The Philadelphia Phillies Released Nick Castellanos Because of an Incident Involving Beer

The Philadelphia Phillies released outfielder Nick Castellanos on Feb. 12, 2026, and baseball fans want to know why the MLB player was dismissed from the team.

According to ESPN, the team still owes Nick $20 million of his five-year, $100 million contract, and the team will have to pay him the entirety of the $20 million. So, why did the Phillies release Nick from his contract?

The Philadelphia Phillies reportedly released Nick Castellanos from the team after he was benched during a game and brought beer into the dugout, per MLB News. The team was in Florida playing against the Miami Marlins when the incident occurred.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson claimed that Nick made "an inappropriate comment" after being benched.

President of the team's baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, said that a "change of scenery" was needed.

"I think that we all felt that was probably in the best interest to have a change of scenery," he said. "I know a lot is being said about this incident in Miami. I don’t think it’s necessarily one incident. I just think sometimes you’re in a situation where you’re around day in and day out, things just don’t work at a particular time.”

Nick shared a handwritten letter on his Instagram page on Feb. 12, acknowledging that he brought a beer into the dugout after being embarrassed.

"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," he continued. "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.)," he wrote. "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," he added. "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."

The team reportedly tried to trade Nick last December, according to Dave Dombrowski.

"It just hasn’t worked out,” he said of Nick and the team. "At some point, you just have to say, 'Well, this isn’t going to work.' We felt that we need to get a change of scenery for Nick and wish him nothing but the best. He did a lot of good things for our organization. He was here for four years. We won every year he was here. He got a lot of big hits for us."

Adolis García will replace Nick in the field.