The Phillies released second baseman Luis Castillo, tweets Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. It was a brief trial for Castillo, who was picked up nine days ago after the Mets released him on March 18th. All along, the understanding was that Castillo would make the Phillies out of Spring Training or be released.

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley is dealing with chronic knee pain, and hasn't offered a timetable aside from saying he aims to be back before the All-Star break. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. currently isn't thinking about putting Utley on the 60-day DL. While he's out, the Phillies will apparently go with Wilson Valdez and some combination of Michael Martinez, Pete Orr, and Delwyn Young. The Phillies opened a spot on the 40-man roster yesterday by outrighting Matt Rizzotti, which according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer means a spot is open for either Young or Mike Stutes (Twitter link).