Diego

Castillo

The Rockies continue to make completely baffling roster decisions. Their latest masterpiece involves the combination of jettisoning Nolan Jones to Cleveland at the absolute nadir of his trade value before shipping one of their top prospects in Veen to Triple-A instead of letting him play everyday in the majors. It’ll be Jordan Beck opening the year in right field with journeyman Nick Martini in left field. You can’t make this stuff up, seriously.

The 30-year-old hurler made just seven appearances with the Twins during the 2024 season, registering a 2.70 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and a 6/8 K/BB ratio over 10 innings of work. From 2018-2022 though he was one of the most reliable setup men in the game for the Rays and Mariners. Given the current state of their bullpen, this seems like a very worthwhile gamble for the Rockies to make.

Castillo was recalled Saturday and allowed one run over two innings in the loss to the Orioles. He wound up with a 2.70 ERA in 10 innings for the Twins on the season.

Castillo is a fresh arm for the bullpen over the last two days of the season. He has a 2.25 ERA in six appearances with Minnesota this year.

Despite a 4/7 K/BB ratio, Castillo has allowed only two runs in eight innings for the Twins this season. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the 2-1 loss to the Rays last night.

Castillo will get another shot with Minnesota with rosters expanding. Once among the better relief options in the sport, Castillo has struggled to throw quality strikes over his last few years, and can’t be trusted in high-leverage situations.

It seems there weren’t too many other opportunities out there for Castillo after electing free agency back in mid-June. The 30-year-old righty is back in the fold with Minnesota as extra organizational relief depth after making five appearances for the Twins earlier this year.

Castillo has opted to test the free agent waters over the weekend rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A St. Paul. The 30-year-old reliever went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He made only five relief appearances for Minnesota and figures to generate some interest as extra organizational bullpen depth.

It’s been a wild fall for the 30-year-old Castillo, who struggled in 2023 with the Mariners but had posted ERAs of 2.78 and 3.64 in 2021 and 2022 in 58 1/3 innings and 54 1/3 innings respectively. He also had 23 combined saves in those two seasons and still has a 3.20 career ERA in 275 1/3 innings. With his fastball velocity back up around 96 mph, some team is likely to take a chance on Castillo.

Castillo is booted from the roster to make room for Louie Varland with Verland starting Tuesday against the Cardinals. The 30-year-old will likely be back in the coming weeks as a middle-relief option.