Nick Castellanos and the Phillies seemed like a perfect match. The investment did not pay off
Dave Dombrowski locked eyes with his newest big-name acquisition and nodded as he sat in front of a microphone at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Florida. Just two days prior, the Phillies president of baseball operations held a similar press conference to introduce the newly signed Kyle Schwarber, and on March 23, 2022, Dombrowski was ready to talk about the addition of another slugger to cap off his high-spending offseason.
“We’re just absolutely thrilled to have Nick Castellanos on board with us,” Dombrowski said at the time. “I’ve known Nick, of course, for a long time. He’s one of the premier hitters in Major League Baseball. The other thing, though, that I think he brings with him is … that he’s in a position where he brings more than just the bat to the lineup with his determination, winning atmosphere, chemistry that he brings to the clubhouse — a championship-type individual.”
Entering 2022, the Phillies were still fighting the demons of a failed rebuild, searching for their first postseason appearance since 2011. Dombrowski’s approach was to attempt to improve the lineup and infuse it with power. He also wanted to bring in winning players to build a positive clubhouse dynamic. The first domino was the left-handed hitting Schwarber, a 2016 World Series hero in Chicago who signed a four-year deal. But as Castellanos remained on the free-agent market, the Phillies pounced on the righty batter. They signed him to a five-year, $100 million contract that took them into the luxury tax for the first time in franchise history.
The veteran executive Dombrowski had an extensive history with Castellanos. He was general manager of the Tigers when they drafted Castellanos in the first round in 2010 and led Detroit for the first three years of the hitter’s big-league career. So as Castellanos was available coming off a stellar season with the Cincinnati Reds in 2021, Dombrowski felt that he had the tools to produce on the field and bring an element off the field with his intangibles.
“I know that Nick has that,” Dombrowski said at that press conference, “so absolutely thrilled that he’s on board and looking forward to him hitting in the middle of our lineup or wherever our manager so chooses to have him hit.”
“Middle’s good,” Castellanos joked, looking toward then-manager Joe Girardi with a smile.
It seemed like the perfect match. The Phillies, in their estimation and in the eyes of plenty of others, had an impact bat for years to come and a hard-nosed personality that would help take their team to the very top. The results were not so simple.
On Thursday morning, the Phillies released Castellanos after a tumultuous 2025 season and months of failing to find a trade partner. With one year and $20 million remaining on his deal, the club will have to eat the money and move forward. The pairing did not go to plan, as Dombrowski and the Phillies misjudged both how Castellanos would perform on the field and fit into the organization.
Castellanos had a .732 OPS with 82 home runs, a 100 OPS+ and 1.3 WAR in four years as Philadelphia’s right fielder. He became disgruntled with a reduced role in a career-worst last season and clashed with manager Rob Thomson. He reached some of the highest highs for short stretches and was given leeway to hit his way out of prolonged slumps until the second half of 2025. By the end, it became untenable.
That’s not to say Castellanos never contributed. The Phillies signed him in 2022 because they wanted to become a winner, and they did just that as they snapped their playoff drought and made a surprise run to the 2022 World Series. He chipped in along the way with a three-hit day in Atlanta, a huge knock in Houston and a handful of sliding catches in right. But all in all, he was not the player that was advertised in his first year with the Phillies.
Castellanos started that 2022 season as Philadelphia’s cleanup hitter, and he remained in the middle of the order for nearly the entire season. He hit third, fourth or fifth in 123 of his 136 games, even as he posted just a .694 OPS. The Phillies continued to bat him in the No. 5 spot throughout October. He batted .185 that postseason, and Philadelphia fell to the Astros in the World Series, in part because their lineup got cold in the last few games.
The next season was better for Castellanos as he made the All-Star team and had a .788 OPS, his best mark in a Phillies uniform. He exploded in the National League Divison Series against the Braves, then went ice cold in an NL Championship Series loss against the Diamondbacks to end a postseason run that embodied his streakiness.
The outfielder played all 162 games in 2024 and had a monster NLDS at the plate against the Mets, but the Phillies still fell short in another postseason. In 2025, Castellanos had a .694 OPS and lost playing time down the stretch after the Phillies traded for Harrison Bader. He ended up playing all four playoff games the Phillies participated in after Bader got hurt and went 2-for-15 with two clutch doubles.
While he had his moments, Castellanos just didn’t hit like a big-time middle of the order bat in Philadelphia. He never reached 30 home runs or even a .790 OPS in a season. It’s left the Phillies with a deficiency in right-handed pop. It’s why Alec Bohm has felt miscast as a cleanup hitter and why many felt so disappointed when the Phillies were outbid for Bo Bichette this offseason. The team banked on the free-swinging Castellanos to be that guy in his early and mid-30s. Their investment did not pay off.
As a personality, Castellanos was somewhat polarizing in Philadelphia. He worked hard on his routine and was blunt in an era where many athletes give only canned answers. He could be funny and charming, and his play style was exciting to watch when things went well. He was an interesting character on a team that had a lot of success.
But at least by the end, his personality did not mesh within the confines of the organization. He was not happy with his lesser role, despite the numbers not warranting more playing time than other options on the roster. He did not hide his issues with Thomson or with being removed in the late innings for defense in games he played.
For most of Castellanos’ Phillies tenure, the club did not replace him in the field, even though he’s been rated as one of the worst defenders in baseball. The Phillies put themselves in worse positions to win on numerous occasions by choosing to keep him in right field. During a game in Miami last June, Thomson opted to take out Castellanos and put in Johan Rojas for defense. Castellanos admitted in a handwritten letter that he posted on social media on Thursday that he took exception to that decision and responded by going to the clubhouse and bringing a beer back into the dugout while the game was still going on. He was benched for the next game.
Thomson stopped removing Castellanos for defense for over two months after that incident. He did not do it again until late August, after Castellanos had started to see less time in the field and it became clear that the two sides had stopped seeing eye to eye. In September, Castellanos called out Thomson for “questionable” communication. The veteran declined to answer whether he’d want to be back in Philadelphia in 2026 in a reduced role after the club lost to the Dodgers in the NLDS.
The “change of scenery” Dombrowski had wanted for a player he’s known for a long time finally happened just days before the Phillies will hold their first full-squad workout of the spring on Monday. Castellanos is a free agent once again, a year sooner than the Phillies ever would have expected when they brought him in to boost their lineup and culture.
“Well,” Dombrowski said Thursday, “I mean, I’ve known him for a long time. He’s been a very good player. He’s had a nice career. He’s done a lot of good things and he probably will continue to do so. Things happen, things change over a 15-year period. I still had a good relationship with Nick and his family members. I’ve known them all. You always wish that things end up on a good point … but it doesn’t always happen. That’s just the way life is, not only here but in life in general.”
— Phillies Nation’s Destiny Lugardo contributed to this report.