The Los Angeles Dodgers have knocked the snot out of baseballs hurled by most every single pitcher in the game over the last decade, with a particular proclivity of snot-knocking concentrated in the last half-decade. That is, of course, a pitching pool that doesn’t include many of the Cy Young Award winners of that last decade, since most of them have actually ended up on the Dodgers instead of opposing them.
The old adage of if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em might be on their minds this particular winter, though. With perilously few former CYA winners out there to scoop up, it seems they might have eyes on another ace-caliber arm instead, one who has flustered them to the tune of a 1.90 ERA and tantalizing 34/8 K/BB in 23.2 career innings against them.
That would be Luis Castillo of the Cincinnati Reds, a team Bob Nightengale of USA Today suggests has spoken to the Dodgers about the availability of their ace. Castillo has compiled 10.7 bWAR since the start of the 2019 season, while teammate Sonny Gray has put up an equally impressive 10.1 bWAR in that time, and Nightengale relays the Dodgers are kicking tires on both Reds starters.
That’s because both Castillo and Gray are good at what they do and make money doing it. The Cincinnati Reds simply can’t have that, folks. At least they have a recent blockbuster deal with themselves and the Dodgers to remember fondly before embarking on this method of team destruction.
Gross.
Over at Dodger Blue, they picked up on the rumors swirling, too. They noted the reactions their own resident ace, Walker Buehler, had about Castillo’s stuff the last time the two tangled.
Something else that is seemingly inevitable is Yankees blogs smelling blood in the water and again going wild over the opportunity to propose garbage deals on the internet so Castillo ends up in pinstripes. I’d link to some, but then I’d be linking to some, and I don’t want to ruin your week this early. Just know that the ones I scuttered past this morning were just poor enough that, well, the Reds front office would probably agree to them right this minute.
Don’t forget, the Seattle Mariners have been sniffing around the Castillo smoke, too, looking for that very particular fire.
Wade Miley was given to the Chicago Cubs. Tucker Barnhart was given to the Detroit Tigers, who further cemented their rebuild-emergent status today by signing Eduardo Rodriguez to a huge free agent contract. Castillo is being shopped heavily, as is Sonny Gray. Nick Castellanos opted-out as he watched this patchwork ship spring leak after leak, and the Reds seem desperate to dump Mike Moustakas and/or Eugenio Suarez if the gods became so willing, too.
Rest assured, we will keep track of all the burn-down developments here at Rebuild Reporter. Stay tuned!