Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto requested a trade out of Miami in December, owing to a lack of desire to play for a franchise that’s in the midst of a monumental teardown. At the time, the Marlins had already traded three of their top players – Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon. Nearly two months later, Realmuto remains on the Marlins’ roster, though they parted with yet another star (Christian Yelich) last week. Unsurprisingly, then, Realmuto continues to hope for a trade prior to the season, his agent, Jeff Berry of CAA Baseball, told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
“No matter how his arbitration hearing turned out, J.T.’s preference remains the same,” said Berry. “He would like to be traded to another organization before spring training so he has an opportunity to compete for a championship.”
Berry mentioned Realmuto’s arb hearing, which he lost. As a result, the 26-year-old will make $2.9MM this year instead of the $3.5MM he requested. That fairly negligible difference isn’t going to affect Realmuto’s value, however, as it’s an extremely small price to pay for one of baseball’s best backstops. Realmuto’s also under arbitration control through 2019 and ’20, so he figures to give either the Marlins or another team a reasonably priced solution behind the plate for the next three years.
In talks with the Nationals and other clubs, the Marlins unsurprisingly “have been holding out for multiple high-end prospects,” Jackson writes. While slashing payroll has been a prime objective for the franchise this offseason, trading the cheap Realmuto would be more of a farm system-bolstering maneuver than anything. The Marlins, to their credit, have made headway in restocking the lower levels this offseason. Thanks to the trades they’ve made since December, they’ve climbed from 30th to 19th in Baseball America’s organizational rankings (subscription required and recommended). Miami still has plenty of work to do to turn its system into a strength, though, and moving Realmuto would further help the team achieve that.
I don’t see him traded to a divisional rival unless it’s a huge haul. A team like the twins perhaps ?
marlins are in the same division but they are nobody’s rival
Genius.
By the way, twins, and other contenders to be, may not want to give up prospects.
come to the twins that depends on the prospect they’re fine with Castro garver but realmuto would be a big help
Good one… but over the last 25 years, nobody in that division has more WS rings than the Marlins. Go figure
Highlight of the article. Marlins are an mlb rival. Lol. They may not even be a AAA rival the way things are shaping up
There are plenty of rivals for that #1 draft pick.
Why? He’ll be a FA when (if?) they’re competitive again. The alienating the fans ship sailed long ago.
The Rangers or Orioles
Rangers maybe but considering that the o’s Will be going into full fledged rebuild in a year or so would it be wise to trade a bunch of needed prospects for one catcher ?
Who says they will be going into full rebuild mode? They have $50m coming off the books after this year and already have $35m coming off after next year. With this new trend of teams not stupidly throwing nine-figure deals at ok players the O’s and many other teams should be able to be continuously competitive as they will be able to sign enough solid players to fill out their roster as a new crop of prospects emerges. They are a middle of the road payroll club with one bad long-term contract that isn’t even as bad as it seems because it is highly deferred.
all teams paying less for free agents more teams can be competitive there still the same amount of wins available each season and other teams have better rosters than the Orioles
Um … the Orioles only have two rotation pieces and neither are aces. Machado is all but gone, Davis is going to be one of the worst and hampering contracts ever,Schoop is going to need to get paid soon, Jones is at the end and hasn’t touched an OBPS north of .800 in how many years, and Britton is hurt and gone after this year too. I don’t think they have a farm system either. Showalter is all they have going for them, and if they remain competitive over the next three years it’ll be solely because of him.
Two rotation pieces … neither aces I will agree … but if Hunter Harvey can ever stay healthy they could have their ace right there
One of the Orioles best prospects is a catcher lol
The Astros need this guy on there roster.
Alveraz, Perez and 2 minor pieces should get it done.
No sir
Pretty sure they don’t need him
I think the Astros would rather sign Lucroy to a 2 year deal and save the prospects.
Losing $600k would make me want to “still want a trade too”. Hang in there, JT.
Yeah I don’t get the comment in the post about it being an insignificant amount of money. And not because it is a lot for all of us but because it is a lot for him: it is more than his salary has been in any season and he has been a pro for seven years now. If he has a devastating injury this year I bet he will consider it to be a lot. It’s not like he’s Pujols or ARod with nine figures in the bank.
I don’t think the article was referring to the salary relative to Realmuto, but relative to opposing teams looking to trade for him (“That fairly negligible difference isn’t going to affect Realmuto’s value”). And to pretty much every major league team, $600,000 is not a significant amount.
But even to that extent it could save a few million on his next 2 arb numbers.
Nats….we have a C for you in Detroit. McCann! He’s 28, lots of control still left and Tigers won’t ask for your top two guys. Al Avila says the Tigers are still listening to anyone about Iglesias, Castellanos, Greene and McCann.
The Mets really need him to work long term with there pitching staff. Get it done
The Model of the MLB….. pay the guys that are young significantly low(Not a bad thing because arb has been around for quite a while) That affords you to pay the veterans who most of which will only have 1 big payday in their entire career, thus making the Realmuto’s of the world so valuable in baseball. Bryant played for 1MM last year… cost controlled young players help balance out the checkbook for guys like Heyward.
In an off-season where the 4th highest dollar amount goes to a guy that casual fans don’t even know from Colorado who signs with the Cubs, the Brewers acquisitions and Miami’s fire-sale have been the only things exciting since the calendar flipped to 2018. So, please feel free to trade Realmuto SOON Miami! Thank you!
Tigers Possibly????
Why? They’re going to be fighting for a #1 overall pick over the next couple years with or without him…
avd mcann Is one of thier only position players that night but need to be replaced right away
If I was the marlins I’d try to engage the Dodgers. Maybe Keibert Ruiz, Mitchell White/Yadier Alvarez and Starling Heredia/Jeren Kendall for Realmuto. Would be willing to take on Grandal also, if needed.
IF I was the Marlins, I would love to involve everyone. But hey, Dodgers already have 2 good catchers. And Dodgers didn’t give up their top prospects last mid-season, why would they do so now for a position with no problem?
why would they do that when they have Barnes something really much was that much better and they have grandal on it if Barnes regresses. when it comes to teams they need to acquire catchers the Dodgers are one of the last teams on that list
Lets see, the Braves have holes in the outfield, third, and C (now/2019-on)
They had a chance to get a premier OF (Yelich) with a good contract, but decided to say put because their young pitching is to valuable to them. That does not surprise me though because maybe only Gohara will end up staying in the rotation. Folty and Newcomb are and should be bullpen bound. They will fill in one of the OF spots with Acuna but will still have a hole in the other corner in 2019.
Next,
They have a perfectly good option in Frazier available for third, but instead the “sit and wait for Riley.” If Riley fails, then this hole will carry over to 2019.
Next,
The Braves will not bring back Flowers and Suzuki unless they are desperate. Of course, they don’t have to be when a good catcher is available like Realmoto. If they wait and see again, they will be going into 2019 with another hole.
So why do people think the arbitrary year of 2019 is a contention year? It is not like the Braves and their fans haven’t been saying that after the end of 2016 season. “We will be good in 2017 when we move to the new ballpark.”
They are yet again going into this season with question marks. What makes you think 2019 won’t be the same?
because everyone who knew stuff about rebuilds knew they wouldn’t be good until 2019 the fans got hyped up for the last couple years but they should have known there was no chance.
but here you are again throwing out an arbitrary year of 2019. What makes you confident 2019 is the year? It is not like their young players are all proven? I guess the end of this year will be a much better indication where the team is with their rebuild, but that does not excuse the fact that ppl still think 2019 is some magical year right now.
They’ve just hoarded so much young talent that you would expect these guys to start capitalizing on their potential in 2019. And if the FO sees what people who say 2019 do, they will supplement the team with one of the big FA hitters and probably a good reliever next offseason.
Rebuilds are an uncertain process. It’s not about how quickly it happens, it’s that the process works. If it takes an extra season, so what?
At the end of the tunnel, the time will get better fast and bet set for 5-10 seasons.
Astros: Start with Fisher and McHugh and work from there.
That’s an incredibly low starting point.
If the Marlins are demanding Robles or Soto from the Nationals, it’s going to start with Kyle Tucker for the Astros.
I don’t think Fisher is too far off from Soto in value. He was a top 50 ish prospect when he was called up, and didn’t embarrass himself in the majors, even if he didn’t dominate. McHugh is a better secondary piece than the Nats would likely include, but he doesn’t really make sense for the Marlins.
A .212/.307/,356 triple slash with a strikeout per game, a 50% success rate when stealing, and (at best) league average defense, primarily in left field, isn’t completely terrible, but it’s not anywhere close to good. And he’s not exactly young, either (he’ll be turning 25 this year).
Juan Soto’s ceiling is much higher than Fisher’s. The only reason he’s a little lower on Baseball America’s list is because he was injured last season. But he mashed as a 17 year old (.368/.420/.553 in 51 games), and was off to a hot start last year (.351/.415/.505 with just 9 strikeouts in 32 games (most of them in Single-A).
If he stays healthy and produces like he has, he could easily be a top ten prospect at this time next year.
At this point, I think most evaluators see Fisher as a fourth outfielder or possibly a second-division regular if he is able to cut down on the strikeouts and find his power.
what evaluators have said that? Fisher remarkably improved his strikeout rate his 2nd go round at AAA, there’s no reason to believe he can’t do so at the major league level. I am aware of Soto’s upside, but he also comes with a lot of risk, and Derek Fisher was the 3rd best hitter in AAA last year. Fisher is a 70 runner with as much raw power as almost anyone, so I’m not sure Soto really has a much higher ceiling.
Fisher is still figuring things out. He may never reach his ceiling, but it’s silly to look at his rookie stats and think that’s all he’ll ever be.
If the Astros thought that they would have signed Jay Bruce or Carlos Gonzales.
I was probably too cynical on Fisher before. However, I still don’t think he’s close to Tucker at all.
Fisher did improve his strikeouts from 2016 to 2017, but he still struck out 23.3% of the time between the majors and minors last season, and his walk rate also decreased from 14.7% to 9.5%. He has speed, but he still needs to learn how to use it. He had trouble last season especially, succeeding only 19 times in 32 attempts.
His posted a solid average in AAA last season, but he did it with a high BABIP and in the Pacific Coast League (the league average was 19 points higher than the MLB and 17 points higher than the International League).
And I know rookie stats aren’t exactly indicative of what a player will be, but it also wasn’t the same as Trout struggling as a 19 year old – Fisher was two months away from turning 24 when he got called up.
Fisher will likely never hit for a high average. He’ll strike out a lot. And defensively, he’s limited to left field for the most part, and even there he’s just a fringe-average defender. In order for him to become an impact player, he’ll need to be consistently posting 25-25 seasons with good walk totals.
But regardless of that, I don’t think the Marlins settle for Fisher when Tucker – or even Alvarez – are in the system. Tucker might be further away than Fisher, but he posted better numbers as a 20 year old in High-A/Double-A than Fisher did as a 20 year old in Low-A. Tucker projects to hit for similar power, and although not quite as fast, could still be a threat for 15-20 stolen bases. And, he projects as a plus hitter and an above-average defensive right fielder with an above-average arm.
start with someone the Marlins need, not someone the astros think most expendable.
nanyuanb….. to paraphrase….start with someone the (other team) needs, not someone (your team) thinks most expendable.
If people did that, the sensible thing, it would eliminate 85% of the proposals on MLBTR
Amen!
Got a little tired of the Luke Voit, Matt Adams, Greg Garcia, Marco Gonzales, and Jhonny Peralta for Jose Quintana and David Robertson trade proposals last year.
Marlins aren’t really the team that wants McHugh and it would take a better headliner than Fisher to get him. also their World Series favorites and have a solid catcher McCann no need to improve where you don’t have to when you’re already on top
The Astros should be all over him as a replacement to McCann.
I completely agree, but I think it’s bad timing. McCann and Gattis are both in walk years, and Stassi is out of options. They have enough for this year, but will have little next. I’m not sure the Astros want to discard their current catchers and burn prospects when they have enough this year.
I also think that Lucroy would be a more viable alternative.
Hmmm, he did sign a contract, correct?
PR wise, the Marlins should JUMP on the stat that their farm system moved from being ranked 30th to ranked 19th in a single offseason. Granted, it still puts them in the lower half of the league, but that’s a significant improvement from where they were, and they should try to spin it to the fans that way.
All seven of the remaining Marlins fans might appreciate it.
Atlanta gotta be in on this guy I say Allard, Fuller, A. Jax & Sanchez
The Padres could be a dark horse for Realmuto as well.
They could swap Hedges to be the immediate replacement in MIA, Anderson Espinoza, Eric Lauer, Franchy Cordero and Austin Smith.
5 for 1. All players besides Espinoza and Smith would contribute at the big league level this year. Alacantra and Espinoza would be a very nice 1,2 punch down the road.
problem is that Espinosa is not you is really craterd at this point. also I bet now Marlins would prefer one or two impact guys to five more mediocre ones
Trade him to Dodgers for Grandal (Miami Naitive) and toss in a low level prospect or cash…. Put Barnes at 2B.
why in the world what they trade for a guy with one year of control. your lucky, I would say that’s the worst trade offer I’ve seen today but someone offerd bichette and Vlad Jr for Tehran today so
“We’re trying to rebuild our farm system and shed salary. We have this great catcher who’s drawing offers with multiple top 100 prospects in them.”
“Would you take a 29 year old catcher that’s not as good as him, makes $5 million more, and will be gone after next season instead?”
To the White Sox for Wellington Castillo and a prospect. Realmuto is young enough to fit nicely into the rebuild.
Realmuto is better than Castillo, makes less money, is less injury prone, and is four years younger.
Unless that prospect is Kopech or Jimenez, Miami probably has no interest.
Mr Berry, please advise your client that the word out of Shawshank is that “hope is a dangerous thing.”
I don’t think that there is a single fan of MLB who wants to see the talent of J.T Realmuto wasted in MIA another minute.
The more I examine the Nationals prospects, the more I favor Daniel Johnson as an option to Soto in a Realmuto trade.
Johnson, Read, Fedde. Romero … what do you say, Nats?