NY Mets are as bad a match for Nick Castellanos as he is for them

Nick Castellanos to the New York Mets? We need spring training games to get started already. In the week leading up to actual exhibition action, this has become a talking point beyond just social media with SNY devoting a few minutes to it.

The camp of “no way” versus “what harm can inviting him to camp do?” won’t spend too long exchanging blows. Neither argument is incorrect. Those who want nothing to do with him understand the value he can provide. Anyone eager to take a chance realizes his faults.

More than anything else, Castellanos just doesn’t fit into everything else the Mets have tried to accomplish this offseason.

Run prevention, a good locker room culture, and playing time for the young kids flies out the window

You’ll hear a lot of the arguments against Castellanos come down to what a bad right field defender he is. Throughout his career, bad defense has been a mainstay. While the Mets try to find ways to make Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco better defenders at new positions and are even willing to give Brett Baty time in right field, no team has ever found a way to make Castellanos better than a butcher. It’s kind of astounding he never became a regular first baseman. Once a third baseman turned corner outfielder, he has never been able to look even league-average.

Still capable of putting home runs, he had a statistically fair season for the Philadelphia Phillies. He hit .250/.294/.400 with 27 doubles and 17 home runs. It’s comparable to the .233/.289/.413 with 21 doubles and 17 home runs Mark Vientos gave the Mets.

Herein lies the top reason why the Mets aren’t going to rush out to sign Castellanos. It means nixing Vientos from the roster. He doesn’t have minor league options like he did in 2024 when the Mets signed J.D. Martinez late in spring training. Vientos is going to be on the Mets barring a trade. You don’t trade Vientos just to replace him with Castellanos.

The biggest issue with Castellanos is the reason why he’s a free agent altogether. Whatever the truth is about the locker room dynamic with the Phillies and relationship with manager Rob Thomson, this offseason for the Mets has been about building a better culture whether they openly admit it or not.

Castellanos isn’t going to come to the Mets for a lot of reasons. Maybe the largest of all is how much of a better match he’ll be for other teams with the clearance on the roster. His Phillies divorce ended badly, but he should get a job and probably for more than the league minimum.

Based on everything we know about why the 2025 Mets season was doomed and why they made certain decisions this offseason, there’s no way Castellanos ends up coming to the Mets. Book him a ticket to a city with better weather where he can be someone’s everyday DH and outwear his welcome after a prolonged midseason slump.