Episode 437: Reacting To The Mariners Trading Luis Castillo To The White Sox

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number four thirty seven of the Marine Layer Podcast. We'll react to Luis Castillo getting traded to the Chicago White Sox. 00:00:08 Speaker 2: Reminder to you guys before we start the episode, just make sure you download these podcasts. If you're listening, make sure to rate and review five stars. If you're watching on YouTube and you're watching on the video side, just hit that subscribe button and take a second to do it. You can find us on our website marine layerpod dot com. Episodes are there, patreons, all there, podcast merch is there marine layerpod dot com, and then check us out all across social media at marine Layer Pod. 00:00:32 Speaker 1: Let's get it rolling, and we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball podcast network, recording here on Saturday evening, August first. Luis Castillo has been traded to the Chicago White Sox and the Mariners underway at the step line. 00:01:01 Speaker 3: I don't think we expected this, did we. 00:01:03 Speaker 2: I think we were at the point where we thought, yeah, they're not gonna be able to trade them. 00:01:07 Speaker 3: I think they deserve credit for this. 00:01:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, untradable and the first glance at this trade package that we'll dive into here a little bit more. It's not nothing like they didn't get a ton back for Louis Castile, but we were at the point that once George Kirby's name got resurfaced again this morning here on Saturday, all right, I mean, Louis Castile is untradable, or at least the Mariners don't deem whatever return they're gonna get for him as worth, like it's more valuable to just keep him on the roster for the final two months of the season and then you figure it out. 00:01:42 Speaker 3: Mm hm. 00:01:43 Speaker 1: Clearly that's not the case, and I kind of agree with them, given that the White Sox are gonna end up eating all of Louis Castile's salary, not only the money this year, They're gonna eat all twenty four million dollars of his salary next year, and then if his option vests, the White Sox are gonna be again on the hook for another They're I think twenty million dollars in twenty twenty eight. So that's the Mariners essentially clearing at this at this point, just under fifty million dollars potentially from their payroll, which I hope gets reinvested back into this roster in the form of a free agent, a trade, or an extension. 00:02:18 Speaker 3: You would hope. 00:02:19 Speaker 2: Yeah, they better not be sitting on this money, that's for sure, because we ain't gonna live with that. People should know, yes, if they don't they if they just sit on the money, people should be pissed. 00:02:28 Speaker 1: But they could now turn around and offer this salary that they were gonna pay anyway to Logan Gilbert. 00:02:33 Speaker 2: H Yeah, maybe to Brian wu or Bryce Miller if you're looking at extending them. 00:02:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure. So there's more cash on hand for this Mariners team. They are gonna have to take on money of Sir Anthony Dominguez, who's owed seven and a half million dollars total this year, So what has it come out to? About two million dollars the Mariners will take on here for the final two months. He's owed ten and a half million next year, and then he has there's a mutual option for I think twelve and a half, but I doubt at this point, I doubt the Maritors would take that on. But yeah, so that's the money situation of this trade. The Mariners are taking on some but not as much as they were paying to Luis Castillo and the White Sox are sending some cash to the Mariners, an undisclosed amount. 00:03:14 Speaker 2: So to be clear, you know, there's a lot to unpack here, But the Mariners will have Sir Anthony Demingaz this year and then next year, so a year and a half they'll have him, and then he will likely hit free agency. That's that's how the contract structures out. And most of you fans probably know Sir Anthony Demingez is the guy that gave up the Grand Slam to au Henio Suarez in Game five, which is funny because about ten months later now he's a Mariner. 00:03:38 Speaker 3: It's funny how fast things change. 00:03:41 Speaker 1: And people will say, well, if that's the reason I don't want him, yeah, Like, okay, we've talked about him before as a potential addition for the Mariners, especially when he's a free agent this offseason. We'll talk about the package here in a second. Let's talk about Luis Castillo here as a moment. So initial thought with this, lyle, are the Mariners going to invite Luis Castile back to the Mariner's fifty seasons celebration in a week? 00:04:07 Speaker 2: I'm serious, that's what you want that's what you want to talk about. He's traded and you're thinking about the fiftieth weekend. 00:04:15 Speaker 1: Well, I mean it would be on brand, it would be on brand. I'm joking. He's going to be on that list. 00:04:22 Speaker 3: He will. 00:04:23 Speaker 2: But but what do you mean is he invited like he'll be playing a joke for the White Sox. 00:04:28 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a joke. 00:04:29 Speaker 1: Well, well, it's a similar conversation people have about the manager Lyle so now turning around on a player they just traded away. 00:04:37 Speaker 2: You mean the Christian Vasquez of the Seattle Mariners, Dan Wilson. That's who he is, by the way. But you know, you know what, you know what, I just stopped myself in real time. I could go down that rabbit hole. I'm not going to because people are here to listen to a talk, to listen to conversation about Luis Castillo, So let's do that. I would say a couple of things. If you're talking about the terms of the contract, I think they did very well, and not just because they cleared so much money. But we haven't spent a whole ton of time talking about this yet. I mentioned it a little bit in the reaction. We just posted on social media. But that vesting option that Luis Castillo has for twenty twenty eight had a chance to be a real headache. And here's what I mean by that. We hadn't gotten into it yet because it wasn't time yet. But come next season, if Luis Castillo had thrown one hundred and eighty innings or more, what happens to a vesting option, meaning it is no guarantee to be picked up. Vesting option is not a guaranteed year under the contract. It means that you have to hit a threshold for the year to be picked up. And if Louise hit one hundred and eighty innings in twenty twenty seven, the vesting option becomes a player option, which means Luis Castillo deciding whether he wants to hit free agency in twenty twenty eight or pick up the twenty million dollar option is one hundred percent his choice. The Mariners have no say if he had hit one hundred and eighty innings next year. Why that's a problem is because that had a chance to get real dicey. If Louise had been healthy all year and making starts. What happens when you get into the tail end of the season and he's approaching the innings limit, do the Mariners start to treat him differently? And are they yanking him out of starts early? And then his Castillo and his camp unhappy, And then heaven forbid, they get to the last start of the year and he's maybe six inning short and they pull him after five and a third and then is there a grievance file? Like the whole thing would have been a nightmare if Louise had gotten close to that inning threshold next year, it was going to be a headache for all parties involved. For the Mariners to not have to deal with that anymore is a plus. 00:06:40 Speaker 1: Mm hmm, it is. I do think at this point though, since they're willing to trade him here at the deadline, he would have been shipped off in the off season. But again, someone would have traded for. 00:06:50 Speaker 2: Him maybe, but we were worried nobody was going to take on his deal, his contract. 00:06:53 Speaker 1: Well, clearly someone was willing to take on his deal. 00:06:56 Speaker 2: But until an hour ago, we were not convinced, and we weren't convinced it was gonna in an offseason where there may not be a lot of time to make trades. Considering there's probably going to be. 00:07:04 Speaker 1: A lockout, but knowing the Mariners, I mean, they probably would have in the off season, especially with Kate Anderson and Ryan Sloane, like legitimately on the doorstep. I mean Kate is now but slowan by the offseason you would think is almost right there. They would trade him for pennies, maybe they save that money. They would absolutely do that, and then they would again hopefully turn around and give that money to one of their other starters that they have not yet extended yet. I just I feel some gratitude here for Luis Castile. I mean he was one of the starts of this current era of Mariners baseball, which has led to them getting all the way to the ALCS Game seven of the ALCS. It was that trade in twenty twenty two that did, I would say, officially solidified the Mariners as one of the best, one of the good teams in Major League Baseball, maybe best as a generous term, but one of the good teams in Major League Baseball. One of this allowed them to compete here for the last few years, and a lot of that doesn't happen without Louis Castile and the fact he signed an extension with the team a month after being traded is I mean, it's a real endorsement on the franchise and like what they did to acquire him and their sales pitch to him and then Louis Castillo for a portion of this contract didn't age perfectly, but performed well in some really big moments for the Mariners. So just want to say thank you to Luis. It was awesome to watch him in a Mariner's uniform. And he will I joked about the fifty. He will be in the top fifty. They'll read his name off I believe next next weekend. 00:08:34 Speaker 3: Absolutely they will. 00:08:35 Speaker 2: Yeah, people should feel a lot of gratitude toward him. In twenty twenty three, he was top five in al Cy Young voting twenty twenty two. He came into this town and this team, and he gave this city and this ball club an absolute jolt. He was you know, you call him the rock. He was absolutely the rock of this rotation. They don't get past the Blue Jays without him. And that absolutely dominant, dominant posts and starred he had in twenty twenty two, and then he follows it up with a great year in twenty three. He did a lot, and he provided a lot of stability in that rotation for a young group of guys that had somebody to look up to and somebody that had been there and done that and had true big league success and was there as you know, not just a mentor, but somebody that you could really if you're one of those other pitchers, learn a lot from, take a lot of things from. For the Mariners and Mariners fans, he gave them legit production for a handful of years there. So look, they got out of this deal at the right time. They traded him at the right time. They did well in the deal. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't appreciate what he did, because he really did a lot. 00:09:43 Speaker 1: Let's get into this trade package. Let's start with the biggest piece of this package, and that's Sir Anthony Dominguz. We talked about the salary. Now what about the baseball player. I'd say the TLDR on Sir Anthony Domingez. He strikes a lot of guys out, even in a down year this year, He's got a twenty eight percent strikeout right. The balance is he has a fourteen percent walk rate, which is really, really really high. I do have a comp right off the bat. I think this is the Mariner's second chance at Ryan's Stanek. 00:10:12 Speaker 3: I'm sure you just fired a whole lot of people up with that. 00:10:15 Speaker 1: Yeah, guy who lasted four months and then was ironically also traded at the deadline. 00:10:21 Speaker 2: Look, Sir Anthony Demingez is not fixing this bullpen. His era sits at about four. The expected numbers are also lower than that. He walks everybody. There's some positive parts to his game, but he's not gonna be a leverage reliever for this team. He's going to be somebody that throws in low leverage in the sixth inning, which is fine, and there is a role there. He's almost essentially filling a potential Carlos Vargas role until he gets back, or that type of role. But there's two things that are true here. He can give them something something, but the Mariners also still need to go add to their bullpen because they need more leverage bullpen arms. 00:11:00 Speaker 3: And he is not that guy anymore. 00:11:02 Speaker 2: Once upon a time, Sir Anthony Dominguez was absolutely lights out, like when he was in Philadelphia. I mean, he he was just a rock for those guys. But he's not that guy anymore. 00:11:13 Speaker 1: No, he was good last year though, before he gave up the Gino Grand Slam, he had a thirty percent strikeout rate in a low era. Yeah, the walk rate was still pretty high last year. But he does miss bats. No matter what's gonna happen, Guys are gonna swing a miss against him. It's just in a given outing. Are you gonna get enough swing and miss to offset the pitches he throws out of the strike zone. I don't think he's a guy at this point of his career the Mariners can like tweak and fix. The Mariner's philosophy is just go out and throw strikes. You could tell Sir Anthony Diminge, is that all you want. It's not a guarantee he goes out there and does it, but he will be one of the eight best Mariners relievers. That's a positive. Oh and by the way, Lyle, the Mariners essentially add at a reliever slot. Why trading Luis Castillo because the six man rotation is done? Yeah, it's that's done. The piggyback six man. We don't have to hear that term again the rest of the season. 00:12:06 Speaker 2: Thank god, thank god. Honestly, like hopefully ever again. But yeah, that is essentially the roster spot that Sir Anthony Demngez will take because the Mariners can go back to having an additional bullpen spot which will be filled by Dominguez and subtracted by Castillo. 00:12:23 Speaker 1: Nolan Jones is going to probably be in Triple A, if I'm gonna guess, Since the Mariners have Luke Raley and don Can Zone, there is no room for Nolan Jones on the big league roster. He was a former top prospect. He has some power, he's got a cannon for an arm in the outfield, but he's really struggled offensively in his big league career, which is why the Mariners are probably gonna just stash him in Triple A and use him as as depth Nice dude, though, we interviewed him for our Bullpen Banner channel last year so that we can vouch for how productive he's gonna be on the fields, Like that's to be tvd. 00:12:55 Speaker 2: He is probably a depth piece at this point where if Luke Rayley gets traded or somebody goes down with an injury, then he gets called up and maybe he'll have a chance to prove himself come next year. I mean to be fair. Nolan Jones three years ago had a phenomenal season. I mean, he had about a four and a half win year and was mashing at the plate in Colorado. But he hasn't been that guy in now a while. So it's gonna take some show it to me. It's gonna take some prove it. He's gonna have to go down and actually like do it in Triple A. And he's hit okay down there this year. It hasn't been anything otherworldly, but he's been okay. Most likely here he is a depth piece moving forward who maybe at some point gets some big league playing time. 00:13:40 Speaker 1: The most intriguing piece of this trade package is the catcher they got, minor league catcher Boston Smith. He ranked right in the middle of the White Sox organization, but we had as soon as his trade went down, multiple people text us about the intrigue of Boston Smith. And I'll tell you what, tell me this sounds intriguing. In Double A this year is a one ninety six w orc plus On the season. Between high end A and Double A, he's slashing two ninety one, four forty eight, five eighty nine with a one to sixty seven w ORC plus. 00:14:12 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd say that's pretty good. I'd say that's really really good. So the Maritors all of a sudden have some pretty real catching depth in their system, because even when you get past garb is the backup. I think people believe Johnny Parada is get gonna get some more playing time at some point or another. But then when you get past him, now you're gonna have both Luke Stevenson and Boston Smith. Likely those two will be kept apart from each other, I would have to. I mean, look, they could split time if they're in the same at the same level with the same team, if they have to. But I would guess the most likely outcome here is they try to keep those guys apart. Maybe Smith's and triple A while Stevenson's in double A, et cetera. And now you have catching depth for the future, and maybe one of those guys is now further additional like trade bait at some point or trade piece. 00:15:01 Speaker 1: We'll have to dig around on Boston Smith a little bit more. He was again only like the fifteenth ranked White Sox prospect on MOB pipeline, so there's not a ton of prospect pedigree with him, but like he rakes, so I'm wondering what the real knock on him is. The juxtaposition of that is Luke Stevenson. If he keeps going, he's gonna be a top one hundred prospect. So like that, there's gonna be that factor going into it where Luke Stevenson will be getting some national attention from like where he ranks on all these prospect lists. Well, Boston Smith's a little bit more of an under the radar guy, but there's one thing we do know is that he hits the crap out of the ball. 00:15:37 Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they manage those guys. So we'll see how that fares down to the minor leagues as time goes on. But yeah, I think the Mariners did pretty well here. I don't think a lot of people believe they could trade Luis Castillo at this point, and they not only traded him, but they ate the entire car or they got the White Sox. They traded him, they got the White Sox to eat the entire contract, and they still got pieces, bad. 00:16:01 Speaker 1: Pieces that they could use on their team, not just random pieces, which is good. I'd say the last thought I have here comes from the reporting that Adam Jude had out of this trade, is that the Mariners are still open to trading Emerson, Hancock and George Kirby. So that tells me this this Louis Castile move was to free up salary and clear space in the rotation for better arms to pitch. That could be the five guys currently remaining in the rotation, that could also include Kate Anderson and Ryan Sloan. That they're going to now use Kirby or Hancock potentially to bring them back the impact they need without trading prospects. So it's not just going to be potentially we still have about forty eight hours to go one of these guys getting traded just to shed one guy. It's like, all right, we shedded some salary. Now we're going to try and go out and acquire impact, so they get the right package for Emerson or George Kirby. At least for the reports. It still could happen and could give that drastic change that we've been asking for. 00:17:07 Speaker 2: Right and by impact we mean impact bat obviously, And it makes sense that they're still shopping those guys around, right because trading Luis Castillo doesn't change the fact that Kate Anderson still needs a spot in this rotation come twenty twenty seven, and right now there's no room for him, and they're obviously gonna want to and almost have to clear space for him, so they're gonna have to find some solution there now. If they trade one of these guys at the deadline, it does make the rest of this season much more interesting because you could call Kate up now and if he's got enough innings left, he becomes your fifth starter for the rest of the season, and then maybe if the team actually gets into the playoffs, he moves to the bullpen. But it does leave you a spot open in your rotation if you trade one of these guys. 00:17:55 Speaker 1: And where Kate is at right now, he still doesn't throw over seventy five pick in any of his starts, and that would be the same up at the big league levels. You'd have to get used to a lot of five inning starts for Kate Anderson, or it could be super efficient and get through six innings. But they've really really been strict on his innings this year, so even if he does come up and he pitches, well, you're only going to get so many bullets out of him this year, so you know, at the big league level, sure that works. But compare that to Emerson Hancock and George Kirby, who don't really have innings limits this year. They're not getting pulled out at seventy five pitches. They will throw you seven complete if that's how their starts going. So you wonder, like kid might be better on an inning by inning basis, But is it better to have a seven inning, seven inning starter or a five inning starter. 00:18:48 Speaker 2: But you only have to manage it for about seven weeks and then if the team gets if the team gets into the playoffs, Kaid goes to the bullpen and the other four will be the one starting playoff games. 00:18:57 Speaker 1: But it's seven weeks in which you need to reclaim a playoffs spot they are not currently in. 00:19:01 Speaker 2: For sure, and it does make things much more interesting. But we have said for a while now that Kate feels like a big league arm just simply pitching in the minors, so they if the Mariners feel the same way, then they won't have. 00:19:14 Speaker 3: Issues bringing them up. 00:19:15 Speaker 2: If they trade one of these starting pitchers, it would be drastic change, that's for sure. If by the end of this deadline, we see Luis Castillo traded one of Hancocker Kirby traded for an impact bat, and then Kate Anderson brought up that does look like a different ball club. 00:19:30 Speaker 1: The answer to that question ultimately lies with what kind of impact bat they bring back. How good is that bat, if that's worth it or not, because if they get like a really good bat to come back somehow for one of those two guys, then sure, I mean, one of your starters can pitch a couple less innings than everyone else because your lineup is that much better. 00:19:49 Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, I just thought about this too. I guess there's a chance we'll see Nolan Jones in the big leagues here in the next couple days. Because Luke Rayley hit the IL. They called up Stuart Fairchild here on Saturday, So there's a chance that could just be Nolan Jones. 00:20:04 Speaker 1: Until Raley gets back or until he's traded right now, and. 00:20:07 Speaker 2: I don't know how long Rayley's going to be out, so we'll see. There is a chance we'll see Nolan Jones in the big leagues. 00:20:15 Speaker 1: Well, I hope he makes the Mariner's bench better based on how he's hitting odds are No, the maritor's bench has been an issue. There's not a whole lot of depth there. Yeah, and it's really hurt them in spots. 00:20:27 Speaker 2: I mean it hurt him on Friday night, which, by the way, just another horrendous, disgraceful loss on Friday. 00:20:34 Speaker 3: Yeah, it was terrible. Now they made up for it by winning on Saturday. Good for them. But they're going into a rubber match with Twins. 00:20:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's a Twins team with a better record than the Mariners. 00:20:45 Speaker 2: Lyle, that's true. They do have a better record than the Mariners. Incredible. Well, I would say that just about wraps up all the thoughts we have on Cassillo. Make sure to make a know of this. By the way, I think we mentioned it on Friday's pod. We'll make a note of it on social media on Sunday. But a reminder to you guys, Monday's podcast is not gonna be out first thing Monday morning. So if you wake up Monday morning and you're set to listen to the podcast, don't be alarmed when it's not out in the morning. The reason we're doing that is because we want to wait till the deadline is over make sure all the moves are done, and then we can fully recap everything and we will put it out for you guys Monday evening, like as soon as the deadline ends and as soon as we record and as soon as it's uploaded, it will be out for you guys Monday late afternoon or Monday evening. But again, there's just not much of a point for us to record a Monday morning pod and then if a bunch of trades go down on Monday afternoon, like you guys aren't filled in on what's up to date, so we're just gonna wait till Monday evening. 00:21:43 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, all. 00:21:45 Speaker 2: Right, Well, celebrity softball game was fun. As we're sitting here in our final minute at a blast. 00:21:51 Speaker 1: Is the guy who hit a home run? 00:21:52 Speaker 3: Oh? I did hit a home run? Yeah, I went three for three. It was fun. I had to double a homer single. I was hell bent on getting one. Now. 00:22:00 Speaker 2: I didn't hit it all the way out of Lee Johnson Field. I tried, but they put up a temporary fence like two hundred and fifty feet away. 00:22:06 Speaker 3: I got one out of that fence, which, hey, we'll take it. 00:22:09 Speaker 1: And then I dropped a fly ball and grounded out. 00:22:12 Speaker 3: Twice, so it was great. 00:22:14 Speaker 1: Polar opposites on. 00:22:16 Speaker 2: If you're on the podcast, listen a valiant effort is we have a friend that likes to say but thanks. 00:22:21 Speaker 1: That makes me feel a lot better, well a lot better. 00:22:24 Speaker 3: We'll have a couple we have a couple of videos. 00:22:26 Speaker 2: We'll we'll try and post them tomorrow for you guys, so that'll be fun. But we did have a blast. We did meet a few of you there that were out at the event, so shout out to those of you that came out to Kirkland to watch it. And yeah, no, it was a really cool event for a really nice cause and hopefully we get to do it again at some point. 00:22:43 Speaker 3: So yeah, all. 00:22:45 Speaker 2: Right, that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer podcast. You guys know the drill. If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods, make sure to download these episodes. If you're listening, please go rate and review five stars. Whether you're on Apple or Spotify or wherever you're listening to your podcast, And. 00:23:01 Speaker 3: If you're on YouTube, just take a second to hit subscribe. 00:23:04 Speaker 2: You can also find us on our website that's marine layerpod dot com. Our podcast merch is all there, Patreon is there, episodes are all there. It's marine layerpod dot com. Then find us on social media. We're on all platforms. We're posting content every day at Marine layer Pod. 00:23:20 Speaker 3: That's TJ. I'm Lyle. 00:23:21 Speaker 2: As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon. 00:24:01 Speaker 1: St