The Cincinnati Reds officially traded starting pitcher Luis Castillo to the Seattle Mariners on Friday night. The right-handed starter was perhaps the best player on the trade market, and Seattle’s return was considerable. The Reds acquired shortstops Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo, as well as right-handed pitchers Levi Stoudt and Andrew Moore.
The two shortstops acquired were the Mariners’ top two prospects. In Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list that was updated last week, Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo were both inside the top 50. Marte was ranked No. 47 and Arroyo was right behind him at No. 48. Both pitchers were ranked as top 30 prospects in the Mariners organization, with Levi Stoudt at No. 10 in the update mid-season and Andrew Moore at 26 on the list.
Scouting report Noelvi Marte
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Height: 6′ 1″ | Weight: 187 lbs.
Birth: October 16, 2001
Noelvi Marte, a big bonus out of the Dominican Republic in 2018, has worked his way up to High-A in recent seasons. The 20-year-old has hit well in Everett, posting a .275/.363/.462 line this season with 19 doubles, 15 home runs and 13 stolen bases in 85 games. He has walked 42 times and has 84 strikeouts in 394 plate appearances.
He has an above-average hit tool and raw power on top of that, a rarity coming from a potential future shortstop. There are some concerns that he may have to move to third base as his body matures, as he has already added a lot of size over the years and is still only 20 years old. That won’t be too much of a concern, though, as his arm will easily play third base if he has to slide and his bat has more than enough potential to stand out if he’s able to continue his development.
It’s been on fire for the past five weeks in Everett. Since June 22, he has hit .365/.440/.669 with 15 walks and 20 walks in 134 plate appearances. You can see his career stats here.
Scouting Report Edwin Arroyo
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Height: 6′ 0″ | Weight: 175 lbs.
Birth: August 25, 2003
Edwin Arroyo, last year’s second-round pick for the Mariners, has crushed the ball this season for Low-A Modesto while just 18 years old. He has hit .315/.384/.513 with 18 doubles, 7 triples, 13 home runs, 21 stolen bases, walked 34 times and struck out 89 times in 410 plate appearances. The switch hitter has been better from the left side this season, hitting .329/.396/.520, but he’s also hit well from the right side of the plate, posting a .276/.351/.494 line in ’97 .appearances of plaques.
Unlike Marte, there appears to be no concern about Arroyo outgrowing the position. He is considered a positive defender at shortstop with a positive arm. He shows above-average raw power and an above-average hit tool. Arroyo has also had quite a bit of success on the basepaths where he has used his above-average speed well. You can see his career stats here.
Levi Stoudt Scouting Report
Right-handed pitcher
Height: 6′ 1″ | Weight: 195 lbs.
Born: December 4, 1997
Levi Stoudt, a third-round pick in 2019, didn’t pitch in a professional game until 2021. He had Tommy John surgery after the draft and, with the 2020 season canceled, won’t there were matches for him when he was ready to return. on the mound until the 2021 season began. He has struggled to find some consistency this season and, after a solid start to the year through the first two months, has posted a 6.98 ERA since early June , bringing his season ERA to 5.28 in 87.0 innings. He has kept the walks low, handing out just 22 walks to go along with his 82 strikeouts.
Fastball: The pitch runs in the mid-90s and has touched the upper 90s regularly this season.
Splitter: Arguably his best offering, it’s an above average tone in the low to mid 80s, that nice move.
Slider: An average offering in the mid-80s most of the time, will flash above average from time to time.
Curveball: An extraordinary offering that works in the mid-70s.
There’s good control from Stoudt, but the command isn’t always there and when he’s lost this year, hitters haven’t let him get away with it. There is upside here with the potential for three above-average pitches with good control and the fallback option could be a high-leverage reliever. You can see his career stats here.
Andrew Moore Scouting Report
Right-handed pitcher
Height: 6′ 5″ | Weight: 205 lbs
Birth: August 11, 1999
Not to be confused with Andrew Moore who pitched in the big leagues for Seattle a few seasons ago, this Moore was drafted last season in the 14th round out of Chipola Junior College (the same school Cam Collier attended this season). In 2021 he struggled with his control once he turned pro, walking 18 batters with 16 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, mostly in Low-A Modesto. He’s back there this season, and while he’s still striking out too many batters, he’s dominated in a different way. In 32.1 innings, he posted a 1.95 ERA and allowed 25 hits, walked 17 and struck out 58 of the 133 batters he faced.
Fastball: Runs in the mid-90s and has touched 100 MPH.
Slider: An above-average offering that runs in the mid-to-high 80s.
He’ll need to continue to work on improving his control as he moves up the ladder, but things will play out. You can see his career stats here.
Immediate reaction
I hate this trade, but I think it was a good return. How does this sentence make sense? Well, I’ll do my best to explain.
Baseball is set up so that you no longer have to try to win baseball games to make money. It used to be like that. Teams needed gates big enough to cover all their expenses because media contracts and sponsorship deals just weren’t a big enough business to account for a large portion of revenue, but those days are long gone. Teams now make a lot of money between local and national television contracts and that means ticket sales make up a much smaller percentage of their revenue. This means that winning and losing means less to make money. Cincinnati is currently in its second rebuild in the last decade, and the current financial setup makes it palpable. This is why I hate trading. The Reds traded away one of the best starting pitchers they’ve had in the last three decades because it makes more sense for them to try not to win next season.
With that rant out of the way, in the market as it is in baseball today, it appears that the four prospects the Reds got in this deal were a quality return and probably more than many would have expected. Landing two top 50 prospects in baseball would have been a deal I would have considered a slightly better return than I expected given the market over the last few years. That they got it, as well as two other live arms seems like a good opportunity in the current era of the market.