Sunday BP, 8/19/18

In just a couple of hours, Luis Castillo will take the mound for the Reds and remind us all that the Giants once traded him to the Marlins in exchange for third baseman Casey McGehee. A year and a half later, Castillo went from the Marlins to the Padres and then was traded back to the Marlins when the Marlins sent Colin Rea (who had an undisclosed elbow injury) back to the Padres. The Marlins then traded Castillo to the Reds in January 2017.

Here is what the Giants got out of Casey McGehee:

Thank you, YouTuber Larry W.

McGehee played 49 games for the Giants in 2015, grounding into 15 double plays in 138 plate appearances. That seems low in retrospect. It’s hard to describe how unwatchably bad Casey McGehee was in his limited time as a Giant. Without his poor performance, however, we probably don’t get the gift of Matt Duffy, which, ripple effect-wise, means we don’t get a lot of other things, both good and bad.

Luis Castillo is a 96 mph fireballer who struck out 98 in 89.1 innings last season (his rookie season) at the age of 24. His 120 strikeouts in 126.2 innings and 4.54 FIP would make him 2nd and 3rd best, respectively, in the Giants’ rotation this season for those categories.

Casey McGehee grounded into so many double plays that Dave Cameron wrote for Fox Sports (back when they used their writers for words and not video) a convincing case that the Giants should make McGehee their leadoff hitter.

Sometimes we’re always left to wonder “What if?” and sometimes we get an answer.