The New York Mets didn’t play a game on Thursday, but added a new face to the roster. Jose Castillo, whom they just faced while playing the Arizona Diamondbacks, comes to New York with an 11.37 ERA on the year. The Mets were responsible for a good portion of it. They scored 3 earned runs against him on May 7 in their 7-1 victory over Arizona.
Castillo didn’t exactly look like the kind of low-level reliever to make a trade for. He walked 3 batters in his 1.1 innings. A journeyman in every which way, it already feels like he’ll have the shortest of leashes upon arriving to the Mets.
Newly acquired Mets player Jose Castillo doesn’t need to unpack his bags
Beyond throwing left-handed, there isn’t much intrigue with Castillo. He’s out of minor league options thus required to be on the 26-man roster or face another DFA. The Diamondbacks had already done so with him. As is commonplace, the Mets sent cash to Arizona to prevent another team from picking up on waivers.
The addition required a separate roster move (and will still require one additional with the 26-man roster). The Mets chose to DFA offseason waiver pickup Kevin Herget. They’ll need to make room on the MLB roster as well with the best guess being an upcoming injury rather than a demotion. Fellow southpaw Genesis Cabrera has been sharp enough to stick around. Dedniel Nunez, despite some hiccups, might be the only player you could make a strong case could return to the minors. But for Castillo?
The timing of the trade right before they played the New York Yankees had me curious if the same was true as last year. The Yankees struggled against left-handed starters in 2024 thus being delivered nothing but southpaws against them in their 4 losses in 4 tries versus the Mets. That’s far from the case in 2025 as they lead the league with a .277 batting average against them.
A recreation of Jake Diekman versus Aaron Judge over the weekend? I wouldn’t count on it.
Just 8 games of MLB action after 2018 when he logged his other 37, Castillo will need to be practically mistake-free to remain with the club. Whatever the additional roster move is to clear space could be telling. Cabrera did just throw 2 innings on Wednesday. Let’s hope it wasn’t a third of an inning too many.
