Released Nick Castellanos Finally Shares His Side of 'Miami Incident'

Shortly after being released by the Phillies on Thursday afternoon, Nick Castellanos shared on Instagram a handwritten note to the city of Philadelphia that also explained his side of the incident in Miami last summer when he was removed from a game and had a dugout confrontation with manager Rob Thomson.

The ordeal resulted in a one-game benching for Castellanos, who revealed his side.

"OK, apparently I need to address the Miami incident," he wrote. "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 ballgame 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 (Kendrick) 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 (Dombrowski) 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."

Castellanos' frustration that night last summer in Miami was borne out of disrespect he felt from being removed for a defensive replacement. Thomson handled Castellanos very delicately during his four seasons here to avoid situations just like that one, and there had to be some frustration on the skipper's side that even though he picked spots so carefully with Castellanos, that was still the result. The player didn't have much of a leg to stand on, either, as he graded out as the worst defensive outfielder in baseball throughout most of 2025.

Castellanos will now latch on with another team and shouldn't have too much trouble. For all his flaws, he can be a right-handed DH option or corner outfielder for a team in need of one and will likely be earning only the league minimum from his next club.