The San Francisco Giants starting rotation took a brutal hit at the end of November when two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell signed with the rival-Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a double whammy for the Giants, as they not only lost one of their top arms, but saw him go to the already-loaded, NL West-foe World Series champions.
Soon after saying goodbye to Snell, San Francisco added shortstop Willy Adames in early December, giving a much-needed power boost to its lineup, and signed future Hall-of-Fame starting pitcher Justin Verlander in mid-January. Other than that, the Giants have been relatively quiet this offseason.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter created a trade idea on Thursday that would address San Francisco’s need for another ace. While the proposed move still wouldn’t get manager Bob Melvin’s club to the level of the Dodgers, it would certainly improve the team’s rotation on paper.
Castillo Signed With Giants as Amateur Free Agent 13 Years Ago
Ironically, Luis Castillo signed with San Francisco as an amateur free agent in December 2011, soon after turning 19 years old. The righty was then traded to the Miami Marlins in December 2014, setting off a string of four trades for Castillo before he made his MLB debut in 2017.
Castillo was moved from the Marlins to the San Diego Padres in July 2016, and then back to South Beach less than one week later. Castillo was sent to the Cincinnati Reds in January 2017 and finally settled in after making 15 starts with the Reds that year.
He made his first All-Star team in 2019 and finished the season with a career-best 15-8 record, as well as career-high 226 strikeouts across 190 2/3 innings pitched covering 32 starts. Castillo earned his next All-Star honor in 2022, shortly before getting traded to the Seattle Mariners in July.
The 32-year-old had arguably his best season during his 2023 All-Star campaign, going 14-9 with a 3.34 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 219 strikeouts over career-high 197 innings (33 starts), while finishing fifth in the AL Cy Young voting
