White Sox getting to know the same Luis Castillo who drove Mariners fans crazy

When the Mariners traded Luis Castillo to the White Sox at the beginning of August, there was plenty of relief within the fanbase. He had become a liability in the rotation, but was also seemingly unwilling to put his ego aside and move to the bullpen to help the team. Now in Chicago, rather than take advantage of a fresh start, it's pretty much more of the same... and then some.

To be clear, there's still plenty of love for Castillo within the Mariners fanbase, after all he achieved during his time in Seattle. Particularly early on, when he shone under the bright lights of the 2022 playoffs and proved himself worthy of being the staff ace. And even as he declined, no one will forget what he did last season as the most durable and reliable member of a rotation which suffered varying degrees of injuries to the other four main starters.

However, it's gotten ugly extremely quickly in Chicago, to the point they must be wondering what they've gotten themselves into after taking on the remainder of his hefty contract.

There seemed to be some hope early on with his best outing of the season in his second start for the White Sox, versus the Reds. The righty threw 7.0 scoreless innings, only allowed one hit and two walks, while also striking out 10, as he turned back the clock against the team he started his Major League career with.

Unfortunately for the White Sox and their fans, this proved to be just a brief flirtation with what Castillo used to do on a regular basis. Rather than witnessing a rejuvenation of "The Rock," we have instead seen a continued erosion of a pitcher who at one time received Cy Young consideration. He has allowed at least four runs during his other four starts in Chicago, with 31 hits and seven home runs, all in just 22.1 combined innings.

Instead of helping the White Sox rotation, Luis Castillo has just added to the problems

As much as this pains us, we're also not surprised to see how things have turned out for Castillo. He was already projected to have the worst season of his 10 years in the majors while still in Seattle, but now he's actually performing even worse in the Windy City. Instead of gaining an experienced starter to help their rotation, the White Sox have inherited another headache for a problem area.

On the face of it, the White Sox are well positioned to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021, leading their division by three games and aided by the second-best home record in the AL. However, we would question how long they'll last if and when they get to the postseason, with such a porous rotation. They rank 26th on the season in the majors with a team 4.63 ERA, and are coming off a nightmare August where the starters produced a 6.21 ERA.

Of course, our main concern -- in a manner of speaking -- is with Castillo specifically. Nothing makes us happy to see him struggling in Chicago. Given how things are going right now with the Mariners, watching the 33-year-old shove in the playoffs would have been akin to comfort food.

Now though, you have to wonder if the White Sox will even trust Castillo to handle playoff innings, no matter his experience with the Mariners on the big stage in 2022 and last year. We truly want to believe there's still some life left in the old chunk of coal, that he might be capable of turning the clock back again. Just don't count on it.

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