Mariners beat out Yankees for Luis Castillo trade: Best memes, reactions

The Seattle Mariners found a way to steal Luis Castillo away from the New York Yankees, as they finalized a trade with the Cincinnati Reds for the pitcher.

The Cincinnati Reds have made it known that they were sellers entering the 2022 season. Perhaps their most valuable player was starting pitcher Luis Castillo, who became the top starting pitcher available at the Aug. 2 deadline. He was reportedly the top choice for the New York Yankees, but they were unsuccessful in landing him.

According to ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan, the Reds are trading Castillo to the Seattle Mariners. So what was the return?

According to multiple reports, the Reds are receiving Noelvi Marte, Edwin Arroyo, Levi Stroudt, and Andrew Moore. Marte is the No. 1 prospect in Seattle’s farm system, while Arroyo ranks No. 3 and Strout ranks No. 5.

Mariners steal Luis Castillo away from Yankees, pull off blockbuster trade with Reds

The Yankees were linked to Castillo, so the fact that they lost out on acquiring him to the Mariners had Twitter reacting.

The Yankees may have had Castillo as their top pitching target, but the Mariners were willing to sacrifice three of their top five prospects in the farm system. After all, Seattle had the No. 2 ranked farm system in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline entering the 2022 season.

According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Yankees were “close” on Castillo, but it was the Mariners who won out.

Through 14 starts this season, Castillo recorded a 2.86 ERA, a 1.071 WHIP, 90 strikeouts and 28 walks over 85.0 innings.

The Mariners, who held the second Wild Card spot in the American League entering Friday night, now got one of the top starting pitchers available. They had the prospects to make a move, and they did just that.

As for the Yankees, they are now focused on their new top target in Frankie Montas of the Oakland Athletics, per the New York Post‘s Jon Heyman.