This confirms the earlier comments that this is wildly overblown.
It doesnt read like the words he actually said were anything out of line. Just that he did it in the dugout instead of in private and that he put on a show of defiance…but then wasn’t punished for it as badly as they wished.
Edit: I’m not defending what he did.
I’m saying that the hit pieces that came out making it sound like he said something horrendous were wrong.
HemlockMartinis
So it was a lot of little things (and a medium-sized thing) instead of one big thing? That makes more sense. If it had been what a lot of folks had speculated, it would’ve come out by now.
Xalazi
You have to be very disliked by your bosses in baseball to get released no strings attached at the start of spring training when the team is on the hook for $20 million.
nylon_rag
Should be a lesson in how sharply this kind of profile can age. Very aggressive hitters with below average contact skills can fall off a cliff the second their quality of contact or batspeed declines. Add in the fact that Castellanos had no defensive or baserunning value to raise his floor, the contract was a big overpay in hindsight.
Poj_qp
This isn’t as damning as some were making it seem. Castellanos does come across as very stubborn and a difficult person to have on a team, but I don’t think that was really in question. It sounds like all the little things were amplified by one big thing and then it just fell apart at once when he hit the aging curve.
I don’t think he’s really an MLB caliber player at this point, unfortunately, but $20 million is a hell of a way to end it on
Electric_Rex
So is this the article Castellanos was referring to in his instagram post?
Doc_JC
Minor league deal you say?
booyahbooyah9271
Castellanos has always been a twerp.
Dude cried about the dimensions of Comerica Park the minute he left because he wanted to pad his stats.
mastersplinteremover
Dude just wants to have a beer and watch baseball from the dugout.
He’s not different from you and me.
TonyTheTony7
Besides just being generally a bad fit for a big market, the one big takeaway from this article for me was him saying that he had no respect for Rob Thomson or Kevin Long because they never played in the majors.
No wonder everything played out the way it did. He didn’t view the manager and hitting coach as authorities and basically did whatever he wanted at all times because of it
robmcolonna123
This article really screams everybody kind of sucks here
Castellanos is clearly painted as the villain here
But also, it seems like there was no real communication at any point from the Philly side every time they demoted his role
If you give a player one of the largest contracts in your franchise’s history and then decide a couple years in, he’ going to be a back of the lineup guy he probably shouldn’t find that out when he sees the lineup opening day.
If you know you have a player who is incredibly proud with an ego, you should probably tell him ahead of time what your defensive plan is instead of him finding out in game when he’s pulled
Castellanos absolutely did not handle any of this well, but neither did the Phillies in my opinion
trojandude22
What is the Charge!?
swalsh21
So basically he was an ass who thought he was way better than he was, which we knew. This whole saga existing is all on Nick for throwing a temper tantrum because he’s washed up.
Bird_nostrils
So the beer thing was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. What it boils down to is that he’s an egomaniac who thinks he’s above having to prove himself every day, cares more about getting what he thinks he’s owed than success for the team, never really wanted to be in Philly in the first place, and who would rather blame others for his shortcomings than try to find constructive ways to improve.
Once someone like that stops being an all-star, they become straight clubhouse poison. Dude seems to have the baseball equivalent of WR1 primadonna syndrome.
Technical-Garden-793
A lot of people are saying something like “well, if he still put up good numbers, no one would have an issue with his ego,” but it seems like the ego and attitude got worse in response to his playing getting worse, as egos tend to do. He felt emasculated when he performed badly in front of family, and instead of blaming his clearly declining skills, blamed the manager and tried to show him up to feeI better about himself. I’m not denying stars get away with bad behavior, but I think this was actually a case of bad behavior getting worse.
mrpink51089
and there’s a Presidente into the dugout by Castellanos
_cacho6L
Not gonna lie. I will be sad when a Braves vs Phillies game comes down to a clutch at bat and Castellanos isn’t there to flail at a pitch a foot off the plate….
theb3arjevv
This article was very well done and fair, I think.
Casty is a bit of an outcast, which we kinda already knew, and he felt like he sacrificed his happiness to be a star and make money. And he felt like the team forgot about the star part of that.
To the average person, that’s incredibly egotistical, but most athletes think they’re among the best to do it and are limited by external factors. I can at least understand falling into that trap.
All told, I’m proud of the way the Phillies handled it and I wish Casty the best of luck. His October heroics wil ensure he doesn’t have to buy a beer in most of Philly. I don’t think South Philly will go there, though.
see_mohn
I’m sorry was that Miami story known before now? Did I miss this?
22 Comments
This story was probably written six months ago and the editor had his finger on the publish button this whole time.
It started out with a beer, it was only a beer.
[https://archive.ph/dESSV](https://archive.ph/dESSV)
This confirms the earlier comments that this is wildly overblown.
It doesnt read like the words he actually said were anything out of line. Just that he did it in the dugout instead of in private and that he put on a show of defiance…but then wasn’t punished for it as badly as they wished.
Edit: I’m not defending what he did.
I’m saying that the hit pieces that came out making it sound like he said something horrendous were wrong.
So it was a lot of little things (and a medium-sized thing) instead of one big thing? That makes more sense. If it had been what a lot of folks had speculated, it would’ve come out by now.
You have to be very disliked by your bosses in baseball to get released no strings attached at the start of spring training when the team is on the hook for $20 million.
Should be a lesson in how sharply this kind of profile can age. Very aggressive hitters with below average contact skills can fall off a cliff the second their quality of contact or batspeed declines. Add in the fact that Castellanos had no defensive or baserunning value to raise his floor, the contract was a big overpay in hindsight.
This isn’t as damning as some were making it seem. Castellanos does come across as very stubborn and a difficult person to have on a team, but I don’t think that was really in question. It sounds like all the little things were amplified by one big thing and then it just fell apart at once when he hit the aging curve.
I don’t think he’s really an MLB caliber player at this point, unfortunately, but $20 million is a hell of a way to end it on
So is this the article Castellanos was referring to in his instagram post?
Minor league deal you say?
Castellanos has always been a twerp.
Dude cried about the dimensions of Comerica Park the minute he left because he wanted to pad his stats.
Dude just wants to have a beer and watch baseball from the dugout.
He’s not different from you and me.
Besides just being generally a bad fit for a big market, the one big takeaway from this article for me was him saying that he had no respect for Rob Thomson or Kevin Long because they never played in the majors.
No wonder everything played out the way it did. He didn’t view the manager and hitting coach as authorities and basically did whatever he wanted at all times because of it
This article really screams everybody kind of sucks here
Castellanos is clearly painted as the villain here
But also, it seems like there was no real communication at any point from the Philly side every time they demoted his role
If you give a player one of the largest contracts in your franchise’s history and then decide a couple years in, he’ going to be a back of the lineup guy he probably shouldn’t find that out when he sees the lineup opening day.
If you know you have a player who is incredibly proud with an ego, you should probably tell him ahead of time what your defensive plan is instead of him finding out in game when he’s pulled
Castellanos absolutely did not handle any of this well, but neither did the Phillies in my opinion
What is the Charge!?
So basically he was an ass who thought he was way better than he was, which we knew. This whole saga existing is all on Nick for throwing a temper tantrum because he’s washed up.
So the beer thing was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. What it boils down to is that he’s an egomaniac who thinks he’s above having to prove himself every day, cares more about getting what he thinks he’s owed than success for the team, never really wanted to be in Philly in the first place, and who would rather blame others for his shortcomings than try to find constructive ways to improve.
Once someone like that stops being an all-star, they become straight clubhouse poison. Dude seems to have the baseball equivalent of WR1 primadonna syndrome.
A lot of people are saying something like “well, if he still put up good numbers, no one would have an issue with his ego,” but it seems like the ego and attitude got worse in response to his playing getting worse, as egos tend to do. He felt emasculated when he performed badly in front of family, and instead of blaming his clearly declining skills, blamed the manager and tried to show him up to feeI better about himself. I’m not denying stars get away with bad behavior, but I think this was actually a case of bad behavior getting worse.
and there’s a Presidente into the dugout by Castellanos
Not gonna lie. I will be sad when a Braves vs Phillies game comes down to a clutch at bat and Castellanos isn’t there to flail at a pitch a foot off the plate….
This article was very well done and fair, I think.
Casty is a bit of an outcast, which we kinda already knew, and he felt like he sacrificed his happiness to be a star and make money. And he felt like the team forgot about the star part of that.
To the average person, that’s incredibly egotistical, but most athletes think they’re among the best to do it and are limited by external factors. I can at least understand falling into that trap.
All told, I’m proud of the way the Phillies handled it and I wish Casty the best of luck. His October heroics wil ensure he doesn’t have to buy a beer in most of Philly. I don’t think South Philly will go there, though.
I’m sorry was that Miami story known before now? Did I miss this?