Luis Castillo’s resurgence leaves Mariners with tricky dilemma | Commentary

SEATTLE – I remember this guy. How about you?

He is the starting pitcher who’s made three All-Star teams, including one as a Mariner in 2023 – when he finished fifth in the Cy Young voting.

He is the 33-year-old who’s been Seattle’s opening day starter multiple times. He is the Dominican whose dominance earned him a five-year, $108 million extension with the M’s.

Where he was for the first two months of this season could be the plot of a mystery novel. But Luis Castillo appears to be back – and his resurgence is putting the Mariners in an increasingly uncertain position.

Most fans of this team know how putrid Castillo’s numbers were through his first 10 appearances this season. After allowing two earned runs in 2⅓ innings in a loss to the White Sox May 19, his ERA ballooned to 6.41. Keep in mind this is a pitcher with a career ERA of 3.62, and one who posted a 3.54 last year.

And though being 33 almost certainly has Castillo on the back nine of his MLB career, plenty of pitchers have excelled well into their late 30s. Something was just off. So management went off the beaten path.

All of a sudden, the team’s highest-paid hurler was one half of a “piggyback” with fellow starter Bryce Miller, who was fresh off an injury. They’d split innings, and the substitution seemed completely independent of that day’s starter’s performance. It was maligned by much of the public, but the results have been mixed – with some games yielding sublime performances from each pitcher, and others resulting in losses after Castillo blew the lead.

Some in the media opined that Luis should be moved to the bullpen. There are two reasons that the M’s didn’t consider this, though. The first is that they wanted to keep Castillo as a starter should he rediscover his vintage form. The second is that, if they wanted to trade him, he would lose value as a reliever making close to $25 million per year.

But this dilemma has gotten trickier in the best possible way for the M’s. Over his last six starts, the once rocky Castillo has morphed back into “The Rock.”

Friday, the Mariners earned a 3-1 win over the Guardians after Castillo allowed just one run on four hits over six innings. This was not a piggyback game. The next three pitchers were true relievers, who did their job to ensure Luis the win. And now, over his last 30⅓ innings – spread out over six appearances – Castillo has produced a 2.67 ERA.

If this were some journeyman with a career ERA of 4.68 who just got hot for five weeks, it would be one thing. That would be seen as the outlier. In Castillo’s case, though, it’s just as likely that the first couple months of this season were the outlier, and now he’s back to his commanding ways.

One could point out that in an 8-3 loss to Washington two weeks ago, Castillo gave up three runs after an error in the first inning, meaning while none of those runs were earned, better pitching would have prevented them. Nonetheless, he has been throwing better than a couple of the other M’s starters lately. Bryan Woo has gotten shelled in three of his past four outings, and Emerson Hancock has been shellacked in his last two.

Are we sure the Mariners want to put him on the block at the trade deadline? This seemed like a resounding yes a couple weeks ago, when Castillo was clearly the sixth-best starter despite his ace-level contract. Making that decision even easier was that the M’s have two minor-league studs in pitchers Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan. And though Seattle might like the idea of offloading Castillo’s contract and getting some offensive help in return, the ultimate goal is to win now. At this recent pace, Luis seems like he might be equipped to do that.

This is what you call one of those good problems. If Castillo continues to pitch well and the rest of the rotation does, too, he’d be a valuable asset at the trade deadline. If he continues to pitch well and his teammates drop off, he could become a necessity for Seattle’s postseason aspirations.

What seems clear is that he’s not going to the bullpen. His pitching of late, though, has been quite a relief.