Phillies Manager Proud Nick Castellanos 'Owned Up to What He Did' After Release

Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson says he's "proud" of now-released outfielder Nick Castellanos for admitting he brought beer into the dugout when frustrated with being taken out of a game last season.

"I'm proud of him because he owned up to what he did," Thomson told reporters Friday. "And, hey, we all make mistakes. Mine are well documented. But Nick helped us out in a lot of ways here."

Castellanos wrote about what he described as the "Miami incident" in a handwritten note shared on Instagram following his Thursday release from the Phillies.

Castellanos was released with one year remaining on his contract with the Phillies and is still owed $20 million.

The incident in Florida took place during a game against the Miami Marlins on June 16, when Castellanos was replaced by Johan Rojas in the eighth inning.

Castellanos then had his consecutive games played streak cut off at 236 when he was benched for the Phillies' following game against the Marlins.

Thomson told reporters Castellanos had been benched because "he made an inappropriate comment after he came out" of the game prior.

Castellanos wrote in his letter that had "brought a Presidente into the dugout" after being pulled from the game.

"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," Castellanos wrote. "Shoutout to my teammates and [special assistant Howie Kendrick] for taking the beer out of my hands before I could take a sip."

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Thursday he didn't think the cause of the club's split with Castellanos was "necessarily one incident."

"I just think sometimes you're in a situation where you're around day in and day out, things just don't work at a particular time," Dombrowski said (h/t MLB.com's Todd Zolecki).

Dombrowski continued, per Zolecki: "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. I mean, he played every single day for a lot of years in a row. So sometimes that can contribute to it."

After reportedly attempting to trade Castellanos for at least two offseasons, Dombrowski had made it clear the Phillies were trying to move the outfielder in the week leading up to his release.

Castellanos signed his five-year deal in Philadelphia shortly after batting a career-best .309 with 34 home runs during his All-Star 2021 season with the Cincinnati Reds. He was unable to return to that level of production during his four seasons with the Phillies.

After finishing out his final season with the Phillies in a platoon with right fielder Max Kepler, Castellanos will hit free agency and could sign with a new club for the league minimum.

Despite coming off of a career-worst slash line of .250/.294/.400 and below-average fielding in 2025, Castellanos batted in 17 homers and 72 RBI in 147 games and could be a fit for clubs in need of offense with an opening at DH.