Phillies

Friday News Dump: Report Says Phillies Are NOT Interested in Trading Nick Castellanos

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Nov 10th, 2023 · 5:16 PM EST

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Little Friday news dump for you from Buster Olney:

Phillies source: they aren’t interested in moving Nick Castellanos. They consider him an important part of the team and value his production, and have no intention of trading him.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 10, 2023

Translation: Damn. No team bit.

I’m not saying the Buster Olney report is bullshit, but when’s the last time Buster Olney broke something substantial? Sure he’s got sources, but this isn’t 2014 anymore. We’re a Jeff Passan household here. If Passan tweeted this I’d give it more than a glance.

If I had to guess this is probably the Phillies performing damage control because no team took a nibble after Marc Friesand’s report said they were interested in dealing him earlier this week. I mean think about it, this is probably the highest Castellanos’ trade value will be during his deal. It’d be stupid to not float something out there. Unfortunately, the glaring holes in his game were available for the entire world to see. It’d be one thing if he was hitting balls hard all over the field right at defenders and that reflected in his numbers. But more people watched him end the NLCS 0-23 than watched the World Series. When he’s on fire he’s scorching, but when he’s swinging at everything it’s ugly. If the right deal comes along though they’d be crazy not to trade him.

He’s only 31 and a tremendous locker room guy. Maybe he can build on that for next season and make me and the Phils eat crow. But if they trade him for some pitching depth that’s just business. Rojas and Ranger Suarez will have to carry the slutty torch.