Cubs Acquire Willi Castro in Trade From Twins

For years now, Willi Castro has been one of MLB’s best – and most underappreciated – utility players. The switch-hitter has done a little bit of everything for the Minnesota Twins, but the club is six games under .500 and selling off assets before this year’s trade deadline arrives.

He had long seemed like one of the most obvious trade chips for this Twins team.

Enter the Chicago Cubs, who have acquired the 28-year-old in a trade with the Twins. MLB insider Jon Heyman was the first to report that the two sides reached an agreement.

With the Twins facing a 12-game deficit in the AL Central, it’s clear why the club elected to sell off assets rather than attempt a push to contend. Carlos Correa was shipped back to the Astros, Brock Stewart went to the Dodgers, Harrison Bader went to the Phillies, Danny Coulombe went to the Rangers, and now Castro is heading to Chicago.

The Cubs, who are 63-45 and just one game behind the Brewers for the lead in the NL Central, are going for it. They brought in Andrew Kittredge from the Orioles and Michael Soroka from the Nationals on Wednesday and are now shoring up their offense with Castro.

Shortly after the news broke on the Castro trade, the Cubs also acquired left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers from the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates had only just acquired Rogers on Wednesday in the Ke’Bryan Hayes trade.

Let’s take a closer look at the deal and learn more about the pieces changing hands.

Cubs Acquire Willi Castro

Castro will be hitting the open market in the next few months, so he’s likely going to be a pure rental for the Cubs. The hope is that his bat and jack-of-all-trades defense will perfectly complement an offense that has very little holes in it.

In each of the past three years, Castro has had a wRC+ north of 100, which is league-average. This year, he’s hitting .245 with a 109 wRC+, along with 10 home runs and 27 RBI through 86 games played.

Castro is most well known for his ability to play defense all around the diamond, but his bat hasn’t been too shabby either. This year, he has a 131 wRC+ against left-handed pitching and a 100 wRC+ against righties, showing that it doesn’t really matter which pitchers the opposition sends to the mound; he can straight up hit.

Speaking of his defense though, Castro can do it all. This year, he’s logged 13 or more appearances at third base, right field, left field, and second base. For good measure, he’s also made five appearances at shortstop and played a single inning in center field. Because why not?

This year, his best position has easily been left field, where he’s put up 2 Defensive Runs Saved and 1 Out Above Average.

On the Cubs, Castro should bounce around between multiple positions, including some of his most frequent stops in Minnesota such as second and third base, as well as occasional time in left field.

What the Twins Are Getting Back

As first relayed by Jesse Rogers of ESPN, the Twins are acquiring Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong from the Cubs in this deal. Seeing “Armstrong” involved in the deal likely sent both fanbases involved into a tizzy, but Pete Crow-Armstrong is staying put, folks.

Neither of these Double-A arms were in Just Baseball’s top 15 Cubs prospects list from January of this year.

Gallagher, 22, joined the Cubs as a sixth-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft and has already pitched at two different levels in what’s his first season as a professional. He’s a starting pitcher with high-strikeout stuff, and he’s also only allowed around eight H/9 this season while simultaneously sporting low HR/9 and H/9 rates through his first 16 starts.

Then there’s Armstrong, who the Cubs picked in the 13th round of the 2023 MLB Draft. The 24-year-old right-hander is another starting pitcher who doesn’t have wild strikeout stuff but keeps hits, home runs, and walks low. Through 20 starts (and seven relief appearances) this year, he’s got a 3.49 ERA across 116 innings of work.

At the end of the day, Castro is a rental who is not in the top tier of superstar-caliber players. He’s a solid hitter who can play all over the diamond, but the Twins got just about as much value as they could get out of him.