The Phillies dumped Nicholas Castellanos on Thursday, essentially telling him to scram, get the hell out, go home. This was a costly decision that left Philadelphia management choking down all $20 million owed to the poisonous right fielder for 2026.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had spent several months trying and failing to convince some team to adopt Castellanos … Did Dave try the Humane Society?
In the end, the Phillies swallowed the full $20 million and severed the relationship. Castellanos was a brutal player in every way during the 2025 season. He disrespected his manager Rob Thomson and alienated teammates that wanted him removed from their space.
(Did they remember to fumigate the clubhouse?)
Of course, a number of Cardinals fans excitedly rushed into the black hole of “X” to urge Chaim Bloom to make a call, and get Castellanos signed.
“He’s just what this team needs,” said one dude.
Yeah. Whatever you say, champ. The Cardinals need Castellanos, sure. I didn’t realize part of the rebuild was finding a way to infect the team with a rancid personality and performance flaws. Great plan.
All rebuilding teams should hire a notable bad actor who can:
(1) Contaminate their young players and set an example for how to damage team morale by bringing in a horrendous, selfish teammate.
(2) Bring a beer into the dugout during a game to start trouble with the manager after the skipper replaced a disinterested Castellanos during the for loafing on defense. Castellanos went out of his way multiple times last season initiate conflict with that calm, player-friendly manager, Rob Thomson,
(3) Play the worst outfield defense in baseball. Since 2017, Castellanos is buried at the bottom of a very long list of MLB outfielders in several defensive categories: defensive runs saved, outs above average, Fielding Run Value, and range rating. He’s also second worst in errors. No other outfielder is anywhere close to Castellanos for defensive ineptitude over the past nine seasons.
(4) Add a declining, increasingly limp bat to a Cardinal offense that’s already been projected by Baseball Prospectus to score the fewest runs of any team in the majors in 2026. Over the last three seasons, Castellanos has dropped 22 points in batting average, 17 points in on-base percentage and 76 points in slugging.
And if you want Statcast metrics that we could sum up by using a code name, it would be this: BURN OUT.
Look at the three-season trends (2023, 2024, 2025), in chronological order. And in the percentile ratings, higher is better:
Bat speed: 59th percentile, 52nd percentile, 23rd percentile.
Hard-hit rate: 63rd percentile, 38th percentile, 16th percentile.
Average exit velocity: 40th percentile, 34th percentile, 18th percentile.
Batting run value: 68th percentile, 64th percentile, 28th percentile.
Over the past two seasons, Castellanos’ fielding run value has been at the worst possible level a defensive player can have.
Oh, and last year Castellanos ran into more outs on the basepaths more than any Phillie.
About that beer Castellanos carried into the dugout during a game at Miami after his justified benching -- hey, Thomson removed him, so what's wrong with gabbing a brewski to relax in uniform?-- he explained in a note to fans after the Phillies terminated him.
"As a veteran of the game of baseball, there are rules, and I broke one in Miami," Castellanos wrote. "After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a Presidente (beer) into the dugout. I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others are not conducive to us winning."
Yeah, and a dude who can't hustle to get to a baseball in the outfield, has a tantrum, and waves a beer at the manager to taunt him ... well, I'm kind of thinking that goes against the team-first, winning attitude.
Castellanos said his teammates prevented him from taking a sip.
Which is good ... because Thomson may have bashed him about the head with the beer bottle.
Intervention!
Wouldn’t that be a great way for the young Cardinals to learn about leadership?
– “Hey, JJ Wetherholt – here he comes with another beer, and he’s moving in Oli’s direction. Don’t let Castellanos take a swig! Grab that Presidente, dude! That’s what leaders do!
– “Hey, Ivan Herrera, you showed tremendous leadership right there, stopping Castellanos from destroying the clubhouse music system with a bat.”
– “Hey Victor Scott, you’re showing why you’re evolving as a team leader – the way you hustle over into right field to make a great catch while Castellanos is standing there taking another bite out of his Italian-style hoagie. Way to step up for your team.”
But I suppose the Castellanos-loving Cardinal fans out there know best. Castellanos would be a special addition to the roster.
“He’s a RH power bat that plays outfield,” one fan offered in a brief social-media lecture. “Literally checks every box that Chaim Bloom wants.”
That would be true, but there’s a problem.
Chaim Bloom isn’t a moron.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.