It’s ugly.

The Phillies (finally) released Nick Castellanos on Thursday. After an offseason of rumors, Castellanos’ Phillies tenure has come to an unceremonious end. As you’d expect after last June’s benching, the falling out—between the team, player, manager, coaches and teammates—is now public.

Castellanos put out a hand-written letter.

The Athletic’s Matt Gelb had detailed reporting on what happened in the Miami dugout, and how the relationship fractured over time.

You can take it all in and decide for yourself which side to be on.

But it’s pretty clear to me which individual comes out looking particularly poor in all of this.

The guy responsible for his entire, largely disappointing tenure here.

Dave Dombrowski.

Castellanos proved to be what he’s always been over four years in Philadelphia: Flawed, inconsistent, streaky, emotional, and the kind of player that’s better in short spurts than a long-term, $100M deal.

If Dombrowski didn’t know this or the reality of the player, perhaps we could give him a pass. Except he did, more than anyone else. Dombrowski drafted Castellanos in Detroit. He knew the player intimately, both the good and bad. He knew what he was signing up for. Yet he did it anyway, amounting to one of the biggest Phillies free agency blunders we’ve ever seen.

Then, when things became untenable, Dombrowski telegraphed to the entire baseball world that the team and player were likely better off separating. Shockingly, teams didn’t line up to trade for a disgruntled, overpaid, over-the-hill player that was exceedingly likely to be released sooner than later.

There’s poor front office work, and then there’s malpractice. The Phillies paid $100M for a grant total of 0.7 fWAR. Not per year. Total. And they got a spacey malcontent that was insubordinate to his manager and reportedly alienated at least some of his teammates.

Castellanos looks bad. The Phillies should be embarrassed.

But no one should be more ashamed than Dombrowski, the composer of a number that fell completely and totally flat for four-plus years.

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