When the Chicago Cubs acquired catcher Miguel Montero from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the offseason it was expected they would trade fellow catcher Welington Castillo at some point. They finally found a suitor on Tuesday.
The Cubs have dealt Castillo to the Seattle Mariners, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports. The 28-year-old has been on the trading block ever since Montero came to town and in the meantime Joe Maddon was using three catchers (Montero, Castillo and David Ross) as the club explored the market.
It's unknown at this point who the Cubs will receive in exchange for Castillo, who was batting .163/.234/.349 with five runs scored, two home runs and five RBIs in 24 games (47 plate appearances), mostly as a pinch hitter. The Mariners likely made the move because their catcher, Mike Zunino, has been unable to achieve expectations so far this season.
The 24-year-old is batting .179/.241/.358 with 10 runs scored, 5 home runs and 11 RBIs in 35 games (116 plate appearances) after dominating during spring training with a .352/.435/.852 stat line as well as 11 runs scored, 7 home runs and 14 RBIs in 21 games (61 plate appearances).
Chicago also made another fairly notable roster move on Monday. The team designated relief pitcher Phil Coke for assignment, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com. Coke's spot on the roster will be taken by left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada, who will start on Wednesday in place of fellow lefty Travis Wood after he was moved out of the starting rotation and into the bullpen over the weekend, writes Carrie Muskat of MLB.com.
Coke lost his roster spot thanks to his terrible start to the 2015 MLB season. He owns a 6.30 ERA and 1.70 WHIP in 16 games (10 innings) and has given up multiple runs in three appearances, totaling two innings. Perhaps once the team moved Wood to the bullpen and realized he might be more effective in that role (he earned a save against the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend), Coke became expendable.
The Cubs are expected to make official announcements for these moves at some point today and we'll be keeping updates.
UPDATE: Chicago will receive RHP Yoervis Medina in the deal for Castillo and he will go to Triple-A Iowa, according to Passan.
