The Seattle Mariners seemingly have six big league level starting pitchers and only five spots in the rotation to work with. Seattle also has a struggling offense which could desperately use the addition of some help in order to kickstart the season. This combination of things makes it painfully obvious that Seattle should trade one of their starting pitchers in order to acquire some offense, right?
Yes, this makes sense, but let's look a bit deeper at the Mariners' pitching staff. George Kirby, Bryce Miller, Logan Gilbert, and Bryan Woo are all incredibly talented, affordable, young, and under team control for a few more years. That would leave them as very unlikely to be traded. Plus, Kirby is hurt right now, making him even more unlikely to be dealt.
That leaves Luis Castillo and Emerson Hancock.
Many experts have predicted it would be Castillo that gets moved in a trade. He holds more value as a trade chip because he's a proven talent, though he's expensive. So, what's the catch?
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Emerson Hancock's implosion could take Luis Castillo off the trade block
The catch to this idea was on full display on Monday night. Hancock isn't ready to take over as a key piece to the Mariners' rotation. His lack of consistency means that Castillo is a much more valuable piece to the team.
The New York Yankees are a team that could use the pitching. New York has seen Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt go down with injuries this season, leaving them handicapped on their pitching staff. Adding a guy like Castillo would have been well worth it for this year and the next few seasons.
But Hancock is blocking any chance of the Mariners trading Castillo. On Monday night, Hancock didn't make it out of the first inning against the Detroit Tigers after he surrendered six runs on seven hits, a walk, and a home run while only recording two outs. It was a terrible outing from start to finish. Pair this with his poor career numbers, and it doesn't seem likely that the Mariners will trust him in the rotation.