Although the Phillies are hanging in the National League wild-card race as time runs out in the regular season, it seems fair to say this year hasn’t quite gone according to plan for the club. After missing the playoffs for the seventh straight time in 2018, the Phillies reeled in more established talent than anyone over the winter, with star catcher J.T. Realmuto among several big names the team added. Some of those pickups haven’t produced as hoped, which helps explain why the Phillies are 3 1/2 games back, but Realmuto has more than held up his end of the bargain.
Acquired from the division-rival Marlins last February, Realmuto has been the game’s foremost backstop for the second straight season. The 28-year-old hasn’t been as formidable at the plate as he was in 2018, but his .277/.328/.496 line with 25 home runs in 576 PA is well above average for his position. And when the athletic Realmuto has gotten on, he has graded as one of FanGraphs’ premier base runners.
Of course, Realmuto’s value extends well beyond what he’s capable of doing on offense. He’s also a world-class defender, one who has thrown out an eye-popping 43-of-91 would-be base stealers this year. Realmuto’s 47 percent caught-stealing rate is good for first in the game, while he comes in third overall in Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average metric.
The all-around package Realmuto has given the Phillies this year has been worth 5.7 fWAR/4.4 bWAR, and it’s possible he’ll draw some NL MVP consideration as a result. Regardless, the Phillies love what they’ve seen, and they’re hopeful their union with Realmuto will last for a while. General manager Matt Klentak confirmed as much as a guest on MLB Network reporter Jon Heyman’s podcast.
Asked if the Phillies will work to extend Realmuto, Klentak told Heyman: “I think it’s fair to speculate that that’ll be one of our offseason priorities this year,” adding: “We hope he’s a guy who’ll be wearing a Phillies uniform for a long, long time. It’s something we”ll address this offseason, and hopefully we’ll be able to line up. We’ll see.”
Klentak also heaped praise on the well-rounded Realmuto for his contributions, saying: “There’s really nothing on the field that this guy can’t do. He has the best foot speed of any catcher in baseball — he doesn’t run like a catcher at all — he hustles all the time. He’s a really good fit for our city, with his style of play. In the second half, he’s been on fire at that plate. He was maybe more neutral in the first half, but in the second half he’s carried us at times. And obviously the defense is probably the separator. Not only the framing improvements, but also his ability to gun down runners. It’s a joke how good this guy is behind the plate — how quick he gets rid of the ball and how frequently he’s putting it right on the bag for our middle infielders to drop the tag down.”
It’s clear Philadelphia’s aim is to lock up Realmuto, though it’s not at immediate risk of seeing him walk. He’ll be controllable for another year via arbitration, where he’ll surely get a sizable raise on this season’s $5.9MM extension if the two sides don’t line up on a new deal. Realmuto, for his part, already indicated back in June that he’d be open to an extension. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained then, Realmuto shouldn’t have difficulty landing a lucrative contract of at least four years.
The Phillies definitely need him. All the guys they acquired and the team has crashed and burned at the end of this season.
The team crashed and burned about 4 months ago. But somehow they’re still going.
A year away from free agency, Realmuto would be a fool on the chance to shop himself and his terrific skill set on the open market. The Phils rolled the dice with an inadequate pitching staff and lost … why should JT commit to a club that is at least four quality pitchers shy of the post season. Would anyone really be shocked to see him in a Boston or Atlanta uniform in 2021?
(CORECTION)
…Fool to pass on the chance…
Bogaerts did and he probably would have been the best or a nice 1A behind Rendon this year. Who knows maybe he likes it in Philly.
Why would he stay with the Phillies? The team doesn’t have a lot of upside. They were built to win now. Their window has passed. They need to rebuild. They need to sell off everything.
They were rebuilding 2 years ago
he will stay because they invested enough in him to pay him the money to stay.
“…division-rival Marlins…”
The only rivals the Marlins have is themself. MLB and Jeter should be ashamed.
The old hate on the Marlins schtick is getting old. They’re doing a ground up rebuild like how many other teams right now? 6? They obviously whiffed on the Yelich deal as he’s found a second level. Even as bad as that is they may have a couple big league contributors from it. Yamamoto, Diaz and Harrison could certainly be pieces for them. They did just fine getting Gallen and Alcantara for ozuna. And they absolutely won that Stanton contract dump. Doesn’t matter what (if anything) they ever get from Devers or Guzman. They made a couple other high upside deals at the deadline as well this year.
Really no reason to bash them. Loria is gone. We can’t judge Jeter and co. Til they get this team competitive.
Old hate? Jeter cut salary to justify the price he paid for the franchise. New owners who come in and tear teams down to Double A level teams in MLB is a disgrace to the game. I have no issue with the knock down, farm development rebuild method as I am not any kind of expert (simply a fan) but these moves by these new owners is egregious imo.
How will players feel going forward when their team is the next to be sold?
Think it makes more sense for a new ownership group to tear down a roster,than it does for an established owner.Especially any owner taking over a team like the Marlins.Just look at the talent they’ve traded.2 MVPs,one of the games best catchers,plus Ozuna,and they still weren’t selling tickets or winning games. Gotta see what your finances are,before you go out spending them.
First off Jeter owns like 1% of the team stop acting like he bought the Marlins please lol
despite some good moves they continue to make questionable ones. failing to pick up certain players off the waiver wire, dealing Gallen, etc. and yes, trading Stanton was a loss, even with the hindsight of his injury concerns.
You’re an absolute buffoon if you think trading Stanton was a loss. They dumped off an underwater contract and got 2 decent prospects. Stanton can’t stay healthy in his prime and had a full NTC that he had already used to block deals. Gallen for Chisholm is a high risk high reward trade that you certainly can’t judge now. And waiver claims?? Lmao that’s just nonsense.
Why? They have one of the best young pitching staffs in baseball. Maybe you should actually look at the numbers and not the record.
Just Do It!!
Why would Realmuto want to stay with the Phillies? He could instantly make more money in the AL. Give up catching and commit to being a DH, your salary is doubled. You need proof…Look at Albert Pujols.
Albert was 8 years ago, and DH only .820 OPS bats dont make money anymore
Realmuto’s value is in his combination of elite D, athleticism, and great hitting for a backstop. even if he has to ditch catching in a few years, he may be able to move to another position.
Vince, get a grip man. You want the best catcher in the game to go to the AL to be a DH? Sometimes I wonder about people like you.
Imagine if the Braves had him instead of the trash like Flowers and McCann. Despite, what was said, the braves could have very easily traded Wright or Anderson for Realmuto. These two are not aces anyway.
Yes they could have very easily but once again being the cheap ass organization they didn’t
Flowers has no problem beating up on my Mets smh that guy always comes thru to kill us
what is the McCann/Flowers hate? I get neither is optimal, but that has to be a better tandem then most teams have.
You can tell when you watch the games Realmuto doesn’t even sort of enjoy playing with that team.
He’s not signing anything.
““Everything I’ve experienced in Philadelphia has been awesome, so I wouldn’t be opposed to spending the rest of my career there,” Realmuto told the media. It doesn’t sound as though there’d be any particular deadline on talks, either, as Realmuto indicated he’d be open to talks “whether it be tomorrow or in the off-season or next July.”
mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/phillies-rumors-jt-real…
There ya go Cat. Serving up some truth. Some of the posters seem like they know nothing about what they’re writing about.
It’s the internet….not much else can be said.
I think the catcher starved Rangers ought to go after Realmuto in the off season. If they can reel in 3b Rendon from the Caps and Realmuto from the Phillies, it would be a successful FA haul for the Rangers. They would provide some quality hitting for the anemic hitting ball club.
Coal tender………
Realmuto isn’t a FA until 2021