Luis Castillo's tenure as a Seattle Mariner has apparently come to an end. The Mariners announced tonight they have traded Castillo to the White Sox in exchange for reliever Seranthony Dominguez, outfielder Nolan Jones, and catching prospect Boston Smith. Per Daniel Kramer, the Mariners aren't sending any money to offset the remainder of what Castillo is owed on the extension he signed in 2022, which runs through 2027 with a vesting option for 2028 if he reaches 180 innings.
In exchange, the Mariners will be absorbing Dominguez's not-insignificant salary for the remainder of this year and the next year of his contract, when he's slated to make $10.5M. Dominguez also has an option for 2028, but it's a mutual option (with a $2M buyout).
The 31-year-old Dominguez is on pace for the worst season of his career; he still collects strikeouts but his walk rate has ballooned over the past two seasons; he's currently walking over 14% of batters faced. Compounding that problem is a serious case of dingeritis – a career-high 16.7% of fly ******* he's allowed have gone for homers, even in Chicago's ******* ious confines. But he does still strike a lot of batters out and generate whiffs, he can still rush the fastball up at 97+, and he's got a full complement of pitches for the Mariners pitching coaches to work with, even if he's primarily a heater-sweeper pitcher as a reliever. It's an expensive gamble, but the Mariners are both solving their rotation logjam (temporarily) and shedding Castillo's contract in the move; if Dominguez can be Mariner-pitching-hive-minded into even a serviceable mid-innings arm, that's a boon to the beleaguered bullpen.
The other pieces coming over in the trade are interesting in their own right. Nolan Jones is probably a name you're familiar with if you were big into prospects a decade-ish ago; he was a second-rounder drafted by Cleveland in 2016 as a highly athletic two-sport athlete and attracted a lot of prospect attention as he made his way up the ladder for his 6'4" frame, easy raw power from the left side, and a star turn in the Arizona Fall League and the Futures Game in 2019. Unfortunately, injuries derailed his ascent, and he was dealt to the Rockies in 2023 for Juan Brito shortly after making his big-league debut. Now 28, Jones has spent time in the bigs but never really latched on consistently (outside of one 2023 season where he seemed to put it all together for Colorado), mostly due to a monstrous K rate compounded by the length of his swing. He's been with the White Sox Triple-A team this season, blocked by the surprisingly good play at the big-league level, and will likely serve a similar role for Seattle as outfield depth at Tacoma.
Columbus Clippers OF Nolan Jones breaks up the no-hitter in the 6th inning with his 3rd HR of the season a 2-run opposite field shot 101.5 mph off the bat vs Indianapolis. #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/S6EJAxIBBY
#dominguez #league #year #even
In exchange, the Mariners will be absorbing Dominguez's not-insignificant salary for the remainder of this year and the next year of his contract, when he's slated to make $10.5M. Dominguez also has an option for 2028, but it's a mutual option (with a $2M buyout).
The 31-year-old Dominguez is on pace for the worst season of his career; he still collects strikeouts but his walk rate has ballooned over the past two seasons; he's currently walking over 14% of batters faced. Compounding that problem is a serious case of dingeritis – a career-high 16.7% of fly ******* he's allowed have gone for homers, even in Chicago's ******* ious confines. But he does still strike a lot of batters out and generate whiffs, he can still rush the fastball up at 97+, and he's got a full complement of pitches for the Mariners pitching coaches to work with, even if he's primarily a heater-sweeper pitcher as a reliever. It's an expensive gamble, but the Mariners are both solving their rotation logjam (temporarily) and shedding Castillo's contract in the move; if Dominguez can be Mariner-pitching-hive-minded into even a serviceable mid-innings arm, that's a boon to the beleaguered bullpen.
The other pieces coming over in the trade are interesting in their own right. Nolan Jones is probably a name you're familiar with if you were big into prospects a decade-ish ago; he was a second-rounder drafted by Cleveland in 2016 as a highly athletic two-sport athlete and attracted a lot of prospect attention as he made his way up the ladder for his 6'4" frame, easy raw power from the left side, and a star turn in the Arizona Fall League and the Futures Game in 2019. Unfortunately, injuries derailed his ascent, and he was dealt to the Rockies in 2023 for Juan Brito shortly after making his big-league debut. Now 28, Jones has spent time in the bigs but never really latched on consistently (outside of one 2023 season where he seemed to put it all together for Colorado), mostly due to a monstrous K rate compounded by the length of his swing. He's been with the White Sox Triple-A team this season, blocked by the surprisingly good play at the big-league level, and will likely serve a similar role for Seattle as outfield depth at Tacoma.
Columbus Clippers OF Nolan Jones breaks up the no-hitter in the 6th inning with his 3rd HR of the season a 2-run opposite field shot 101.5 mph off the bat vs Indianapolis. #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/S6EJAxIBBY
#dominguez #league #year #even
1 day ago
