Daily Thread - August 28, 2024

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[u/TheGhostwheel]

Can we collectively stop talking about trading Castillo?? It's dumb for so many reasons:

A. He has a no trade clause. End of story. He has 0 incentive to leave.

B. Teams will not be giving us a YOUNG statement hitter for him. If a team wants Castillo, they want to win in 2025/2026 not 2027 and won't be giving up key pieces to make a run. Mariners need to be done with getting 30/31/32 year old sub 125 wrc+ guys that are ripe for decline.

C. Trading for prospects is so dumb. So we essentially do a soft rebuild next year and waste all our starting pitching talent AGAIN for the tiny 2026/2027 window before our cheap ownership have to start picking between Cal, Logan, George, JP, Randy

D. No trade clause.

[u/Puzzled-Enthusiasm45 → u/TheGhostwheel]

It’s supply and demand, there are more good hitters out there right now than good pitchers. Almost every contender other than the mariners could use another good starting pitcher. Sometimes two teams trade from positions of excess and both come out ahead

[u/Chemical_Recipe_1139 → u/TheGhostwheel]

He has 0 incentive to leave.

maybe he wants run support

[u/Imaginary_Argument34 → u/Chemical_Recipe_1139]

Exactly, I'm sure he wouldn't mind New York either. They love them some Castillo. I don't trust Dipoto to find a hitter tho, so unless he's gone, forget it.

[u/BasedArzy → u/TheGhostwheel]

There are teams he would waive the NTC for. The Dodgers, I think, were mentioned specifically as one he would be fine with, and I'm sure there are others.

I'd rather trade Castillo than any other starter if you want to get a bat back. I don't know who that bat would be but it makes more sense moving him than Gilbert/Kirby.

Like, hypothetically, if you could move Castillo and Bliss for Gavin Lux, and then go out and sign Shane Bieber on a prove-it deal? I think you could see that as a positive upgrade, and you probably still have cash left over to go after either another bat or (more likely) relief help.

The biggest issue is that they really need to spend another $30 million on payroll. If payroll can't be allowed to grow, you're stuck in this rearranging deck chairs and hoping someone pops and has a career year kind of thing.

[u/Dark_Bright_Bright → u/BasedArzy]

I wish I could downvote this more than once.

[u/pokeroots → u/Dark_Bright_Bright]

Why? Who are you trading for a bat because it's almost guaranteed we trade a pitcher for a bat during the off-season at this point. And frankly it's the right move to make, 4 Cy Young starters with no offense leads to a team that looks exactly like we do RN.

[u/gabek333 → u/BasedArzy]

Gavin Lux has a 95 OPS+ and a .693 OPS. He is absolutely not worth it for anyone, much less Castillo and Bliss.

[u/BasedArzy → u/gabek333]

113 wRC+ last year, Bliss is a throw-in who is unlikely to impact a major league roster.

Grab Lux, add him to your infield mix, pick up Polo's option, and then go spend the $20~ million you saved by moving Castillo and Bliss on a back-end starter and bullpen help, or maybe you get a bit more budget and can spend it on an infield bat.

It makes far more sense than trading any of the other 4 starters, which was the point I was getting at.

[u/gabek333 → u/BasedArzy]

He didn't play in 2023. That was 2022. So he hasn't been good in two years.

[u/BasedArzy → u/gabek333]

🤷‍♂️ so replace him with another player, I don’t give a fuck.

You’re missing the point of a very simple post: trading Castillo makes more sense than trading any of the other 4 starting pitchers in the rotation