The Philadelphia Phillies upgraded their lineup on Friday night by signing All-Star outfielder Nick Castellanos, per Jeff Passan. The deal is worth $100 million over five years.
The deal helps the Phillies lineup become far more balanced as they recently signed left-handed hitting Kyle Schwarber. Castellanos represents a powerful right-handed bat that should mesh well with Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Harper was reportedly a crucial factor in the recruitment of Castellanos, per John Heyman on Twitter. Heyman also added an important reminder in the same tweet, stating that Phillies General Manager Dave Dombrowski had a previous relationship with Castellanos during their time in Detroit together.
Despite posting a monster year in 2021, Castellanos's free agency was rather quiet. Although there were plenty of teams interested in the veteran, he was not discussed as often as fellow superstars. He was selected to his first All-Star team in 2021 and finished the campaign with an astounding .309/.362/.576 line to go along with a .939 OPS. He smashed 34 home runs and drove in 100 runs as well.
This move is an important one for Philadelphia. The Phillies are trying to remain competitive with the Mets and Braves who have both spent plenty of money this offseason. The Phils could still be in the mix for key free agents such as Carlos Correa or Trevor Story. But if they are unable to land either of the shortstops, the addition of Castellanos will at least provide one final elite bat to the lineup. He and Schwarber will likely split time between DH and outfield, with Castellanos receiving the majority of time at DH.