Over the weekend, reported that the Mariners were willing to entertain offers on . Trade chatter has picked up in the few days since then. writes that the Ms have received a higher volume of trade calls since agreed to an eight-year deal with the Yankees on Tuesday. Castillo, who turns 32 today, seems to be the one member of the Seattle rotation wholl be available. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has continuously shot down the idea of trading from his young quartet of , , and . The Ms reportedly rebuffed the Red Sox when Boston floated a framework of for one of their young starters. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network suggested yesterday that the Red Sox and Mariners remained in conversations about Seattles starting pitching. Boston is probably unwilling to give up Casas for Castillo, however. To that end, Speier last night that a source informed him there was no traction on a deal that would involve those two players. While Castillo is a le s appealing target than Seattles controllable arms, he should have positive trade value in his own right. Hes coming off another productive season. Castillo started 30 times and worked to a 3.64 earned run average over 175 1/3 innings. He punched out 24.3% of batters faced against a solid 6.5% walk percentage. Thats a slight step back from his typical production, as he combined for a 3.47 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate over the preceding three seasons. Even if this wasnt his best year, Castillo looks the part of a mid-rotation starter. He has topped 150 innings in each of the last six full seasons. Castillos fastball sits in the 95-96 MPH range. He still has a better than average strikeout and walk profile. The differentiators between Castillo and his rotation mates are his contract and age. Hes signed for three more seasons at $22.75MM annually. The deal contains a 28 vesting option valued at $25MM if Castillo reaches 180 innings in 2027 and finishes that year healthy. Theres some protection Andre Iguodala Jersey for the team in the event he suffers a significant arm injury. If Castillo requires surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow and mi ses more than 130 days, thered be a conditional $5MM club option for 2028. Leaving the options aside, the contract has $68.25MM in guarantees for his age 32-34 seasons. Thats probably a little le s than what hed make if he were a free agent this offseason. Castillo is more consistent than , who got $63MM going into his age-34 season. He has similar numbers to , who just inked a $75MM deal for ages 35-37. One complicating factor: Castillos deal includes a full no-trade clause through the end of next season. The trade protection goes away at the end of the year (though he would receive a $1MM a signment bonus if hes traded after 2025). Kramer writes that the Mariners have informed the righty that theyre fielding more interest. The report doesnt shed any light to which teams, if any, Castillo would approve a trade. If hes amenable to moving, the Mariners should be able to offload most or all of the contract while netting a legitimate return. A potential cornerstone bat like Casas is a stretch, but its reasonable to expect some kind of immediate lineup help. Itd also open budgetary space for the front office to add to the offense in free agency. Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times that the Ms are working with around $15-20MM in payroll room; Kramer suggests the same in todays report at MLB.com. Pushing that closer to $40MM would open a lot more opportunities for Dipoto and his staff to strengthen the corner infield. It would be a notable hit to their rotation. Much is made of Seattles young starting pitching, deservedly so. The talent at the top does obscure a general lack of depth beyond their excellent front five, however. hasnt shown much at the MLB level despite his billing as a former sixth overall pick. He has a 4.71 ERA with a 14.3% strikeout rate in 15 big league starts. Hancock and soft-to sing lefty are the top depth options on the 40-man roster. The Mariners didnt need to rely on either pitcher much in 2024. Their front five combined for all but 13 starts all season. Even if they bring back their entire rotation, its unlikely theyll be quite so fortunate from an injury perspective. Trading Castillo would almost certainly nece sitate a rotation acquisition, either in that trade or via subsequent free agent pickup. One need only look at how quickly the Marlins starting pitching has been depleted over the past two seasons as an example of the risk for teams in believing they have a rotation surplus. Thats no doubt a factor in Seattles general unwillingne s to listen on their younger arms. Chris Bosh Jersey