Reds Must Hold Onto Luis Castillo at All Costs Through MLB Trade Deadline

There are plenty of teams in the market for a starter at this year's trade deadline, and one of the names that's been floated as a possible candidate for a change of scenery is Cincinnati ace Luis Castillo.

But no matter who gives them a call and no matter what they're being offered, the Reds need to hold onto Castillo, a potential franchise cornerstone.

The 26-year-old hurler has made major strides this year. He's posted a fantastic 2.36 ERA through 20 starts, and he has 138 strikeouts to boot. In a season where home runs are leaving ballparks at historic rates, he's allowed just 11 in 118 innings of work.

He's finally becoming the ace that the Reds have long expected him to be, and they have him under contract for another four years after the end of the season. No amount of prospects could bring that type of upside.

It's not every day that a team has a bonafide ace under control quite like the Reds do. For a team that's struggled to find consistency in the rotation for the past few years, shipping out a star arm like Castillo would be both foolish and wasteful.

The Reds have plenty of talent in the pipeline that will almost certainly make the MLB before Castillo's contract expires. He's their ace for the foreseeable future, and they absolutely need to keep it that way if they wish to contend in the next few years.