Regrading the Mariners trade with the Reds for Luis Castillo

Luis Castillo spent over five seasons at the top of the Cincinnati Reds rotation, where he racked up a 3.62 ERA in nearly 800 innings. Castillo struck out 860 batters as a member of the Reds and was named to two All-Star Games.

The Reds traded Castillo to the Seattle Mariners last July in exchange for four prospects. Since joining the Mariners, Castillo has been spectacular. In 18 starts in Seattle, Castillo has a record of 6-2 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.028 WHIP.

To begin his 2023 season, Castillo is off to the best start of a season in his career. Luckily for Reds fans, the return for Castillo was a pretty healthy one. Let's revisit last year's deal and put a grade on it.

Regrading the Mariners trade with the Reds for Luis Castillo.

The Cincinnati Reds shipped off their ace, and in return received shortstop prospects Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo as well as right-handed pitchers Levi Stoudt and Andrew Moore.

The most notable piece to this trade was clearly Noelvi Marte. At the time of the trade, Marte was a consensus top prospect in all of baseball. In 119 at-bats at Double-A Chattanooga, Marte has a slash line of .276/.353/.476. His combination of a high ceiling and a high floor makes him incredibly valuable to the Reds future.

Arroyo may be the most overlooked pirce of this deal, but he's currently the team's No. 3-rated prospect according to MLB Pipeline, ahead of guys like Matt McLain and Cam Collier. Arroyo is just 19 years old and has shown incredible ability in the field and can hit from both sides of the plate.

Cincinnati was rather high on Stoudt when the trade was made. The right-hander hasn't necessarily lived up to those expectations, especially when he made his major league debut earlier this year. On the other hand, Stoudt has shown above-average velocity and a good slider, leaving the door wide open for him to have a productive career.

The final piece in the trade was right-hander Andrew Moore. Moore is an absolute electric arm that features a fastball in the upper 90s, touching 101-mph. He has big league potential in his arsenal, but has yet to make his 2023 minor league debut, as he sits on the 60-day IL.

Even with the departure of Luis Castillo, the return was so prominent that even regrading this trade would earn the Cincinnati Reds an A-. These young prospects just present so much potential and are all under team control for at least six seasons.