San Francisco Giants: Luis Castillo and the ones that got away

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PITTSBURGH, PA – JUNE 16: Luis Castillo #58 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on June 16, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

In an alternate universe, budding star Luis Castillo is wearing a San Francisco Giants uniform rather than pitching against them on Friday night.

The San Francisco Giants open a three-game series with the Reds at Oracle Park on Friday, and ace Luis Castillo will take the mound for Cincinnati in the opener.

Back in 2015, he was a little-known Single-A reliever when the Giants packaged him along with another pitching prospect and traded him to the Miami Marlins for veteran Casey McGehee.

Whoops.

Overall, the Giants have a fairly clean history when it comes to cringe-worthy trades. Trading a young George Foster to the Cincinnati Reds and flipping Gaylord Perry for Sam McDowell stand out as the two major blemishes on the long, storied history of the franchise.

That being said, there are a few other active players who came up in the Giants system but found success elsewhere after they were cut loose via trade, waivers, Rule 5 draft or outright release.

Ahead we’ve ranked the top five based on how much the Giants would like to have those players back here in 2019.

Let’s start with a few honorable mentions.