Unable to trade him, Phillies release Nick Castellanos with $20 million left on his contract

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Phillies released Nick Castellanos, the team announced on Thursday.

The drawn-out saga reached its conclusion three days before position players were set to report to the Phillies facilities for spring training. This winter, the Phillies had repeatedly indicated their interest in finding a change of scenery for the outfielder, who will be 34 next month.

In December, they signed free-agent outfielder Adolis García to a one-year, $10 million contract to take Castellanos’ position in right field. The Phillies sought to find a trade partner to offset at least some of the $20 million that Castellanos is owed for the 2026 season in the final year of his contract, but ultimately released him.

» READ MORE: A beer in the dugout, a benching, and a rift with his manager: Inside the final Phillies season for Nick Castellanos

“We’ve spent a long time trying to make a trade,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Thursday. “And when I say that, trying to move his contract for a minimum return from a dollar perspective and player perspective, but just hasn’t worked out. …

“We have felt that we need to get a change of scenery for Nick and wish him nothing but the best.”

Dombrowski was general manager of the Detroit Tigers in 2010 when they drafted Castellanos out of high school. He said there were clubs that showed interest in trading for Castellanos starting in November, but nothing materialized.

Castellanos had a .260 batting average and .732 OPS over his four years with the Phillies. His minus-12 outs above average in right field in 2025 positioned him as one of the major leagues’ worst outfielders by StatCast metrics.

That, combined with a drop-off in offensive production, led to him losing his everyday job in the second half of the season.

“A lot of times when a good player has their role change with the club, it can cause some friction,” Dombrowski said. “And his role changed last year from where it was. I mean, he played every single day for a lot of years in a row, and so sometimes that can contribute to it.”

In September, Castellanos criticized manager Rob Thomson for “questionable” communication about his diminished role.

“[Thomson has] done a very good job of communicating with me,” Dombrowski said. “And I think overall, I can’t tell you that every situation is always handled perfectly by any of us, but I think he’s a very good communicator.”

Castellanos posted a letter Thursday on Instagram, thanking principal owner John Middleton, Dombrowski, the Phillies staff, outfield coach Paco Figueroa, his teammates, and the city of Philadelphia.

He also addressed what he called the “Miami Incident,” in which Castellanos was benched for one game during a road series in his hometown in June, ending what had been a 236-game iron man streak.

The right fielder had been taken out for a defensive substitution in the eighth inning of a close game the night before and made what Thomson described at the time as an “inappropriate comment” out of frustration, leading to his benching.

In his letter, Castellanos said he had taken a can of Presidente beer into the dugout after being lifted from the game.

» READ MORE: Selfish, insubordinate Nick Castellanos is released by Phillies then issues a wild manifesto on Instagram

“I then sat next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and to [sic] tight of restrictions in others are not condusive [sic] to us winning,” Castellanos wrote.

He added that the beer was taken out of his hands before he could take a sip and that he had a conversation with Dombrowski and Thomson afterward and apologized.

Dombrowski said Thursday that the events in Miami were not directly correlated to the Phillies’ decision to release Castellanos.

“That contributed, by all means, to why he was benched for the game,” Dombrowski said. “That wasn’t the final or determining factor [for being released] because if that was, we would have done that at that particular time.”