The Blue Jays don't have the assets necessary to trade for Reds pitcher Luis Castillo.

To our friends north of border, I offer my apologies, but the Toronto Blue Jays do not have what it's going to take in order to make a deal for Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo.

The Blue Jays have long been rumored to be in the market for Castillo, and injuries and lack of production will only increase Toronto's desire to trade for the Reds right-hander. But Toronto just doesn't have the assets it's going to take to land La Piedra.

With injuries to Frankie Montas and Tyler Mahle, Luis Castillo has clearly become the top pitcher who's likely to be made available at the trade deadline. But other teams will easily be able to outbid the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays don't have the assets necessary to trade for Reds RHP Luis Castillo.

Let's look at three different outlets in order to get a decent picture of the Toronto Blue Jays farm system. MLB Pipeline ranks four of Toronto's prospects among the Top 100 in the game. Keith Law of The Athletic (subscription required) places four of the Blue Jays' prospects in his Top 100 too, with one difference. FanGraphs' preseason Top 100 lists only two.

The two prospects who rank highly at all three outlets are catcher Gabriel Moreno and shortstop Orelvis Martinez. Moreno is a top-notch receiver, but the Cincinnati Reds seem set behind the plate for the next several years with Tyler Stephenson.

I know there's a section of Reds Country who believe that Stephenson would be better off playing first base, but that idea doesn't appear to line up with the way the Reds front office thinks. Furthermore, Joey Votto is still under contract for at least one more season.

As for Martinez, he's kind of a tweener. The 20-year-old doesn't really fit at shortstop and he's likely to change positions. Whether that's third base or the outfield has yet to be determined. Martinez is also barely hitting above .200 at Double-A. While he's still very young, Martinez not been very impressive at the plate since leaving Low-A.

Ricky Tiedemann is one of the few prospects that I think could really fit well in the Cincinnati Reds farm system. A tall, left-handed pitcher, Tiedemann has over 100 strikeouts in 14 starts for Toronto's High-A affiliate this season.

Overall, unless the Toronto Blue Jays are willing to part with some major league talent, I think several other franchises are going to be able to best their offer. The Cincinnati Reds are in the catbird's seat right now, and there's no reason to trade Luis Castillo for anything less than the best deal available.