Phillies position players are scheduled for their first official workout next Monday. It’d make for an awkward situation if Nick Castellanos is still on the team. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported at the end of last season that the Phils would trade or release the outfielder. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has all but confirmed as much on the record, pointing to the need for a change of scenery.
Keeping Castellanos on the 40-man roster into Spring Training would be a needless distraction. It comes as little surprise that the Phils are motivated to get something done within the next week. “We’re doing everything we can to make a move by (Monday),” Dombrowski told reporters (link via Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer). “I’ll leave it at that right now.”
Dombrowski noted that they’re “(continuing) to talk to clubs” in trying to line up a trade. Whether that’s gamesmanship should soon be apparent. Castellanos isn’t going to net the Phillies any notable prospects. They’re trying to offload a fraction of the $20MM salary he’s owed in the final season of a five-year deal.
A release would leave the Phils on the hook for all but the $780K league minimum, assuming he signs a major league deal with another team. The hope is to find a team willing to eat a couple million dollars of that salary rather than waiting until the Phillies release him. If Castellanos becomes a free agent, he’d obviously have a choice of where to sign. He doesn’t have that freedom if a team lines up a trade that saves the Phillies a little bit of money.
The outfielder’s relationship with Philly manager Rob Thomson seemingly became untenable. Castellanos was benched for a game midway through last season after he made what the manager called “an inappropriate comment” after being removed from a game for defensive purposes. As his playing time decreased down the stretch, Castellanos took a shot at Thomson’s communication skills. Philadelphia signed the veteran skipper to an extension this offseason and added Adolis García on a $10MM free agent deal to replace Castellanos as the everyday right fielder.
Castellanos is entering his age-34 season. He’s coming off a .250/.294/.400 showing with 17 home runs over 589 plate appearances. He has been durable and has twice topped 20 home runs during his time in Philadelphia, but his rate statistics (.260/.306/.426) are exactly league average. That’s not what the Phillies had in mind considering Castellanos is arguably the game’s worst defensive outfielder. He should be a full-time designated hitter but obviously doesn’t have that luxury on a team with Kyle Schwarber.
FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each had Castellanos below replacement level last year. That said, a team that can offer him DH at-bats should view him as a capable complementary bat from the right side. The acquisition cost will be minimal, and a 20-homer season with strong numbers against lefty pitching doesn’t seem out of the question.
The Padres are looking for another bat in the DH/bench mix and made an unsuccessful run at signing Paul Goldschmidt away from the Yankees. The Guardians could use a right-handed complement to lefty swingers Kyle Manzardo, George Valera and C.J. Kayfus between first base, right field and designated hitter. No team had fewer home runs or a lower slugging percentage from their right-handed bats than Cleveland. The Marlins ranked 25th in slugging among righties and don’t have a clear answer at first base, and Castellanos is a Miami native. His old team in Detroit doesn’t have much in the way of right-handed power aside from Spencer Torkelson and could use him in a short-side platoon role at DH alongside Kerry Carpenter.
I feel like their treatment of Castellanos has been strange, maybe even a little unfair. I get he and management have tensions right now, but all offseason they’ve been saying they are gonna move him. Why wait until the last week of the offseason? I’d be pissed if I was him, knowing you’ll be going elsewhere but not really having time to get settled.
They’ve paid him a ton. He tanked 100% of his own value. If they really hate him they’ll ship him to the A’s for nothing and pickup his salary most likely he’ll be released.
Why wait until the last week of the offseason?
Have to wait for every single option to be off the board.
Personally I will hope pray Tauchman has 1 more year in him but gms outside of Chicago hate Tauchman apparently or they would have signed him previous years.
He should really mess with them and report to spring training early and act like nothing is wrong.
And give the cliche interview that he is in the best shape of his life.
Obviously the suitors for him are lining up around the block!
Be pissed if you were him? At whom? He’s an average hitter at best and awful defender with a bad reputation and a massive price tag. Suitors are understandably few and far between. He’s lucky that money is guaranteed, frankly.
@chiefnocahoma while everything you said is true, the Phillies should have been able to trade him by now. And if they couldn’t because why would any team pick up more than league minimum for him, then they should have released him already.
There’s a lot of logistics that go into going to spring training and it sucks when you don’t know where you’re gonna be and have no control over it. This is a bad look for the Phillies FO, it almost feels malicious or incompetent. Which is the theme for their off-season, I guess
Having to pay him is unfair
Guys like this don’t move early in the off-season. They have to wait and see who missed out on players they actually wanted.
Good luck with that.
Always a good leverage move to announce you have to get rid of a player by a certain date
No such thing as leverage only poor negotiators.
C’mon pittsburgh
Where are they gonna play him
In your mothers bedroom
Ya está ocupado, señor. 😜
Same place as Cutch
The Haven at North Hills Senior Residence
How many DHs can we play at once?
“We don’t need a below average bat who can’t field”
Already have Cruz and Reynolds and Davis and Triolo and Gonzales for that!
B-Rey is the real deal, send him to MIL for I hate to say it Mitchell and some pitching, he would excel with the Crew, has always seemed to crush the ball at AmFam field…..
We don’t need a below average bat who can’t field.
They may have to attach prospects along with eat a big portion of his salary to get anyone to take him on
I think you may be on to something here. I can see this being a possibility.
If they are eating the salary. Texas would be a fit to platoon with Joc and
Nick Castellanos popped up to Kyle Tucker in the 2022 World Series. I can never forget that moment.
He fouled out.
If fair territory, it’s called a “fly out” to OF.
For scorers’ sake; just trying to help your scoresheet.
He’s toxic. I wouldn’t want him in my clubhouse
Sounds like he is Angels material then.
The Cardinals could take on a certain amount of salary to acquire a prospect.
They also have catchers and relief pitchers out in the yard too. Make an offer!
Castellanos, 12 mil and some decent prospects for romero and pages. Maybe he hits well and cards flip him at deadline.
Pass. He already hates the Cardinals
Young clubhouse that could maybe use some veteran LEADERSHIP…Castellanos isn’t that.
Seems like the Phillies grossly mishandled this. They telegraphed that they didn’t want him ruining an already weak market for him. At this point it looks like they just release him and eat almost 29 million with zero return. At best someone might take a million or two and offer a lottery ticket type
Single A prospect. Meanwhile he’s just an expensive distraction.
Phillies would have to give up a prospect to get anyone to take that contract
They are going to have to cover like 17-18 million.
Detroit could use a right handed hitting DH. Welcome back
Good luck with that
Mendoza won’t be able to sleep until this happens.
I like Dave’s very honest answer.
Pitchers and catchers are reporting. Kinda late, ain’t it?
Miami once wanted him.
Why would a team at this point in the offseason trade a few million dollars and maybe some low-level prospect if the Phillies plan on releasing him in like 2-3 weeks anyway, unless they’re willing to attach a prospect just to get rid of him? Just wait it out and sign him for a massively discounted price. They’ve essentially backed themselves into a corner with this, because no team is going to trade for a guy that’s going to get released by the end of the month.
Masa Yoshida for this dude straight up
Yeah right
As a Sox fan, Yoshida is a better hitter but if DD was willing, I’d consider it if the tax money worked for 26. The Sox may be more desperate for a righty bat if Romy’s injury is worse than stated. If Castellanos shows nothing or causes trouble, he’s released but you removed Yoshida’s 27 salary.
The only thing Yoshida can do is hit singles off of right handed pitchers. He can’t hit lefties, has no power, and is an awful fielder. Sox are most likely going to have to just release him.
Hell no. At least yoshida keeps his mouth shut
Pittsburgh
I wonder if the Brewers would take a flier on him? Granted, he hasn’t played the hot corner in several years and if there were a trade, the Phillies would have to eat a sizeable portion of that remaining money but they suddenly have a hole at 3rd base and the free agent options aren’t exactly the most appealing.
Dude can’t competently play a corner outfield spot, but sure, lets move him up the defensive spectrum.
He’s going to wind up back in Cincinnati and start hitting again like he did when he was there and got the Phillies to pay him all that money to come there. The Reds are going to get the two biggest bargains of the offseason with him and Eugenio.
Maybe Buster sees a clearance sale here and brings over to the Giants, am sure he could play LF better than Ramos and hit DH as well.
I’d offer to pay $20 for the idiot in hopes he can at least hit.
Woods
Obermueller
Renteria
IF he wanted to dump the FULL SALARY –
HE COULD.
$20M in real people’s money = $40M in Phillie money….
He could even get some relief pitchers or some decent, useful players……
IF ONLY DOMBROWSKI KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING!
Hire
The Superfife!
Phillies are in the same position with Castellanos as the Red Sox are with Yoshida. There is no place for either of them anymore, and both teams will have to eat the vast majority of their contracts if they want to get rid of them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of them flat out released by the end of spring training.
I mean if they’re showing their hand with how they want to move him, I imagine some teams not expecting to compete next year could get a good half season out of him and deal him at the deadline. He’s definitely not a great defensive guy, but I could see someone getting value out of the bat at DH. I’m not sure about the rosters for the Rays, Rockies, Twins, White Sox? If you’re not giving up a ton for him and he’s not taking away playing time from a prospect youre trying to develop, you might be able to turn him into some assets. He’s a bit better in the first half in his career but its not a dramatic difference. Someone could definitely get more value out of him than the Phils could.
Provides nearly zero value as a ballplayer. Sign him up.
Dumbo Dave telegraphed Castellanos was done the week after Philly was eliminated. Shocker they still can’t find a taker. Doubling down a week before spring training while adding a deadline should do the trick.
Lets be honest, even if the phils hadnt publicly stated they were going to dump him, there isnt anyone really interested in trading for him to start with.