With Luis Castillo now on his solution to Seattle following final evening’s commerce to the Mariners, Frankie Montas stands out as maybe the most effective and likeliest arm left to be traded earlier than Tuesday’s 5pm CT deadline. Nearly all of groups that held curiosity in Castillo are concerned, to various extents, within the Montas market, so it’s doable that final evening’s deal begins to speed up the tempo of the pitching market total.
The Yankees, for example, have been recognized to be Castillo suitors however have now made Montas their high goal in keeping with each Bob Nightengale of USA At the moment and Jon Heyman of the New York Put up (Twitter links). The Cardinals, who by no means appeared doubtless to have the ability to land Castillo from a fellow NL Central membership, are persevering with their pursuit of Montas, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Their pursuit, nonetheless, is sophisticated a bit by simultaneous curiosity in Nationals famous person Juan Soto; Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes in his newest column that among the Cardinals prospects the A’s are focusing on in return for Montas are additionally coveted by the Nationals.
A number of different golf equipment have been linked to each Montas and Castillo prior to now week, together with the Twins, Padres and Blue Jays. There are additionally absolutely different golf equipment on the periphery of the market whose presence isn’t publicly recognized. Each Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and Rosenthal have indicated, for example, that the Rangers had engaged with the Reds in talks relating to Castillo. Whether or not the A’s would severely entertain sending Montas to a division rival isn’t clear, however it’s telling that Texas is available in the market for arms that may be managed into 2023.
The Athletics’ asking value on Montas was reportedly fairly excessive even earlier than final evening’s commerce of Castillo probably upped Oakland’s leverage in talks. In profiling the Cardinals’ present rotation wants, Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote (previous to the Castillo deal) that Oakland is believed to be in search of a pair of high prospects and “probably a at the moment rostered participant with substantial crew management remaining.” It’s a steep ask, to make certain, although not an unrealistic one given Montas’ commerce worth.
