Cincinnati Reds general manager Nick Krall ended speculation of a Twitter rumor that the club was on the verge of trading pitcher Luis Castillo to the New York Yankees on Sunday night.
"Regarding the Luis Castillo rumors to the Yankees, they are completely false," Krall said. "We intend to have him as a member of our rotation for 2021."
Responding to a tweet about the false rumor, Castillo's agent, Rafa Nieves, wrote: "Not true at all."
MLB Network Radio's Jim Bowden said on Friday afternoon that the Yankees had chatted with the Reds regarding Castillo, but none of the talks were recent. That was before the Yankees reportedly agreed to terms with free-agent pitcher Corey Kluber on Friday night.
That morphed into a false report Sunday night that a trade was done.
The Reds have gauged the trade market for some of their top players this offseason, including Castillo, Sonny Gray and Eugenio Suárez, but the Reds aren't committed to trading any of them.
More:Cincinnati Reds avoid arbitration, settle contracts with Luis Castillo, Michael Lorenzen
Castillo has the most trade value of any Reds player because he's pitched near an ace level the past two seasons. He turned 28 years old last month and he's under team control through the 2023 season. He agreed to a $4.2 million contract for the upcoming season to avoid arbitration on Friday.
More:Why oddsmakers have the Cincinnati Reds as leaders to win National League Central
During the last two years, Castillo has yielded a 3.35 ERA in 44 starts with 315 strikeouts and 103 walks in 260 2/3 innings.
Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier, who was supposed to be one of the players going to the Reds in the false trade report, tweeted a scene from the movie "Wolf of Wall Street" where the main character says repeatedly, "I'm not leaving."
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