After an offseason of trade speculation, the Philadelphia Phillies are cutting ties with Nick Castellanos. Castellanos has been released, the team announced Thursday. The Phillies will owe him his $20 million salary this season minus the prorated portion of the $780,000 league minimum if/when he signs with another club.
Castellanos, 34 next month, is coming off a career-worst season in 2025. He hit .240/.294/.400 with 17 home runs and bumped heads with manager Rob Thomson at times. On Thursday, Castellanos admitted to bringing a beer into the dugout after being removed from a game last June.
Add in right field defense that borders on unplayable, and Castellanos was a minus-0.6 WAR player in 2025. All told, he put up only plus-0.8 WAR in four seasons with the Phillies. POBO Dave Dombrowski indicated the Phillies would look to move Castellanos at the outset of the offseason, though his salary and declining production made that difficult.Â
The Phillies waited as long as possible — position players report to camp Monday — to see whether a team would take on even a small part of Castellanos’ salary in a trade, which didn’t happen. That was always going to be a challenge. It was clear the Phillies were ready to move on. Interested teams knew he would be available as a free agent eventually.
Philadelphia signed Adolis GarcÃa to a one-year, $10 million contract earlier in the offseason to replace Castellanos. They are similar hitters with power and plate discipline issues, though GarcÃa is a much better defender. If nothing else, he will be an enormous defensive upgrade in right field. Thomson’s regular lineup will look something like this:
- SS Trea Turner, RHB
- DH Kyle Schwarber, LHB
- 1B Bryce Harper, LHB
- 3B Alec Bohm, RHB
- LF Brandon Marsh (LHB) and Otto Kemp (RHB)
- RF Adolis GarcÃa, RHB
- 2B Bryson Stott, LHB
- C J.T. Realmuto, RHB
- CF Justin Crawford, LHB
Once he clears release waivers, Castellanos will be free to sign with any team for the prorated minimum. The San Diego Padres were said to have interest in Castellanos in the offseason, though they recently signed Miguel Andujar to be their DH. The Toronto Blue Jays could show interest after losing Anthony Santander to shoulder surgery, though George Springer is locked in as the designated hitter.
Non-contenders like the Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals might be Castellanos’ best shot at a job in the short-term. The better move would be waiting until spring training games get underway and seeing whether injuries create any needs league-wide. Right now, it doesn’t appear there would be much demand for a sub-replacement level DH.
The Phillies went 96-66 and won the NL East last season, then were eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. Castellanos started three of the four NLDS games and went 2 for 15 in the series.
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