I appreciate how forthcoming and honest Dave Dombrowski is as an executive, while also keeping a diplomatic tone. But there comes a time when honesty hurts the team and the objectives Dombrowski clearly has in mind.

That’s been evident with the entire Nick Castellanos situation since the season ended.

The Phillies don’t want him here. I doubt he wants to be here. Position players report to spring training in a week.

Yet Dombrowski was telegraphing his intentions once again yesterday, telling the entire baseball world that he doesn’t want Castellanos here and saying (in so many words) that he’ll do what he has to do to make sure the team doesn’t have an awkward spring training participant next week.

At this point, the Phillies fumbled the Castellanos decision so bad that there’s only two logical moves to choose from now.

Cut or mend fences.

The likelihood of a trade is remote. If any team was willing to give up an asset (or even take the player on for pennies on the dollar of the $20M he’s owed), a trade would have happened. That ship has sailed. Dombrowski should have realized this weeks ago.

If the Phillies are done with the player, then release him. At this point, it almost feels spiteful. Castellanos is a favorite of few around here, and has largely disappointing as a $100M man in a Phillies uniform. I don’t think many will take up his cause. But this feels like it should be said: The guy has been part of a ton of wins around here the last four years. He’s had big moments in October. He’s a part of a team that went to back-to-back NLCS and made the World Series. At this point, holding him hostage is hurting his chance to make another club or get something other than a non-roster invite to camp. It feels unnecessarily petty.

Then there’s option two: Mend fences.

Have a talk. Tell him about the market. Keep him. The Phillies have spend the better part of two months searching for a right-handed corner outfield bat that can hit lefties. What if I told you there was an available player that fit the profile, owned a career .853 OPS against left-handed pitching and wouldn’t cost the team an extra dime on its 2026 payroll?

Make a decision. Stop holding the player hostage. Wake up.

It shouldn’t be this complicated.

The NFL is now a defensive league.

Has John Schneider surpassed Howie Roseman as the best executive in the NFL?

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