Luis Castillo To Be Dealt: Mariners Insider Fuels Rumors of the Team to Run for the Star

The Seattle Mariners have a little over a month until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. And there’s still more question than answers when it comes to the 2025 roster.

The Mariners are still looking for their starters at second and third base and are still trying to find a first baseman to platoon with Luke Raley. Two possible solutions — first baseman Carlos Santana and middle infielder Hye-seong Kim — turned down Seattle’s offers in favor for other clubs.

Both players would have fit into the Mariners’ payroll restrictions ($15-20 million). And with both of them off the market, that’s left very few options that fit within the team’s budget.

This has led to speculation that the most likely route to improvement for Seattle is the trade market. There’s been many rumors and speculation about the team shopping veteran starting pitcher and three-time All-Star Luis Castillo in the offseason.

And Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times discussed the rumors on the latest episode of the “Extra Innings” podcast.

“Obviously, (trading Castillo) has been one big question that’s hovered over this entire offseason for the Mariners,” Jude said. “Will they trade him? Won’t they trade him? I think we can say that they don’t want to trade him. But that $22-23 million salary obviously looms large. He’s their highest-paid player, he’s aging, his performance decline a little bit here in 2024. I was going over his (Baseball Savant) numbers again. He still has one of the best fastball values in all of baseball, I think 93rd percentile. But his expected ERA was 3.90. His expected batting average was .244. Some teams are going to look at that and be a little concerned.”

Despite the less-than-ideal combination of age and salary, Castillo is still a highly-valued member of Seattle, which Jude and Divish mentioned on the podcast.

Whether or not the Mariners are actually shopping Castillo or simply listening to calls, Jude mentioned that a deal involving Castillo wouldn’t be viewed as simply a salary dump for the club. According to reports, Seattle has already turned down a trade offer from the Boston Red Sox that would have sent Castillo to the American League East club in return for first baseman Triston Casas and designated hitter Masataka Yoshida.

Jude went on to say in the podcast that he’s not sure if the Mariners even know whether or not they’re going to move Castillo. But if they do, they’ll wait to see who comes away with Japanese ace Roki Sasaki. He’s expected to sign between the international signing period opening on Jan. 15 and his posting deadline on Jan. 23.

Assuming Castillo is willing to waive his no-trade clause.