When you're giving up big time position assets and are seemingly able to pull 2 win pitchers out of a hat, that projection(and the fact that it's a projection) isn't probably enough. I mean sure, if they wanted to trade Thor and Matz in a package for Castro you're starting to get somewhere, but most Met-based conversations are still trying to figure out why Niese isn't enough for him. You're so pot-committed on Castro, you just can't get away from your hand, can you? Such is the luxury of believing in Castro, the above average shortstop getting paid peanuts until we're both dead. And I've only been talking about this in terms of absolute value, others have touched on it but isn't the point of making that trade getting better immediately too? ROS who's better, Castro or Thor? ZiPS doesn't see a huge difference either way. So then you're left to compare ROS with Wood/Wada/etc v. whoever plays 2B(Baez/Alcantara/TLS), while also keeping in mind that there's not as much buffer for Russell slumping/failing. There's enough moving pieces that depending on how you want to round the Cubs come out ahead, but we're not talking about big gains here, certainly not enough to make such a seismic change to the current and immediate future roster. This is why Castro for pitching prospects is really a bad proposition. Baez for Syndergaard would make a lot more sense as you offload similar bust risk and future control, and you actually upgrade the team in the short run too. I'm not sure if that's my preferred move to make with the chips they have, but it's a lot more agreeable than throwing away Castro's future value for a short term upgrade you have to squint to see. i think this is pretty underrated in the discussion of castro. baez is pretty clearly not somebody who can be counted on at this stage, la stella isn't a SS, alcantara could probably play a lousy SS, but basically if russell gets hurt or craps the bed, you're stuck with hoping that baez doesn't hit like the black hole he was last season. considering that russell is 21 years old and is sporting a 4% walk rate and a 41% strikeout rate, i'd really prefer to not have him be the best realistic option at shortstop.