4 former Reds players we'll be glad are gone, and 1 we'll wish stayed

Reds fans wish former RHP Luis Castillo would have stayed.

If there's one player, with whom the Cincinnati Reds parted company in 2022, that fans wish could've stayed it's Luis Castillo. La Piedra will be missed in 2023 and beyond.

The ace of the Reds staff for the past two seasons, Castillo was traded to the Seattle Mariners for a quartet of prospects. The right-hander then promptly signed a contract extension with the M's worth $108-million over five years.

The contract Castillo signed was a bargain for a player of his caliber. Castillo was a two-time All-Star who's now pitching in Seattle for what amounts to an average of $21.6-million per year. While not in the category of pitchers like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, Castillo's annual salary is less than half of what those two are making.

The Reds could have surely inked Castillo to that type of deal, but heading into his age-30 season, a team is certainly taking a risk by signing a pitcher to a multi-year contract. If one of the Reds big three are able to eventually turn into the type of pitcher that Castillo was during his time in Cincinnati, then perhaps this trade won't be too bad over the long haul.

The Cincinnati Reds were able to land several top prospects in return. The hope is that Noelvi Marte or Edwin Arroyo turn into All-Star caliber major leaguers. But if they don't, and Levi Stoudt fails to become part of the Reds rotation, this trade will look worse and worse.

Having the trio of Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft, and Nick Lodolo is nice, but if Luis Castillo was leading the way, the Cincinnati Reds would have one of the best rotations in all of baseball. As it is, La Piedra will be pitching in the Pacific Northwest for the foreseeable future.