Yankees like Luis Castillo . . . but so do the Astros
That the Yankees like Luis Castillo isn’t news.
They, and a slew of other teams in the market for starting pitching in advance of the Aug. 2 trade deadline, obviously would be interested in trading for Castillo. Aaron Judge called him "one of the best pitchers in the league” after the 29-year-old righthander threw seven dominant innings in the Yankees' 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Reds on Thursday night at the Stadium.
Castillo, who reached 99.7 mph, allowed one run and two hits, striking out eight, and the only run off him might not have scored if second baseman Jonathan India had played a grounder cleanly. He is 3-4 with a 2.77 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP and 82 strikeouts in 78 innings.
But one of the many teams showing an interest in Castillo is sure to get the attention of the Yankees: the Astros.
Indeed, the one team in the American League that has stared down the Yankees (62-27) — the Astros (58-30) lead the season series 3-2, with a doubleheader to come just after the All-Star break in Houston — could be positioning itself for what would be a bombshell deal.
“That,” one rival AL executive said of the possibility of Houston landing Castillo, “could be a game-changer.”
The notion of Castillo joining an already very good Astros rotation — fronted, of course, by Justin Verlander, who has routinely tortured the Yankees during his time in Houston — without question is a concern.
Though the Yankees are considered to have the far better farm system in terms of the high-level prospects it will take to get Castillo, the Astros can’t be counted out.
A straw poll of six American League and National League talent evaluators brought back a form of the same answer when it came to the Astros' minor leagues and if they are stocked enough to pull off such a deal.
“Oh, absolutely,” one NL scout said. “It isn’t nearly as good as the Yankees or the Dodgers [another team interested in Castillo], but there’s enough.”
A caveat: A team showing interest doesn’t equate to a deal, whether it’s the Yankees, Astros, Mets, Dodgers or anyone else. And the Reds hold all the cards here.
The asking price currently is astronomical and likely will stay that way. For instance, early word is the Reds would want at least one or perhaps two of the Yankees' top prospects right out of the gate — shortstops Anthony Volpe, who currently is at Double-A Somerset, and Oswald Peraza, currently with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — in any package.
Other touted prospects coveted by rival clubs, such as outfielder Jasson Dominguez (aka “The Martian”), catcher Austin Wells and pitchers Ken Waldichuk, Will Warren, Hayden Wesneski and Yoendrys Gomez, assuredly would be in the mix as well.
In the cases of Volpe and Peraza, more than a few teams asked for one or both before last year’s deadline. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman stood firm in not dealing them or even seriously discussing them.
Cashman hasn’t characterized any of his prospects as "untouchable" since affixing that label to Greg Bird, Aaron Judge and Luis Severino before the 2015 trade deadline, but that essentially was the message taken by rivals who asked for Peraza or Volpe (the latter in particular).
"Cash pretty much was telling everyone [Volpe] was unavailable," an NL executive said during spring training.
The Yankees' need for starter depth increased Thursday when Luis Severino went on the injured list with a low-grade right lat strain. Will the Severino injury — or simply wanting to keep Castillo away from the team that, as of midseason, appears to be the Yankees' biggest obstacle to getting to the World Series for the first time since 2009 — make Cashman more open to dealing from his deep reserve of prospects?
There still is plenty of time before Aug. 2, so that answer hasn’t yet declared itself, and the calculus for all involved can and likely will change between now and then. Additional injuries, for example, could occur with a contending team’s rotation, making that club more desperate for rotation help. And those teams might look someplace other than Cincinnati.
The Astros have been a consistent thorn in the Yankees' side since knocking them out of the AL wild-card game in 2015. Now, when it comes to the biggest prize on the market, they could prove to be that again.