Yankees' Aaron Boone calls former trade target Luis Castillo 'one of the game's best'

Before last season’s trade deadline, the Yankees were in dire need of starting pitching and had the opportunity to trade for the best arm on the market in Cincinnati Reds right-hander Luis Castillo. It seemed like a no-brainer.

Instead, the Seattle Mariners swooped in and acquired the stud righty, and parlayed him for their first playoff berth since 2001, ending a 20-year postseason drought.

On Wednesday, the Yanks will face their former trade target – still with the Mariners after Castillo signed a five-year, $108 million contract in the offseason – for the first time this season.

Last year, Castillo faced New York three times, once with Cincinnati and twice with Seattle, and his teams went a combined 3-0. Manager Aaron Boone remembers them all very clearly.

“He’s one of the game’s best,” Boone said. “Great fastball, four- and two-seam, great changeup, spins the ball. Really great competitor. We faced him a few times last year and the one when he was in Cincinnati really stood out to me as probably one of the best pitched games against us all last year. He’s an ace. He’s kind of a bulldog out there so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

In the start that Boone is referring to, Castillo went seven innings and allowed a run on two hits, four walks and a hit-by-pitch while striking out eight batters in the Bronx in a wild 7-6 win for the Reds in 10 innings.

That outing ended up being Castillo’s second-to-last start with Cincinnati before getting traded to Seattle, but it was just the beginning of him tormenting the Yankees’ lineup as Castillo’s first two starts as a Mariner came against the same Yankees, once in New York (again) and once in Seattle.

In fact, over a four-start stretch, Castillo faced the Yanks three times, going a combined 21.2 innings while giving up four runs on 10 hits, nine walks and striking out 23. His best outing against the team he was rumored to be playing for instead of against came in his final start where he went eight shutout innings and allowed just three hits in his Mariners home debut.

“Castillo was obviously one of the big names out there. I knew we were certainly in that mix, but all of that stuff kind of comes together and then goes away,” Boone recalled about last season’s trade deadline. “It seems like momentum some days and then someone else jumps in and so it all happens kind of quick and we were making moves too and getting guys so I was certainly aware of him being out there and know what kind of pitcher he is.”

The Yankees did eventually acquire an arm of their own, trading for Oakland Athletics’ right-hander Frankie Montas.

However, the fruits of the trade haven’t exactly been bountiful as Montas struggled to find his footing in New York last season, pitching to a 6.35 ERA in eight starts while also dealing with right shoulder inflammation that required an IL stint. He has also begun this season on the IL after recovering from right shoulder surgery.

Montas still hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Yankees this season and is currently on the 60-day IL.

Another player on the IL for New York is Aaron Judge. With him sidelined, not only will the Yanks face Castillo without their superstar, but Giancarlo Stanton is also out of Wednesday’s lineup as Boone has given his slumping slugger a day off.

“I think he’s going through one of those stretches where he’s kind of working through, where it’s a little bit of a struggle for him to find that good timing, get his rhythm at the plate,” Boone said. “I think physically he’s good. Even checking with him last night, I think he’s feeling good, I think he’s bouncing back well. So, it’s one of those things you just want to ride out and it really comes down to probably not gonna play all six of this six in a row, I want to get him in the field, possibly tomorrow.

“And just looking at it, while he’s going through this a little bit, Castillo, as good as he is, is really tough on righties too so it’s a chance to get Willie (Calhoun) in there, get another left-handed bat in there at least while G’s kind of going through it. But he’ll get through it and we’ll look up I think soon and [say] here we go, because I think physically he’s in a good spot."