Philly hitter wished he signed with the Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins have a bright future and have some player options to worry about. Unfortunately we have to think about the off-season early, as the Philadelphia Phillies just swept the team from the playoffs. It's fascinating to find out that one Philly player had some regrets about not signing with The Fish instead. I'm talking about Nick Castellanos.

The Miami Marlins almost signed Nick Castellanos.

Nick Castellanos is a Miami native who badly wanted to play for his hometown team. I wrote about it in the past in fact. Castellanos seemed to be the bat that the Miami Marlins needed in the 2021-2022 off-season. At that point he was a career .278/.329/.486 hitter in 1086 games and 4109 AB's. It looked like he could be the middle of the order bat that The Fish needed at the time.

A #3 hitter who could hit .280 with 30 home runs and 100 RBI would've been perfect for the team. Castellanos claims that he was all set to sign with The Fish, until he was advised to stay patient by his agent, which led to him ending up in Philly. How could The Fish let someone like that who wanted to play here slip away?! Allegedly, this decision by owner Bruce Sherman not to sign Castellanos, led to Derek Jeter leaving the team.

It was actually not a bad idea to avoid signing Nick Castellanos. It might seem counter-productive to say something like that when The Fish badly need more good bats, but there's a very valid reason to say it. Castellanos has not been particularly impressive in Philly, as he batted .268/.308/.437 in 293 games and 1150 AB. He's also been dropped in the batting order to sixth, which is a clear warning sign about how his team views him.

Oh and this doesn't even include the biggest red flag with signing Nick Castellanos. He's a terrible defender. He has a career -12.7 dWAR and already has a -2.7 dWAR in his two seasons in Philly. This means that he's ideally a DH, which doesn't work that well long-term. Why? Well, this runs counter to the modern trend of using the DH spot to keep hitters fresh and in the lineup. It also means taking a defensive hit whenever he's used in the field.

The Miami Marlins need good athletic defenders who don't struggle upon signing with a new team. Nick Castellanos is simply not worth the $20 million that he's getting annually at this time.