Phillies News and Discussion 2025 (Part 2)

[zambonir]

Rafael Lantigua, we hardly knew ye! (Optioned for Bohm.)

[andyb]

Let's get him a ring now.

[zambonir]

@Matt_Winkelman or @julio or anyone really, I'm just curious... obviously any player is going to be thrilled for the call-up, plus the service time counts too, but I'm curious how much money he actually got paid for those four days (several of which were just spent travelling) making MLB minimum instead of non-40 man AAA pay.

[Austinfan]

Probably 4 to 5 thousand a day, minimum divided by 180 days?

[Matt_Winkelman]

Yep, probably closer to $4,000. He also he might get mlb service time for the rest of the year based on option date and remaining days in the season

[zambonir]

I know the pay is better now (and better still if you are on the 40 or declined an outright and negotiated a new deal) but before this CBA you really could make as much in one 10 or 15-day call-up as you would all year otherwise.

[julio]

Yep, probably closer to $4,000. He also he might get mlb service time for the rest of the year based on option date and remaining days in the season

Lantigua will get service time for the remaining ten days of the season (see below) - and he will not be charged with "using up an option year" (that requires 20 days on optional assignment during the regular season).

Rule 7(f)(1) stipulates:

Any player optioned to a Minor League affiliate or Spring Training
Complex after the third day following Labor Day will receive Major
League service (but not Major League salary) for the period of the
optional assignment, including for any period of designation for players
designated for assignment off of an optional assignment that occurred
after the third day following Labor Day.

This one surprised me; it's inconsistent with MLB's general stinginess to marginal players.

[zambonir]

He still has all his options then, I'm sure he will have some longevity in AAA even if he doesn't stay on the Phillies' 40 this off-season. Castro, despite being a year younger, had already burned his (as we may recall from the Phillies preserving his last one due to this same rule in '23).

[julio]

I'm sure he will have some longevity in AAA even if he doesn't stay on the Phillies' 40 this off-season.

Lantigua has been in organized baseball since 2017 (eight years if we don't count his idle 2020 "season"). If he doesn't stay on the 40-man roster, he becomes a minor-league free agent (a "six year" minor league free agent, since he's played in the required seven seasons). If he's outrighted, he could choose to re-sign with the Phils organization, but he might not.

[zambonir]

Yeah at that age, makes sense. But kind of wild to have made it that long without burning a single option. Certainly adds value to him as a minor league FA (or to get consideration to stay on the 40).

[julio]

Certainly adds value to him as a minor league FA (or to get consideration to stay on the 40).

Yep. Some organization will benefit from the flexibility of his having three options, if he can stick on a 40-man roster (ours or another).

[Philsmania]

Painter's season is over--not on the October taxi squad. Probably the right idea.

[zambonir]

Never really made sense to me to keep him throwing for such a slim chance of appearing. Had he actually gotten to the bigs maybe he would have hung around in Philly for the experience without being on the playoff roster but hard to see where he would have gotten the call over more ready, if less talented emergency options (even including Romano though it seems like he may not truly be healthy anyway).

[Dirk41]

OnPattison on Instagram: "Nick Castellanos: “I don’t really talk to Rob all that...

Castellanos is writing his ticket out of town this offseason.

He'll hit 30 home runs for the A's or Royals next year

[zambonir]

Yeah I posted in the game thread. He can't help himself. He still tried to temper it with cliches but at this point in the season he should learn to say even less.

And I find that assertion about communication to be dubious. I guess he didn't need more direct communication when it was just Thomson saying "162?" last year.

The good news is this uses up whatever capital he still had with Dombrowski and his teammates, as far as there being any hesitation to ship him out beside the $ piece of it.

And he'll probably only hit 20. And then get traded to the team we face in the NLDS.

[julio]

It's a very typical story. Casty's skills are in decline - he's aging. Like many star athletes, he has trouble accepting, or even believing that.

Communication? I'd wager Thomson told him something like, "You're our guy in RF." That probably happened...in 2023. In Nick's mind, he's the same player in 2025 that he was in 2023...so he should still be "the guy." He's not.

We knew, when Castellanos was signed, that the latter years of his contract were going to be problematic. Here we are.

[zambonir]

Seems like there actually is more to it, whatever "it" is.

> It is obvious that Castellanos’ relationship with Rob Thomson is strained; the manager suspended Castellanos for a day in June after Castellanos protested a decision to remove him from the game for defensive purposes. The two were not on good terms before that incident, multiple team sources have said. Castellanos described the communication as “questionable over the years,” even before his playing time had dwindled.

Oops, nice try.

> How disappointed is he to not play every day?

> “That’s a controversial question,” Castellanos said, “so I’m going to skip that.”

Nick Castellanos’ big night lifts Phillies, but his potential role in playoffs...

[Dirk41]

The reporters even brought up how much Rob is praised as a communicator by the rest of the clubhouse.

Nick has always had an attitude that didn't match his production or how cool he thinks he is.

[zambonir]

Nick actually seems like a guy who would have liked playing for Dallas Green or Bowa. He said Thomson is not as blunt as his father.

[dicemen99]

Nick played himself out of his role and Bader played himself into his.

Thompson communicated that he was going to give them all a shot and see what happens after the trade deadline acquisitions. You can go back and look up the quotes. I guess Nick wasn't paying attention.