The Philadelphia Phillies announced Thursday they released Nick Castellanos, and the outfielder responded by hand-writing a letter thanking the organization, his teammates and the fans.

He also addressed the “Miami incident” in a reference to his June benching the day after he was removed late in the previous contest for defensive purposes.

Castellanos explained he went into the clubhouse and got a beer after he was removed from the game but did not drink it. He also said he had a meeting with management after the incident and apologized but was told not to address it publicly even though he wanted to clear the air.

“As a veteran of the game of baseball, there are rules and I broke one in Miami,” he wrote.

Former Phillies teammate Jean Segura joked about the situation on Instagram:

At the time of Castellanos’ benching, Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters it was for an “inappropriate comment.”

It ended Castellanos’ consecutive games streak at 236.

“I wasn’t happy about it, spoke my mind,” Castellanos said at the time. “He said that I crossed a line. So, my punishment is I’m not playing.”

Notably, the veteran said part of the reason he addressed the incident Thursday was because he was informed there is an article that will come out about it in the future. This seemed to be an effort to get out ahead of any fallout from that article.

Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported details from the “Miami Incident,” with one player calling out the exchange with the manager.

“You can’t disrespect the manager and talk to him the way he did,” a Phillies player said, via Gelb. “You can’t expect it all to be the same after that.”

Per Gelb, Philadelphia players did not consider Castellanos to be a bad teammate, as he did many “thoughtful things,” such as giving advice to younger players. However, some did question if he was a “team player,” via Gelb:

“A team player, Phillies sources said, would have understood that late-inning defensive substitutions were not necessarily an indictment of his abilities. The team had a better chance to win that game with a defensive upgrade. A team player, Phillies sources said, would not play music from his own portable speaker if he personally had a good game after a Phillies loss.”

Todd Zolecki of MLB.com called the end of Castellanos’ tenure with the Phillies “inevitable” when reporting on Thursday’s release and noted the team attempted to get another club to “pay even a fraction of the $20 million” he is due during the 2026 campaign.

“An act of gross insubordination in June in Miami and a general lack of performance in the second half forced him into a platoon role,” Zolecki wrote.

He still appeared in 147 games last season and slashed .250/.294/.400 with 17 home runs and 72 RBI for the Phillies. It was solid production at times, but his -0.8 wins above replacement total was the worst mark of his career, per Baseball Reference.

At this point, it is fair to wonder about Castellanos’ future. He will be 34 years old during the 2026 campaign and largely underperformed last season. He has never been known as an excellent fielder, and the bat was a far cry from when he was a Silver Slugger winner in 2021.

A team will surely take a chance on him, but he is no longer a member of the Phillies.