 1/2 games back of the Angels — remember when the Angels were in the race?) than they were from last place in the AL (four games ahead of the Royals). The Mariners were a bit better in June but still 7 1/2 games out of the third wild card spot when DiPoto acquired Carlos Santana for a pair of low-level prospects June 27.

It seemed like a meaningless and cosmetic deck-shuffling move at the time. But while Santana’s struggles have continued in Seattle — he has a .674 OPS with the team, down from the .690 mark he posted with the Royals — his arrival coincided with a resurgence by the Mariners, who won 14 straight heading into the All-Star Break and entered today with the best record in the AL (19-6) since Santana’s debut.

If all goes as the Mariners hope, Castillo will make a much bigger and lasting impact throughout a three-month period the franchise has waited to experience for more than 20 years — and will ensure their splashiest move of the 2022 trade deadline is far more memorable than their first.