Pregame notes: In the wake of the Luis Castillo trade

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- In case you missed it, the White Sox acquired starting pitcher Luis Castillo from the Mariners in exchange for Seranthony Domínguez, prospect catcher/outfielder Boston Smith, and minor league outfielder Nolan Jones.

Domínguez's salary helped balance it out a little, but the Sox are not receiving any cash in the deal, and absorbing Castillo's contract was clearly a key element of this trade happening.

"In terms of flexibility now, future flexibility, I leave those conversations to Jerry," said Chris Getz. "He’s been extremely supportive of this team. When we come to him, we feel like there’s a chance to help this club even more after what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far. He said go for it if you guys feel strongly about it. We’ll see where the next days take us, what’s available, if we feel like it can really help this club and it comes at a reasonable prospect cost. We’ll look at it."

With a surplus of starters, the Mariners were expected to deal from their vaunted rotation, with George Kirby and Emerson Hancock floated in reports as possibly available. It sounds like that would have cost prospects of a tier from which the White Sox weren't comfortable trading

"Or from your major league club, which that's a difficult thing to do right now," Getz said. "I just didn't want to make that move rightly or wrongly. Were there prospect capabilities of acquiring that? Probably. But in addition to disruption of the major league club, it was going to cost multiple top-100 [prospects]."

Smith is 23-years-old, currently holds an absurd .306/.485/.667 line through 23 games at Double-A Birmingham, and was a popular name in trade talks leading up to this deal. But also the Sox clearly saw him as outside their immediate core due to his uncertain defensive home.

"I do think he's got a major league future in front of him," Getz said. "Did not see it in 2026. He's still new to the catching position, he is. He's got the ability to play other positions. I think he's got the potential, he does, but there's some work in front of him. In regards to improving our '26 and '27 roster, we did not see Boston in the mix."

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The Sox still want a catcher to hold them over until the return of Kyle Teel, with Getz outright saying "I anticipate we do something, I just don't know when and whom is going to be coming our way," in regards to the receiver market.

With Tanner McDougal, Hagen Smith and references to other minor league starters coming up as potential bullpen solutions, the Sox sound as interested, if not more interested in adding another starting pitcher than they are in adding a leverage relief arm from a shallow pool of available talent.

Castillo is flying directly to Boston, and is expected to make his White Sox debut in this coming series against the Red Sox.

Perhaps the biggest evidence of the organizational paradigm shift present is how often Getz talked about the team's internal projections marking Castillo as a major value add, based on how their models graded out his present stuff, and his capacity for adding innings to a club that is last in baseball for innings logged by starter (albeit first in opener usage). Getz acknowledged that the Sox will inevitably develop some ideas for arsenal or gameplan tweaks, but thinks a change of scenery and a steady commitment to letting Castillo start after chafing in his piggybacking role with Mariners earlier this year will do most of the heavy lifting for improving upon a 5.06 ERA.

“We talked to Luis Castillo last night, and gosh, he was so excited,” Getz said. “He's just ready to get going. You could hear it in his voice. And I said, ‘Listen, I can't wait to meet you in Boston.’ I know Will and the players and the staff, they feel the same way. And I think you're getting someone that is hungry and has an opportunity to lead with us, and there is a need.”

As a direct result, Erick Fedde is being moved to the bullpen despite posting a 2.76 ERA since June 1, because it's come via less than 4.5 innings per outing over that span. Noah Schultz will remain in the rotation for now despite more pronounced struggles, but obviously was a top prospect who could be trending up after an impressive performance on Saturday.

"They just told me they wanted to switch my role to the pen and keep me stretched out, and I said 'All right, let’s do it,'" said Fedde, who was already playing hacky sack with other Sox relievers during pregame stretch. "I love playing hacky with those guys. Now I stretch with them right after that. It’s a fun thing, right? We’ll miss Ser, he was the trickster of the hacky sack."

Domínguez had fallen outside the team's high-leverage mix, but his reputation as a good clubhouse presence is validated by how his bullpen mates talked about him, even if anyone in a major league bullpen has a sort of built-in 1,000-yard stare about the transactional nature of baseball.

"Not easy to see a guy like that go, right?" said Bryan Hudson. "He was a big piece of our bullpen, good veteran, guy to get to ask questions, that kind of stuff. Want to wish him best of luck, but excited to get Castillo over here and see what he can do for us."

"Both sides are getting really good players," said Sean Newcomb. "Hopefully, Ser's happy with the move. I'm sure it's a little bit of a surprise, given that he had a two-year deal, but it's part of the game, and we all know that."

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Braden Montgomery was scratched from the lineup due to what the team is terming as a "superficial" skin infection on his right ankle, which Will Venable said had begun to bother the rookie outfielder during Saturday's game. Montgomery's ankle was wrapped up pregame, and Venable expressed optimism that sitting him on Sunday before an off day on Monday will allow him to return to the lineup on Tuesday in Boston.

Montgomery is said to be available off the bench in an emergency.

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The Rays are 16-1 against left-handed starters in Tropicana Field this season.

First pitch: White Sox at Rays

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM

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