Phillies Rumors: Actually, Nick Castellanos isn’t available

The toothpaste is being put back in the tube. Or perhaps it was never out at all.

ESPN‘s Buster Olney hears from a “Phillies source” that the team isn’t planning to trade outfielder Nick Castellanos, saying “they consider him to be an important part of the team and value his production, and have no intention of trading him.”

Earlier this week, MLB.com‘s Mark Feinsand reported that “the Phillies are open to the idea of trading Castellanos.”

Olney and Feinsand both have long track records of reporting accurate information. So what gives? It’s entirely possible that during the MLB GM meetings earlier this week, the Phillies were indeed willing to consider moving Castellanos, but didn’t receive any notable interest and have decided to proceed with him in right field next season. It’s also possible that the Phillies hoped to gauge if there would be any interest in Castellanos while keeping it on the down low, only for another team to leak that they were seeing what was out there.

Even if the Phillies were willing to consider trading Castellanos, a deal never felt especially likely. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced earlier this week that the Phillies plan to proceed with Bryce Harper at first base, likely ending Rhys Hoskins’ time with the team and allowing Castellanos to remain in right field. Unless the Phillies were still considering reversing course and having Harper return to the outfield if they traded Castellanos, such a plan wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

Castellanos is also owed $60 million over the next three seasons, and the Phillies probably would have had to pay some of that down and taken a minimal return to facilitate a deal. Doing so and then bringing back Hoskins to play first base or signing a free-agent outfielder like Jorge Soler or Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would be, at best, a lateral move.

That’s not to say Castellanos is a perfect player. Castellanos is incredibly streaky, and when he’s not on — like when he went 1-for-24 in the NLCS — it’s ugly. But when he is on — like when he became the first player in MLB history with back-to-back multi-home run postseason games in the NLDS — he can carry an offense. The Phillies knew what type of player they were getting when signing Castellanos to a five-year/$100 million deal, and the most likely scenario remains he’ll play out the entirety of that pact in red pinstripes.

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