Padres releasing Nick Castellanos should have Tigers politely saying 'no' to possible move

On Wednesday, former Tiger Nick Castellanos found himself team-less for the second time this season. Just a day after he returned to Philly to face the team that ousted him the first place, the Padres DFA'ed him.

Castellanos' 39-game tenure in San Diego was ... unproductive, to say the least. He hit .191 with a .560 OPS, with 34 strikeouts to five walks, and the Padres decided they'd seen enough.

The Phillies still owe him what's left on the five-year, $100 million contract they signed him to in 2022 — around $20 million — which made him all but free to the Padres and all but free to whoever might be willing to give him a shot next.

There may be Tigers fans that are a little nostalgic. Castellanos was a first-round pick for Detroit, a Rookie of the Year candidate, and he put up some solid seasons wearing the Old English D. Right now, the Tigers don't have a ton of outfield depth, and certainly no one as experienced as Castellanos. There would be basically zero financial risk.

But the Tigers front office still shouldn't take a chance on him.

Tigers should avoid a reunion with Nick Castellanos after Padres DFA

Castellanos hasn't put up an above-replacement season since 2024, but what's more, he's cultivated a bad reputation for himself. The situation with the Phillies was complicated and there may be blame to go around — it was probably unwise for Dave Dombrowski to be so public about his dissatisfaction with Castellanos and his desire to trade him — but there's also no way in which the player doesn't come out of it looking like a bad guy.

The Tigers aren't so desperate for an outfielder that they need to bring in a veteran with an attitude problem, who has never lived up to expectations and has been on a clear decline for the past four years.

There will probably be a team willing to do exactly what the Padres did — take a league minimum flyer on a former star in the hopes that they'll be able to fix him. But we're not confident that anyone will be able to do that at this point. If we were him, we'd be heavily considering retirement right now, while gleefully continuing to cash in checks from the Phillies through the rest of the year.

Resist the pull toward sentimentality, Tigers fans. They simply don't need Castellanos.

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