Mariners extend ace they acquired at deadline with five-year, $108 million deal

Two months ago, Luis Castillo had no idea where he would call home past the MLB trade deadline.

On Saturday, he marked Seattle as his home for a long while.

The Mariners extended Castillo with a five-year deal worth $108 million.

“Every baseball player wants to have a dream like this become a reality,” Castillo said in a statement. “I’m happy I was able to accomplish this with the Mariners, and I want to thank everybody in the organization for treating me so well.”

The Mariners acquired Castillo from the Cincinnati Reds days before the deadline, solidifying what was already a stacked rotation with defending AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert, Marco Gonzalez, and George Kirby.

Seattle is set to make the postseason for the first time since 2001, when they won 116 games. A postseason appearance for the Mariners will break the longest postseason drought in North American professional sports.

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Castillo was the best pitcher on the trade market, as Cincinnati is in a huge rebuild. It seemed like he was on the trade block for years, but the Reds finally pulled the trigger as Castillo was slated to reach free agency after the 2023 season.

If Castillo pitches at least 180 innings in 2027, the deal would then be extended through the following year, and the Mariners would owe the pitcher another $25 million in 2028.

Castillo will receive $10 million next year atop his $7 million signing bonus, and will earn $22.75 million in each year from 2024 to 2027.

The right-hander has a full no-trade clause in the first three years of the deal, 

In nine starts as a Mariner, Castillo has pitched to a 2.83 ERA while striking out 10.7 batters per nine innings with a 1.09 WHIP.

It’s been quite the nine months for Seattle – they signed Ray to a five-year, $115 million deal, extended J.P. Crawford to a five-year deal, and inked rookie phenom Julio Rodriguez to a deal that could become the richest in MLB history.