Trade Proposal Sees Chicago Cubs Land Luis Castillo from Mariners in Blockbuster

The Chicago Cubs had moved through the offseason before Friday without any major high profile deals, something that changed dramatically with the Kyle Tucker trade.

But outside of signing Matthew Boyd and trading for Eli Morgan, the Cubs have yet to make a major move in terms of adding difference-making pitchers.

While some depth has been added in that department, they have not been in on any of the top names on the market thus far.

But blockbuster deals could still occur after the Winter Meetings concluded, so perhaps Chicago will turn back to the the trade market in order to make a major addition to their starting rotation.

The Boston Red Sox took the top available trade candidate off the board when they made a deal with the Cubs' crosstown rival Chicago White Sox for ace Garrett Crochet, but there are tons of options who can likely be had as well.

One possibility could be Seattle Mariners veteran Luis Castillo.

MLB.com cooked up a hypothetical deal between the Mariners and Chicago that saw Castillo coming to Wrigleyville in exchange for Nico Hoerner, Cam Smith, and Brandon Birdsell.

With Smith now unavailable after being dealt to the Houston Astros in the Tucker deal, the Cubs would have to add another top prospect as part of this trade package in his place.

Using the logic that Chicago was not in on the most expensive names available, this doesn't feel like all that great of a fit on the surface.

The issue here is money.

Castillo is under team control for the next three seasons, which is a plus, but that also comes with a $24 million price tag in each year.

The right-hander, who just turned 32 this week, was good in 2024 but not exactly the bonafide ace he's been in the past and that his contract indicates with a 3.64 ERA in 30 starts with 175 strikeouts in 175.1 innings.

This was coming off the best two seasons of his career in which he was named an All-Star in both campaigns with the Cincinnati Reds and Mariners where he had a 3.19 ERA that included a sub-3.00 mark in 2022 where he was striking batters out at a higher rate than he did in 2024.

If Seattle is willing to take on some of the contract to get the number committed to Castillo down for Chicago, the framework of a deal is certainly there.

While Castillo may not be a near $25 million yearly player anymore, he is still absolutely capable of helping the Cubs.

This is a deal that should be looked into.