The New York Yankees were showing some interest in trading for Nick Castellanos according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, but they were talked out of it according to the long-time baseball reporter.
Castellanos reportedly clashed with manager Rob Thompson, who once held a bench coach position for the Yankees under Joe Girardi.
One of these clashes included an incident where Castellanos opened up a beer after being subbed out of a game for defensive purposes, walking around with it in the dugout which violates MLB laws and resulted in a benching.
Last season he had an 88 OPS+, his second season in the four years with the Phillies where he had a below-average OPS+ as they chose to release him earlier today.
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Nick Castellanos Drew Interest From the Yankees Before Backing Out
From an on-field standpoint, there was not much to be excited about from last season as Nick Castellanos continued to be a terrible defensive outfielder while seeing massive offensive regression.
While he’s a career 127 wRC+ hitter against left-handed pitching, he had just a .293 OBP and an 87 wRC+ against southpaws, with poor underlying data in those matchups as well.
There could be some elements of his game that could improve, but Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported that part of the clubhouse tension spurred from a refusal to absorb information from hitting coach Kevin Long.
Castellanos did not respect coaches who didn’t have big-league experience, and in the case of Yankees’ hitting coach James Rowson, he did not reach the big leagues and may not have gotten through to the veteran outfielder either.
The details of his clubhouse outburst in Miami which involved the opening of an alcoholic beverage included shouting at coaches and manager Rob Thompson as well, a sign of his abrassive personality which likely steered the Yankees away.
Nick Castellanos would have likely been a backup first baseman due to his poor defensive abilities in the outfield, but the Yankees instead ended up with Paul Goldschmidt on a one-year $4 million deal.
Another variable that could have interrupted this pursuit would be Matt Gelb’s aforementioned report which also noted that the veteran outfielder would not play a part-time role for the Phillies in 2026.
Manager Aaron Boone and team captain Aaron Judge have often absorbed some controversial personalities such as Marcus Stroman or Josh Donaldson, but Castellanos might not have even bought into the role New York envisioned.
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