Last offseason there was some talk of the Yankees wanting to deal for Castillo. The Reds asked for a lot (as they should), and the Yankees balked. I believe that the Reds did the right thing in holding firm if the offer was junk, however, the idea of trading Castillo is going to become the 800 pound gorilla in the room when the 2021 season ends.

Luis has some of the best stuff in the league and after a rough start is back to pitching like a number 1 or high level 2. He's still young and will have a couple of years of very reasonable control. Yes, that's great for the Reds if they keep him, but think about it for a minute. What would the Rays do? Like the Reds they operate on a budget and rarely pursue high priced talent from other organizations. They develop assets and trade them for even more assets when they reach potential, rinse and repeat. Their supply of young talent seems endless and they never end up with broken down high-priced arms soaking up big contacts.

In the past, the Reds have been abysmal at developing pitching talent. Looking at Greene, Lodolo, and even Ashcraft, this no longer seems to be the case. Even Guttierez has been much better than expected. As early as next year, they'll have, dare I say, an embarrassment of young, high-end controllable pitchers reaching the majors.

I think you do all you can to find a partner willing to give up a ridiculous haul of talent for Castillo this offseason. This is no longer about dumping a player, it's about adding even more young assets to an already talented core for the next 5 years rather than keeping Luis until he's up for a huge deal, then walks anyway. Well managed teams churn the system and create a self-sustaining talent stream. The Reds finally have the chance to do this.

I do think there's a potential for a log jam in our rotation next year. We have Gray for at least 1 more year and a club option for 2023, we have Gutierrez putting out solid outings each chance he gets, Tyler Mahle being his consistently consistent self, Wade Miley has a club option for 2022 that we may want to pick up considering how well he's pitched this year and then obviously Greene and Lodolo are coming up any time now.

Castillo would obviously be an upgrade over all of those players except for maybe Gray in 2022, but if we were offered something juicy for his services, it'd be harder to turn it down now given how well our minor league pitching has been developing.

At the same time, you don't really want to rely on the minor league players to come up and immediately be star players.

I could go either way with this. It's a risk regardless. Maybe it'd be best to hold onto him and then, if Greene or Lodolo is just killing it at the break in 2022, trade Castillo then.

(08-27-2021, 07:18 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I do think there's a potential for a log jam in our rotation next year. We have Gray for at least 1 more year and a club option for 2023, we have Gutierrez putting out solid outings each chance he gets, Tyler Mahle being his consistently consistent self, Wade Miley has a club option for 2022 that we may want to pick up considering how well he's pitched this year and then obviously Greene and Lodolo are coming up any time now.

Castillo would obviously be an upgrade over all of those players except for maybe Gray in 2022, but if we were offered something juicy for his services, it'd be harder to turn it down now given how well our minor league pitching has been developing.

At the same time, you don't really want to rely on the minor league players to come up and immediately be star players.

I could go either way with this. It's a risk regardless. Maybe it'd be best to hold onto him and then, if Greene or Lodolo is just killing it at the break in 2022, trade Castillo then.

Maybe.  I'd hope that they're contending in 2022.  If they are and Castillo is still the de facto ace, I can't imagine that they'd move him mid-season.that would be fairly unprecedented.  If they stumble due to young starters like Greene and Lodolo adjusting to the majors and fall out of contention, then perhaps.  

I was really down on this ownership at the start of the year.  I still think their approach to roster building was pure malpractice regarding the bullpen.  They'd be miles ahead in the Wildcard and fighting Milwaukee to the end if the pen were even average throughout the year.  That's hard to swallow after watching them basically give away capable releivers, then not replace them, then not get the shortstop they were dumping their salaries to acquire.  

However, the rises of India and Stephenson make this team's future look a lot different than it did in April.  Barerro seems to be a guy that's likely to slide right in with them and be a good shortstop for a long time.  Winker is still really young.  I sort of see them as a poor man's late 2010's Cubs.  A lot of young players realizing talent at the same time.  I view Castillo as a Jeff Samardzija (sp?) type.  A great player on a team that wasn't great for a few years, but a guy who's not going to be around when the young core hits it's prime.  He can bring value, as Samardzija did for the Cubs.