Update: Castellanos has signed with the San Diego Padres. This reunion will indeed not happen.

Original article as follows:

The Philadelphia Phillies’ attempt to unload a chunk of Nick Castellanos‘ $20 million salary for 2026 officially failed this week when the club made a one-sentence announcement that it had released the veteran outfielder. No team was going to help out Dave Dombrowski by trading him a player who had talked his way out of town, while also taking on (at least) a few million dollars.

Now, Castellanos is a free agent and the Phillies are forced to dine on those millions. A club can soon add the 13-year veteran at the much friendlier price point of $780,000, the MLB minimum salary, once he inevitably clears waivers.

But which teams make sense? The outfield-needy Astros? The offense-starved Guardians? The hometown Marlins? What if Castellanos is entertaining a reunion with an old club? Well, the Tigers have enough outfielders, and Castellanos is not Justin Verlander. The Reds are good after bringing back Eugenio Suarez. That would leave . . . the Cubs.

If you’re screaming, “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!”, we hear you. The last-two-months-of-2019 version of Castellanos is long gone.

But let’s try a “hear me out” that will look to do the impossible: show why Castellanos can be a fit for this Cubs team.

Let’s start with the idea that he could be productive in his age-34 season. Last year, he posted full-season career lows in wRC+ and on-base percentage, but over the past four seasons, his wRC+ marks, taken together, come out to about league average: 95, 104, 108 and 90. And if you believe in counting stats, he drove in 72 runs last season after knocking in 86 in ’24 and 108 in ’23.

There’s also this: Castellanos has posted day in and day out in his career, which means he has often played hurt. It’s possible that his health betrayed him last season. He suffered a left knee injury July ’25 making a play in the field at Yankee Stadium and then experienced patellar tendinitis in the knee through the remainder of the season. After the injury, he slashed .200/.250/.316 with four home runs and 48 strikeouts in 168 plate appearances. He was moved into a platoon role in September, something he addressed at the time on Mookie Betts‘ “On Base” podcast. He appeared in 147 games anyway.

 

The Cubs do not need an everyday outfielder. In fact, they’re set at all his primary positions: Ian Happ in left field, Seiya Suzuki for right, Tyler Austin as a first base reserve, and the entire hitting group in a DH rotation.

But if Castellanos is healthy, he could be a better right-handed platoon option than Austin against left-handers. Castellanos tanked to an 87 wRC+ vs. lefties last year, but his previous four years landed at 124, 147, 100 and 142, respectively. For comparison, Justin Turner posted a 112 mark vs. left-handers in 2025. We don’t have a good idea of what Austin, 34, will produce. He has played in Japan the past six seasons, and he was good when he was available, but he missed significant time in 2022, 2023 and 2025. His MLB career wRC+ against lefties is 132, but in a small sample of 255 plate appearances.

Finally, there’s the money. If the Cubs want to save cash in their quest to stay below the first competitive balance tax (CBT) threshold, then paying Castellanos $780,000 is better than guaranteeing Dylan Carlson $2 million or Chas McCormick a similar amount. Yes, McCormick and Carlson are miles better with the glove, but that’s a big difference in money. Austin is on a split contract; a $1.2 million rate if he’s in the majors, a $400,000 rate if he’s in the minors.

The one element that hasn’t yet been discussed here is whether clubs consider Castellanos a “bad teammate.” He was no fan of Phillies manager Rob Thomson, his main complaint being that the skipper did not communicate well with him. Last June, Thomson benched Castellanos for a game in Miami, ending a consecutive-games streak, for making an “inappropriate comment” the day before. According to The Athletic, the comment left a lot of uniformed personnel “disgusted.” On Thursday, Castellanos provided some details. He said he went up to Thomson in the dugout after being taken out for defense and told the manager that he was inconsistent with his discipline. Then, Castellanos tried to drink an El Presidente beer he had brought with him, only to have teammates and coaches take it out of his hand. He expressed remorse in his post-release Instagram statement.

Fans who haven’t blurred that 2019 season from their memory will remember a far different version of Castellanos with the Cubs. He was generally beloved by teammates and fans alike, which certainly wasn’t hurt by his electric production in Chicago (.321/.356/.646, 152 wRC+). Perhaps the disintegration of his reputation was simply the case of the wrong person in the wrong environment?

If so, will his recent comments help him as he searches for a new team? We’ll know the answer if Castellanos signs quickly. Should that team be the Cubs? Well, this is one writer’s case for it.