Rumors Popping Up About the Yankees and Reds Working on a Luis Castillo Trade, But Be Careful (UPDATE)

Were it not for the fact that the Reds have telegraphed a willingness to sell aggressively, I would be sufficiently surprised by rumors that they were about to trade ace Luis Castillo that I’d probably dismiss them. Indeed, there have already been rumors this offseason that the Reds would consider moving Castillo, even after losing Trevor Bauer to free agency, Raisel Iglesias in a trade to the Angels, and Anthony Desclafani in free agency, as well.

Since we know that the Reds really might trade Castillo, 28 (three years of team control), you do listen a little more than usual. But the threshold to get something percolating on social media is so low that you have to be careful. For example, this stuff just started blowing up on Twitter:

Dominican reporter @DelvisDuran says it's "practically a fact that Luis Castillo will become a Yankee"

He doubled down with "it's just a matter of time for the change to take place" pic.twitter.com/pvNvr8lpfc

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) January 17, 2021

Venezuelan reporter @RicardoGibbon of @ConLasBasesFull is now ALSO reporting that Luis Castillo is headed to the Yankees in a trade along with one of the Reds "main offensive players" pic.twitter.com/rsepcelqcr

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) January 18, 2021

Luis Castillo's deal from the Yankees’ side is DONE, expect one big offensive name in the transaction as well. They are willing to go over the CBT (luxury tax) only if they consider it necessary, per @RicardoGibbon.

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) January 18, 2021

HOWEVER, you can take it from Jeff Passan that absolutely definitely no deal is done:

Luis Castillo has not been traded to the Yankees.

Stop believing people who consistently get things wrong.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 18, 2021

That doesn’t mean a trade won’t happen at some point for all the reasons noted at the top – the Reds are just moving out as much as they can, and Castillo has gobs and gobs of trade value – but if you were wondering about these rumors, it’s probably not a done deal by any stretch.

Aaaaand now I’m back to dreaming on some magical way the Reds could eat a bunch of salary and trade Nick Castellanos to the Cubs. I am so dumb.

UPDATE: Getting it from the Reds, too:

#Reds GM Nick Krall on rumors of a Luis Castillo trade: "They are completely false. We intend to have him as a member of our rotation for 2021."

— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) January 18, 2021

Of course, if you wanted to parse, you’d say (1) he denied only that a deal was done, and (2) he said only that they “intend” for him to be in the rotation in 2021.