Luis Castillo may have ended up in a White Sox uniform, but that doesn’t necessarily slam the door on the Cubs’ search for pitching help.
Castillo, a former Seattle Mariners starter who had been linked to the Cubs in rumors for the past year, became the centerpiece of a deal that kicked off Chicago’s crosstown rival’s deadline push. The White Sox, who were also looking to bolster their rotation, agreed to take on the full remaining money on Castillo’s contract - the prorated portion of $22.75 million this year and $22.75 million next year.
To land him, the White Sox sent veteran reliever Seranthony Dominguez to Seattle, along with outfielder Nolan Jones and slugging prospect Boston Smith.
For the Cubs, Castillo was probably never the cleanest fit. His 5.06 ERA this season and the money left on his deal made him a less likely deadline target. But Chicago’s interest appears to be more alive when it comes to two of Castillo’s former Mariners teammates: Emerson Hancock and George Kirby.
That matters because earlier reporting had suggested Seattle might only move one starter. Castillo going to the White Sox seemed, at least on the surface, like the kind of move that could take Hancock and Kirby off the board. Maybe not.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that the Mariners are still open to dealing Kirby before Monday’s deadline. There was no direct mention of Hancock after the Castillo trade, but if Seattle is still willing to listen on Kirby, Hancock likely remains in the mix too.
Rosenthal also noted that Seattle would want pitching back in any Kirby deal. If the Cubs are serious, that gives them a pretty clear framework. A package built around one of Pedro Ramirez or Matt Shaw would almost certainly be part of the conversation, and moving Jaxon Wiggins would not be a surprise for a front office that selected 16 pitchers in last month’s draft.
With Skubal gone to the Dodgers and Castillo now in Chicago, the deadline picture is starting to loosen. The expectation is that the Cubs will be active from Sunday into Monday and are aiming to add three pitchers by the time the dust settles.
Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers are among the controllable names that fit what Chicago is looking for, but there’s also a long list of rental starters still in play, including Robbie Ray, Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, and Kevin Gausman.
In Other News...
Cubs Skubal Pursuit Exposed One Problem Chicago Couldnt Escape
Tarik Skubals move to the Dodgers on Saturday night offered another reminder of how thin the margin can be when a star pitcher comes available. Los Angeles got the deal done with a package that sent former Cubs prospect Zyhir Hope, along with pitching prospects River Ryan and Brady Smith, to the Tigers, and it quickly became clear why the market pushed this into a different tier than a typical deadline-style chase.
For Chicago, the bigger story is what it says about the limits of a pursuit that never quite had enough room to grow. Matching that kind of offer would have required the Cubs to part with significant major league talent and add more from a system that already had to be carefully protected, which helps explain why they stayed out of the final push. The result left the club watching a frontline arm land elsewhere while the cost of doing business kept climbing past the point Chicago was willing to go. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Finally Moved Jameson Taillon And The Return Says Plenty
Jameson Taillon is on the move, and the Cubs have finally turned a veteran arm into something usable for the stretch run. Toronto landed the pitcher from Chicago, while the Cubs cleared a spot on the 40-man roster by shifting utility player Lenyn Sosa to the 60-day injured list.
What Chicago is getting back is not the kind of headline return that changes the conversation by itself, but it does speak to how the front office handled the deal. The Cubs are also taking on part of Taillons remaining salary, a reminder that this was as much about reshaping the roster and payroll as it was about the name going out the door. [Read more 🡒]