WASHINGTON D.C. -- As the Seattle Mariners enter a weekend series with the Washington Nationals, they are still utilizing the six-man starting rotation that has left the bullpen thin for the last week. 

Bryce Miller will pitch on Friday, while Luis Castillo will pitch on Saturday and Emerson Hancock will go on Sunday. 

With the M's facing a surplus of starting pitching and a deficit of relief pitching, both in terms of total numbers of relievers, and quality of relievers with Matt Brash's injury, I said on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast that I'd like to see the team utilize Luis Castillo in a leverage bullpen position. 

But before I said that, I asked ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney if there's any chance that the team could field trade calls on Castillo in order to clear up its starting rotation logjam.

"No, no. And here's the thing, and I talked to a general manager about this yesterday, that in what is going to be, generally speaking, a really thin trade market, you know what, there's going to be a lot of? Starting pitching, which is different.

Let's say (Tarik) Skubal does get traded. Let's say the Tigers fall out of the race and he's in there. You've got him. You've got Freddy Peralta, Sandy Alcantara, Joe Ryan, maybe a couple of starters with the Giants, Robbie Ray, a former Cy Young Award winner.

And so Castillo, with the money owed to him, $24 million for 2027, the questions about his age, the questions about his performance, you might be able to find a deal for him. In fact, I'm sure you could, but it would come down to how much money you're willing to eat.

And you're not going to get a lot of value in return for a player in that situation.

And so it might be that the Mariners' best play with him will just be to keep him, because at some point, if you get a couple of injuries, you'd be dying for someone like Luis Castillo."

Castillo, 33, is 2-5 with a 5.16 ERA this season, but he's looked better in the last three weeks since the team went to the piggyback and 6-man rotation solutions. He's a three-time All-Star who helped the Mariners get to the playoffs in both 2022 and 2025. 

To Olney's point, he's under contract for 2027 and has a vesting option for the 2028 campaign.

You can listen to the latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, featuring Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Andy Helwig, here. You can also watch below.

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