Nick Castellanos has been released by the Philadelphia Phillies following a series of incidents that strained his relationship with the organization. The decision comes after attempts to trade Castellanos over two offseasons failed to yield results.
Castellanos’ frustration became public during a game against the Miami Marlins last June, when he brought a beer into the dugout after being removed from play for defensive reasons. Multiple sources reported that Castellanos confronted manager Rob Thomson and other coaches in the dugout, questioning their qualifications for making such decisions due to their limited big league playing experience.
In an Instagram letter, Castellanos wrote, “I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions and others are not conducive to us winning. Shoutout to my teammates and Howie [Kendrick] for taking the beer out of my hands before I could take a sip.”
He also addressed his postgame meeting with Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski: “The conversation ended with me apologizing for letting my emotions get the best of me,” Castellanos wrote.
After this incident, Castellanos was benched for the following game and eventually moved into a platoon role in right field alongside Max Kepler. When asked about his reduced playing time later in Arizona, he said, “I don’t really talk to Rob all that often. So that’s just, I play whenever he tells me to play and then I sit whenever he tells me to sit. … Communication over the years has been questionable, at least in my experience. But also I grew up communicating with somebody like my father, which is very blunt, direct and consistent.”
Dombrowski stated there were no efforts made after the season to repair relations between Castellanos and team leadership: “A lot of times when a good player has their role change with the club, it can cause some friction,” Dombrowski said. “And his role changed last year from where it was. I mean, he played every single day for a lot of years in a row. So sometimes that can contribute to it. Sometimes, then people have debates between themselves where they’re not all on the same page. But when you put all that together, sometimes you just need to make sure that you have a change of scenery.”
The Phillies signed Adolis García on a one-year deal worth $10 million as Castellanos’ replacement.
Regarding why they parted ways now rather than keep trying for another trade or reconciliation ahead of spring training workouts starting Monday, Dombrowski explained: “It just hasn’t worked out… At some point you just have to say well this isn’t going to work. We felt that we need to get a change of scenery for Nick and wish him nothing but the best. He did a lot of good things for our organization. He was here for four years. We won every year he was here. He got a lot of big hits for us.”
During his tenure with Philadelphia—a Major League Baseball franchise serving fans locally and nationally https://www.mlb.com/phillies—Castellanos batted .250 last season with 17 home runs and 72 RBIs; across four seasons he posted an average .260 batting mark along with notable postseason performances including selection as an NL All-Star in 2023.
Defensively last year his -12 Outs Above Average tied him among outfielders at the bottom end league-wide; overall defensively over four years he ranked near last among qualified defenders.
Castellanos expressed gratitude toward Phillies owner John Middleton as well as management staff members: “I love this game. I love being a teammate and I am addicted to winning. I will learn from this.”
