The Seattle Mariners’ move at the MLB trade deadline to add starting pitcher Luis Castillo from the Cincinnati Reds is now going to lead to much more than a half-season rental. Castillo has pitched across 54 innings with Seattle so far, posting a 2.83 ERA and a 3-2 record while allowing just 46 hits and 13 walks. And now the Mariners have signed him to a five-year extension, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan relayed Saturday:
Castillo (seen above during a Sept. 14 game in the “Marineros” uniforms the team wore for Hispanic Heritage Day) is 29, so there’s certainly some potential concern about age and injuries with those latter years in particular. But Passan notes that there is a clause allowing for a cheap team option in 2028 if Castillo undergoes UCL repair surgery in the years leading up to that:
Castillo first made the majors with the Reds in 2017. He has a career 3.57 ERA and 18.8 wins above replacement, as per Baseball Reference’s calculation. And he’s been particularly good this year, first in Cincinnati and now in Seattle, posting a combined 4.0 bWAR and 154 strikeouts across 139 innings with a combined 2.85 ERA.
Pitching has been a large part of the Mariners’ success this year, which currently has them with a 82-68 record and in the third AL wild card spot. And with this extension, they’ve improved their rotation going forward as well, with that likely to feature Castillo, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby for the next four years. We’ll see how the Castillo deal ultimately works out for them, but there are certainly reasons for Seattle fans to be excited about this move.
[Jeff Passan on Twitter; photo from Lindsey Wasson/USA Today Sports]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.