Nick Castellanos Spills On Beer Incident in Phillies Dugout After Release

The Phillies released Castellanos and took a huge financial hit to do so.

After the Philadelphia Phillies released outfielder Nick Castellanos, he detailed an incident in which he brought a beer into the dugout during a game. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Phillies released Nick Castellanos on Thursday, eating a substantial amount of money to do so. Minutes before the organization announced it was cutting ties with him, the outfielder took to social media and admitted to a story that was soon to come out in the media.

Castellanos posted a handwritten note to Instagram detailing an incident where he brought a beer into the dugout during a game against the Marlins in June. First, the note thanked the city of Philadelphia and various people associated with the Phillies for his time with the team. Then he addressed the incident.

The text of his handwritten note is below:

OK, apparently I need to address the Miami incident. As one of my friends on the team has informed me, there is an article waiting to come out without my consent or comments about this situation. So I'm going to just share myself.

As a veteran of the game of baseball there are rules and I broke one in Miami. After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family I brought a Presidente 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.

Shoutout to my teammates and Howie for taking the beer out of my hands before I could take a sip. (I appreciate you guys.) After the game, I went into the office with Dave and Rob. We aired out our differences and the conversation ended with me apologizing for letting my emotions get the best of me.

I would like to note that I was ready to share the details of the incident in its entirety to the media the next day but was instructed not to by management. The punishment I received for my actions was the benching the following game.

I love this game, I love being a teammate and I am addicted to winning. I will learn from this.

Apparently, mid-game is Beer O’Clock for Nick Castellanos.

A note, the “Rob” in that story is Phillies manager Rob Thomson, while “Dave” is president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

According to The Athletic, that was the beginning of the end of Castellanos’s time in Philadelphia.

The two-time All-Star’s play has diminished considerably over the past two seasons and bottomed out in 2025. Last season, he slashed .250/.294/.400 with 17 home runs and 72 RBIs. His .694 OPS was tied for a full-season career low, while his -0.6 fWAR and his 90 wRC+ were both career-worsts. He was already one of baseball’s worst defensive outfielders, so without his bat he carries little value.

As a righty with power, Castellanos will almost certainly be picked up on a cheap contract somehwere, but he’s done in Philly.

How Much the Phillies Will Owe Nick Castellanos After Release

The Phillies signed Castellanos to a five-year, $100 million deal on March 22, 2022. He was coming off a career-year in 2021 with the Reds in which he slashed .309/.362/.576, with career highs in fWAR (3.7), wRC+ (140), home runs (34), runs (95) and OPS (.939). He was expected to be a huge piece in the middle of Philadelphia’s order for years. It didn’t work out.

By releasing the 33-year-old now, the Phillies are taking a significant financial hit. Castellanos still has one season and $20 million left on his contract, and Philadelphia will just have to eat that money.

That’s a big financial burden for any team to absorb, but the Phillies were willing to do it to cut Castellanos loose.

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