One of the more interesting moves the Philadelphia Phillies made this offseason was to jettison outfielder and designated hitter Nick Castellanos.
The former All-Star slugger was due $20 million in the last year of his contract, which Philadelphia still owes.
Castellanos was quickly picked up by the San Diego Padres on a league-minimum deal.
After Castellanos was released, the media went after his reputation, saying he wasn’t a good teammate and that he brought beer into the dugout during a game last season.
Castellanos has owned up to the circumstances of his departure, as he sat down with Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
What Did Former Philadelphia Phillies’ Nick Castellanos Have to Say?
Castellanos claimed that the team tried to cover everything up, despite his wanting to come clean. However, the historically tough Philadelphia media pulled no punches.
“But that just kind of shows, for me, the character of the media that’s over there,” Castellanos said. “Because that [incident] happened seven months [before the article was published]. And the only reason why I didn’t tell the media the next day was because I was instructed by the organization not to. I wanted to, and I remember sitting in Rob [Thomson’s] office saying that I take pride in being authentic. I don’t want to lie, and I don’t want to hide. And it was from their instruction that they wanted it to be.”
While Castellanos always had a fiery personality, he let his emotions get the best of him. However, when it came time for Castellanos to depart Philadelphia, the media went after his character.
“But the media, just with other incidents I had … They all have jobs to do,” Castellanos said. “But the information that I got was that they thrive off of controversy, and they’d rather be controversial than truthful. One of the things that was hard for me was to just pretend like I didn’t absorb that.”
In the end, what the Philadelphia media did was unnecessary to Castellanos. And it doesn’t seem that the wounds have healed quite yet.
What Is Castellanos Doing With His New Team?
An up-and-down Phillies tenure saw Castellanos make an All-Star Game, yet post two seasons below replacement level in bWAR. In four seasons, he had a .260/.306/.426 slash line, having a 100 OPS+.
However, this wasn’t at all what Philadelphia envisioned when they signed him to a five-year, $100 million contract.
With the Padres, he isn’t doing much better.
So far in 2026, he carries a .146/.196/.208 slash line with no home runs or runs driven in. While appearing in just 16 games, this comes with a fairly large sample size of 51 plate appearances.
His defense is still below-average as well, with -1 Outs Above Average, according to Baseball Savant.
While Phillies fans should be happy they got rid of Castellanos when they did, the team is still struggling.
Owning the worst record in the majors at 8-18, the Phillies have a lot of work to do to get out of the NL East basement, already 10.5 games back in the division.
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