CLEARWATER, Fla. — Turns out, the Philadelphia Phillies were ale-ing last year.
Deciding their relationship ruptured when Nick Castellanos angrily brought a beer into the dugout after he was pulled from a game, the Phillies released the outfielder even though they owe him $20 million for the final season of a $100 million, five-year contract.
In a four-page handwritten letter posted Thursday, Castellanos admitted he broke a team rule by bringing a Presidente beer into the dugout last June “after being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family.” Phillies manager Rob Thomson made the move for defense with a 3-1 eighth-inning lead during a 5-2 win at Miami on June 16.
“I’m proud of him because he owned up to what he did and, hey, we all make mistakes,” Thomson said Friday. “Nick had helped us out in a lot of ways here. He’s had some big hits and big plays and helped us win a lot ballgames. So I do, I wish him all the best.”
During a season that ended with a Division Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Castellanos hit .250 – his lowest in a non-shortened season — with 17 homers and 72 RBI.
Any team can sign Castellanos for the $780,000 major league minimum. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had decided Castellanos wouldn’t report to the team for spring training — the 33-year-old did not have a locker assigned and two photos of him in the corridor of player images already had been removed.
“A lot of times when a good player has their role change with the club, it can cause some friction, and his role changed last year from where it was,” Dombrowski said. “I mean you played every single day for a lot years in a row, and so sometimes that can contribute to it. Sometimes then people have debates between themselves where they’re not all on the same page. But when you put all that together, sometimes you just need to make sure that you have a change of scenery.”
Castellanos’ minus-12 outs above average — how many outs they gain defensively over the average fielder at their position, according to MLB Statcast — tied the New York Mets’ Juan Soto and the Los Angeles Angels’ Jo Adell for 108th and last among 110 qualified outfielders.
Castellanos was removed for Johan Rojas, who took over in center as Brandon Marsh moved from center to left and Max Kepler from left to right.
“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 and not [conducive] to us winning,” Castellanos wrote. “Shoutout to my teammates and Howie [Phillies special assistant Howie Kendrick] for taking the beer out of my hands before I could take a sip.”
Castellanos said he “aired out our differences” after the game during a meeting with Thomson and Dombrowski.
“The conversation ended with me apologizing for letting my emotions get the best of me,” Castellanos wrote.
Castellanos was benched the next day for what Thomson said then was “an inappropriate comment.” Castellanos wrote the Phillies told him not to divulge details to reporters.
“I was surprised that a lot of people didn’t see what was taking place at the time,” Dombrowski said.
Thomson doesn’t regret the messy details didn’t become public at the time.
“I thought it was appropriate what we did,” he said.
Castellanos appeared in 75 of the team’s final 90 regular season games and hit .133 with three RBI in the four-game Division Series loss to the Dodgers. His production decline led to the decision as much as the beer beef.
“That wasn’t the final or determining factor, because if that was, we would have done that at that particular time,” Dombrowski said.
Philadelphia secured a replacement in December, agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract with Adolis García.
Reporting for the new season and hoping to win Philadelphia’s first title since 2008, Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber wished Castellanos the best.
“We’ve had a lot of really good memories here over the last four years and he’s had some really big moments with us,” Schwarber said. “Hopefully wherever he goes next, he’s able to keep going out there and keep doing his thing and keep having those big moments.”
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