One of Yankees' most ridiculous offseason rumors surfaced involving Nick Castellanos

This might be an instance of fans getting criticized for talking out of both sides of their mouth, but most New York Yankees fans can't understand why the front office was at all reportedly considering making a move for slugger Nick Castellanos this offseason. Yes, there's a desire for impact moves involving big names, but this one couldn't have been more of a departure from that.

The former Phillies outfielder was released this week and just signed a league minimum contract with the San Diego Padres. Before that happened, Jon Heyman of the New York Post revealed the Yanks were considering trading for Castellanos but were "talked out of it."

They reportedly "backed off after receiving mixed reviews." Did they really need to seek out reviews in order to come to that determination? This feels like the "independent" audit all over again — one meaningless investigation to arrive at the conclusion everybody knew was coming.

What did they need to be talked out of? Castellanos is another DH-type given his well-documented defensive struggles (-17 dWAR for his career). He's a power bat that strikes out a lot and doesn't walk. Yes, he's typically hit for average in his career, but he's seen a considerable decline in that department the last two years.

And finally, he was coming off a career-worst season in which he registerd a .694 OPS and 88 OPS+ in addition to reportedly being a clubhouse disruption (and even admitted to a pretty mind-boggling wrongdoing). And the Yankees considered relieving the Phillies of any portion of his $20 million salary for 2026?

Yankees Rumors: Nick Castellanos trade with Phillies was under consideration

Castellanos is a right fielder, which is Aaron Judge's position. Adding to the outfield/DH logjam also would've further hindered the development of Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones. Just knowing all of that, there was no need for "mixed reviews" to help them avoid such a disruptive acquisition.

This woud've represented another "years too late" transaction by New York, whose front office has a penchant for chasing veterans that previously would've been fits but have fallen far off their game. In theory, Castellanos might've been a reasonable luxury addition to insure against a Giancarlo Stanton injury so they'd maintain solid production from the DH spot in the event of an extended absence, but so many other potential issues outweigh whatever that "positive" might've been.

Even during Castellano's lone All-Star campaign in Philly, he was only good for 1.5 WAR. Throughout his tenure, which cost Philadelphia $100 million, he was worth 1.3 WAR over 602 games. This would've been a colossal Yankees mistake that would've bloated the payroll (even if they got some salary relief from the Phillies) and added to what's already a somewhat questionable roster construction.

Bravo to the party who relayed the "mixed reviews." You might've helped salvage the offseason for Yankees fans.