{"id":241792,"date":"2025-09-20T16:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/241792\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T16:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:08:08","slug":"nick-castellanos-criticizes-questionable-communication-with-rob-thomson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/241792\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Castellanos Criticizes “Questionable” Communication With Rob Thomson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Castellanos<\/a><\/strong> has gone from being the Phillies\u2019 everyday right fielder into a platoon with Max Kepler<\/a><\/strong>, in a reflection of how both players have delivered underwhelming numbers in 2025.\u00a0 The change has been a little more jarring for Castellanos given his longer history with the team and longer track record as a lineup regular, and it is clear that the veteran isn\u2019t pleased with how things have played out.<\/p>\n

Speaking with the Philadelphia Inquirer\u2019s Scott Lauber<\/a> and other media after yesterday\u2019s 8-2 win over the Diamondbacks, Castellanos stressed that he is \u201chere to do whatever I can to make sure that Philadelphia wins a World Series ring,\u201d and that any talk that he is unhappy \u201cwould be creating a narrative.\u201d\u00a0 However, he also indicated some hard feelings towards manager Rob Thomson, rhetorically asking \u201cwho says that?\u201d when a reporter noted that Thomson has been praised for his directness by several players.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunication over the years has been questionable, at least in my experience\u2026. There\u2019s just been times where things have been said, and then, over the course of years, I\u2019ll have expectations because I\u2019ll latch on to what\u2019s being said and then actions would be different,\u201d Castellanos said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd then I\u2019m kind of left just thinking and whatnot.\u00a0 But again, like it is what it is.\u00a0 Adapt, do what I can.\u00a0 At the end of the day we\u2019re here to win a World Series.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Castellanos\u2019 comments indicate a longer-lasting issue, the relationship between player and manager drew public attention on June 17, when Castellanos was benched for the Phillies\u2019 8-3 loss to the Marlins.\u00a0 The previous night, Thomson said Castellanos made an \u201cinappropriate\u201d comment after being removed from the game for defensive purposes, and the outfielder was sat out a game as punishment.\u00a0 Missing that June 17 contest snapped a personal streak of 236 consecutive games played for Castellanos.<\/p>\n

As to how the two are communicating lately, Castellanos (perhaps tellingly) referenced playing time, saying \u201cI don\u2019t really talk to Rob all that often.\u00a0 I play whenever he tells me to play, and then sit whenever he tells me to sit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disputes between players and managers are as old as baseball itself, so while Castellanos\u2019 candor about the situation is newsworthy, it may not create any short-term issues within the Phillies\u2019 clubhouse.\u00a0 Despite Castellanos\u2019 displeasure, the numbers also suggest that the platoon is working \u2014 since the start of September, Kepler is hitting .263\/.373\/.500 over 51 plate appearances, and Castellanos is batting .323\/.353\/.548 in 34 PA.<\/p>\n

Even with this recent hot streak, Castellanos has still managed only a 94 wRC+, and an overall slash line of .255\/.299\/.411 (with 17 homers) over 566 PA.\u00a0 Between his subpar offense and lackluster defense, Castellanos has been worth -0.4 fWAR this season \u2014 the second time in his four years in Philadelphia that the veteran has posted a sub-replacement performance.<\/p>\n

All in all, Castellanos has generated 1.0 fWAR and an exactly average 100 wRC+ over his four seasons with the Phillies.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t what the team expected when signing the slugger to a five-year, $100MM free agent deal, and the final $20MM of that contract is still owed to Castellanos for the 2026 season.\u00a0 While that isn\u2019t an insignificant sum for a team to just eat, it is fair to wonder if the Phillies might consider simply releasing Castellanos this winter, unless a trade can be worked out that would still very likely require the Phils to cover the bulk of the remaining salary.<\/p>\n

For now, Castellanos is simply focused on the playoffs, and refused to consider his future with the Phillies.\u00a0 \u201cWhy would I do that in front of what we have ahead of us?\u00a0 That would be really selfish and take away from what we\u2019re trying to do as a group\u2026.I\u2019m here to win.\u00a0 [Owner] John Middleton is paying me money so that I can help the Philadelphia Phillies win a World Series,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Castellanos has gone from being the Phillies\u2019 everyday right fielder into a platoon with Max Kepler, in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":241793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3682,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-241792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-nick-castellanos","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115237493576377646","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}