It’s just he’s been that way for the Reds, these days baseball’s equivalent of Siberia.
And Castillo has been filthy for a couple seasons. Guys who give you a chance every time they cross the white lines. Guys who allow their hitters to relax, leading to more runs. Guys who don’t care if the offense is on point. Guys that can dominate from the first pitch until the seventh or eighth. Maybe two or three, depending on Ray and Logan Gilbert. Those are the we-can-get-you-a-game-lead-in-every-series starters the true contenders have.
Justin Verlander, Garrett Cole (Wednesday’s Mariner victim), Max Scherzer, about three Dodgers. Everyone – except maybe the occasional Royals squad with four aces in the bullpen – has to have one to win a title. A near-perfect team let down by the absence of an overpowering ace.
If Pat Gillick had traded for someone like Castillo at the 2001 deadline, the Mariners would have a World Series banner hanging in T-Mobile. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, with a twist this time. And a front-line starter that allows them to compete with anyone in baseball in a short playoff series. He’s the ace the M’s expected with Robbie Ray. It’s no wonder Jerry Dipoto was willing to give up half the farm for Castillo, the righthander dangled by Cincinnati.
The 29-year-old Castillo, seen as the savior of the M’s 2022 playoff chances, consistently threw 98-miles-per-hour sinkers at a Yankee lineup that lives for heat. Why share that tidbit? To illustrate how the game has changed, as personified in Castillo on Wednesday. And by the time he developed command of that unhittable sinker, he was too old. He was talking about how he discovered, over the course of a few minor league seasons, he could either throw really hard or he could throw a nearly unhittable sinker. Years ago, we sat in a dugout with a local pitcher who reached the cusp of the big leagues in his career.