The relationship between Nick Castellanos and the Phillies has officially hit rock bottom. Faced with the potential of having their veteran right fielder report early to camp in Clearwater, the team told him to not bother reporting. According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies delivered the message to Castellanos and they expect to make a move to either trade or release him in the next couple of days.
Gelb reported that a photo of Castellanos in a hallway leading to the clubhouse in Clearwater has also been removed and that there is no locker with his name on it in the clubhouse.
The relationship between Castellanos and the team has been on a slow burn since shortly after he signed his five-year, $100-million contract with the team. The Phillies had quietly been critical of Castellanos approach at the plate and wanted him to change some of his mechanics at the plate and adapt to more of a “situational hitting” type of philosophy. Castellanos was reportedly reluctant to make the changes. When his offensive numbers began to slide, the tension became greater.
Things came to a boiling point when manager Rob Thomson pulled Castellanos in favor of Max Kepler last season for defensive reasons. Castellanos and Thomson reportedly had an argument away from the cameras and media which resulted in Castellanos saying something that upset the manager enough that he benched the right fielder for a game. Exactly what the exchange was about or what was said has not been disclosed.
At his end of the season press conference, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was asked about the situation with Castellanos and the disagreement with Thomson and didn’t clarify where things stood with Castellanos, but said that he preferred to deal with situations like the one the team found itself in with Castellanos behind closed doors.
“That’s the most appropriate fashion for me to handle that,” said Dombrowski. “I’m not going to get into specific players that are on our roster under contract… but we’ll see what happens.”
Since then it has become apparent that the Phillies would not be bringing Castellanos back for the final year of his contract and they have reportedly attempted to deal him during the offseason with no takers. Reports are that they are willing to eat a vast amount of the remaining $20-million he is due for the 2026 season in a trade. It has also been reported that the team would simply release Castellanos and eat all of the contract rather than bring him back with the team.
There have apparently been no takers for a trade, but Dombrowski is apparently making one last push to swing a deal before simply releasing the former all-star. Teams can wait to see if he is released and then sign him for the major league minimum and leave the Phillies stuck paying the rest of the $20-million.
It is possible that reports of exactly what transpired are known around baseball and teams will shy away from signing him even if he is released.
After an entire offseason of uncertainty, it appears that the situation will be resolved either with a trade or with Castellanos being released probably before or during the weekend.
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