The arbitration hearings for Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto and reliever Hector Neris are coming up this week, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury reports, with Realmuto’s case being heard on Wednesday and Neris on Friday. Once Realmuto’s case has been decided, Phils GM Matt Klentak said “we’ll come to the table and see if we can find common ground on a long-term deal. I hope that we can. It would be nice to have some resolution prior to Opening Day….If we can’t, we could always continue those talks during the season or even into free agency if we can.”
I recently explored what an extension might look like for Realmuto, and the pros and cons that both he and the team will be weighing in trying to work out a deal. Both sides have expressed mutual interest in an extension dating back to the end of last season, and Realmuto continued to be optimistic that a multi-year agreement can be reached. “I could see myself staying in Philly and playing my entire career here,” Realmuto told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark. “Also being one year away from free agency, that wouldn’t be a bad thing for me either, but I don’t think it will get to that. I think the Phillies and myself could line up pretty well.”
More buzz from around the NL East…
- Jed Lowrie’s first season with the Mets saw him limited to eight plate appearances and nine games due to a variety of leg problems, and these injury concerns appear to still be an issue heading into the 2020 campaign. Lowrie wore a brace on his left leg during his first day in Spring Training camp, and told reporters (including Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News) that the brace “alleviates my symptoms and makes me feel like myself.” Aside from saying that his left knee was the main cause of his leg problems, Lowrie didn’t provide much detail on his condition, saying that he was planning to participate in camp exercises with an eye towards being ready for Opening Day. It remains to be seen how (or even if) Lowrie will be deployed by the Mets this season, as he’ll be fighting for playing time within their crowded infield and might yet still end up on another team, if the Mets can find a taker for his contract.
- Matt Adams might be the latest name to join the Mets’ outfield picture, as the veteran tells Newsday’s Tim Healey that he is working out as a left fielder. Adams appeared in 34 games as a left fielder in 2017-18 but left field is “still a fairly new position for me, so the more reps the better,” he said. “I think just getting with the coaching staff and seeing how I can incorporate both — get my work in at first base, get work in in the outfield and get more comfortable out there.” Adams signed a minor league deal with the Mets last month, and since his natural first base position is blocked by Pete Alonso, any positional flexibility can only help Adams’ chances of winning a spot on the 26-man roster.
- Tyler Flowers is entering his fifth season behind the plate for the Braves, set to again participate in another timeshare, this time with the newly-signed Travis d’Arnaud. The club’s strategy of more or less splitting the playing time between two catchers every season is a sound one, Flowers tells Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as “It has been a good way to balance starts and kind of keep both catchers fresh.” Relying on a more traditional starter/backup allotment of playing time would make things tough on an everyday catcher since “It’s extremely difficult to start 120 [games] in Atlanta. With the conditions, it makes it almost impossible. I have a more difficult time than most with the heat and sweating and cramping, so I know it would be a challenge for me.”
Mets have to expect nothing from Lowrie – which probably explains why Dom Smith is still with them: having Luis Guillorme as the only real backup IF means that if Cano doesn’t produce JD Davis will play more 3B than he should, which means that Guillorme comes in for late inning D – and Smith PHs extra.
Mets were dumb to even sign him. All career high year at age 34?
A healthy Lowrie could have hit 30 homers in 2019 with a juiced ball…just saying..
Before 2018, his career high was 16. Sorry, Brodie, but 30 probably wasn’t in the plans.
U mean, before they juiced the ball
Phillies fans talking about the Mets giving out dumb contracts LOLOLOL
I need 2017 Tyler flowers again… I don’t need the last two god awful years. Get on base… I mean at least waste pitches and get on base. Idc what defensive metrics say, I just don’t buy that they are worth another 2019 repeat offensively… it’s just not
Calm down. The Braves’ season isn’t hanging in the balance on Tyler Flowers’s part time offensive output.
d’Arnaud should be able to take the 60/40 time split with him moving Flowers more to a backup role, unless offense wanes for d’Arnaud or surges for Flowers.
Saw to many years of Flowers with White Sox.
Can’t hit, can’t run, can’t throw anybody out, no power.
Must have the best agent in baseball
Hey dude, quick question: since 2015 who are the top 5 catchers in baseball?
Answer: you’re wrong. It’s Grandal, Posey, Realmuto, Flowers, Martin.
Newsflash: having a roughly average (99 wRC+) batting line while providing elite pitch framing numbers makes Flowers one of the most underrated players in the game.
You also have to keep in mind that catchers, as a whole, have produced somewhere around an 86 wRC+ in that time.
D’armauld can do 60/40 for about a week until he gets hurt and misses 4 months!
Funny the Mets thinking somebody is going to take Jed lowrie’s contract. they would need to eat at least 1/2 of it or get back another bad contract. A bad knee takes a lot of time to heal and many times never back to 100%.
Even at half 5 million don’t see it happening!
Lowrie’s career sounds like its toast, if a team trades for his deal, they would be doing it for a a prospect and would DFA him after, so if it happens before Opening Day, would be like buying a prospect for $10M.
What Mets prospect does $10M buy these days? Gimenez? Baty?
Would the Mets still be interested in Lindor and need Lowrie’s money to make the deal work?
White Sox take Lowrie and his entire $11.5, getting David Peterson back as the fee for financing the move.
No strike four 10 million bucks doesn’t buy a top 100 prospect. Only in your mind
If Klentak doesn’t have JT signed by the AllStar break, then the GM needs to go. You’ve got a player posturing he’s willing , a team knowing they almost HAVE to re-sign him , and an owner who’s flush , with a large TV contract.
IMHO, there may be a framework in place for a longterm deal…..Phillies and Realmuto may be waiting for the arb’s decision.
I’m sure they are. Things are being handled differently without David M and Ruben around.
Klentak makes Monty and Ruben look like Mensa Masters, Realmuto was perhaps the team’s most consistent player last year, both offensively and defensively. And as a reward, Klentak takes him to arbitration!
The sooner Cigar Guy sends MK packing, the better.
I don’t think you understand how arbitration works. Klentak is not taking Realmuto to arbitration. Realmuto is doing this for all MLB catchers. An extension may come out of this. All is well for now. Panic later.
They need his contract for this year done due to the luxury tax.
Realmuto will sign an extension for sure. The arb thing is about him wanting to up the threshold for future catchers. Both parties have expressed a desire for a deal.
If memory serves, in an older MLBTR article, Harper was VERY high on Realmutos’s skills before he signed his pact…..Harper and Realmuto will be leaders in Philly for quite a long time.
As for Neris, he’ll get his deal, but it’ll be slightly lower than expected, but for multiple years..
Thanks Nostradamus
How Realmuto has not already got an extension is nuts. Out of all the guys they have paid he would be the one that is not stupid money.
He’s saying all the right things but deep down you can tell he hates philly
Just look at his face when they pan to him in the dugout during games. He looks like he hates everyone on that team and in the stands lmao
I wouldn’t say that he “hates” Philly but I still don’t see him giving them any kind of discount. Which, was kinda the point of trading for him. You don’t trade a top 30 prospect in the game to a division rival just so that you can pay a guy market value.
“You don’t trade a top 30 prospect in the game…”
You don’t make that deal if you aren’t trying to win right then. The talent was sent for two cheap years of Realmuto and for nothing else.
@ForestCobraAL I agree.
Thanks, Nostradamus! lmao, lol, omg, bff, etc!
“you can tell he hates philly”
What? How exactly can you tell that? Nonsense.
I hate Philly and even I laughed at “he hates philly”. Fans just make stuff up to fit their narrative.
Why would he get an extension before his arbitration hearing? It’s still early relax. He will get paid or at least get a very significant offer after his hearing.
I dont see Matt Adams gracefully running down balls to deep left center.
And that doesn’t sound right either
Mets
Braves
Nats
Phillies
Just my prediction
Any 4 could win division
Marlins will be 20 games out by all star break
Swap Brave and Mets and I’m with you.
I could see that… we’ll see tho!
Swap Braves and Mets? He listed 4 teams and didn’t say they were in order, just that any of the 4 could win.
NYM won’t have the offense to lead the pack.
I’m not saying Mets will win but our offense is actually very good if you look at the numbers of the players that will be on our offense. Like Braves lineup compared to Mets.. Braves have the top 3 who are very heavy but outside of that the Mets lineup is deeper. Braves might have 4-5 bats with a ops lower than 800.
Mets offense isn’t the problem; their defense is. That’s going to cost them some games. Also, the Mets were fairly lucky with injuries in 2019, so I expect the injury bug to be a factor. That being said, they have some depth. So who knows? Fascinating division.
The confidence of a fan whose team hasn’t done anything in 30 years, just had a franchise sale publicly fall through, and doing a very weird flex to their MiLB players is astounding. The NLE is a joke outside of the Nats
They won the NL pennant just 5 years ago. I think that was something in 30 years.
Yes, and 15 years before that. I guess it’s win the WS or it’s nothing for some people…
The NL East is the most competitive division in the league. Who cares if a sale fell through? The Mets have the reigning defending 2 time Cy Young winner, a ROY who was top 10 in mvp voting and as good a 1-4 as there is in the game.
I agree with any of those 4 could win the division.
I could see the Marlins being a lot better than expected this season, especially if Sixto hits MLB. They have a lot more talent this year than last.
The Marlins have a near ace of the future in Sandy Alcantara plus Sixto could be heading to the show as well.
Good luck with that Mets fan. Yeah you have good starting pitching but you’ll need to score runs….
If you think the Mets can’t score runs you haven’t been paying attention.
So long as Matt Klentak is our GM, my Phillies ain’t winning anything. The guy is a total moron.
Braves are the class of the division and may be for a long time…again…if they get Acuna and Albies and some of the other talent signed for a long time.
Nats are very good, even with the loss of Rendon.
Mets and Phillies have talent, but it’s unstable talent that seems to lack a bit of chemistry. It’s almost like they have a bunch of guys that don’t match or compliment each other’s talents. Both have high potential for implosions. Odds are that at least one does.
Marlins are obviously the picks for last place again, but I would not say that is 100%. They have stabilized their team a little bit to make it an easier situation for the younger guys to develop. They have a bunch of young players coming up at various times this year and the next couple of years. Fourth place is a very real possibility this year if the Mets or Phillies implode this year. If both do (possible), third place can even happen. If the Marlins are within 7 games of any imploding team or teams by the trade deadline, with the Marlins’ arriving talent, the Marlins can surpass that team or teams in the final couple of months. Go to sleep on nthem because you’re one of those fans that are making assumptions based on not knowing what the Marlins have, and you’ll make the same mistakes many have done in the past when this team “surprised” people that didn’t know. I’ll say it now like I said it before…just watch the next couple of years. You’ll see it.
Mets don’t have chemistry???? Lol bro you couldn’t be more wrong…
So they maximised their team and got 4th. Is the reason youre always behind everyone else just “Never Lucky Bro” in Metsland these days, or just the usual “We will all be healthy this year, then youll see” That you do most years?
You dont have money to spend, have awful management, awful pretend GM , delusional owner, and have a worse farm than almost every team in baseball. Can a New York resident try to explain to the rest of the world why your team has been faking being so bad these last couple years, and is going to stop foolin around this year.
We”ll wait.
Hey. Smart guy. We finished 3rd not 4th.
So you think that I’m wrong in thinking that a team, that even you agree, can implode, doesn’t have chemistry, talent that doesn’t match each other and doesn’t compliment each other? How does that work? Is there another way that a team can implode?
Only after Philly completely imploded down the stretch after leading the division for awhile earlier in the season. The Mets were never a serious challenger though.
Mets got garbage time wins, Much like their team is in fact garbage. Your team is such garbage Jose Altuve wants to bang it in the dugout. Your team is such garbage, Carlos Beltran was attempting to go there just to Camoflauge his own scent.
I cannot say for a fact all these things are 100% true, however, I certainly feel in my heart that these comments are indeed true.
You ever been in the Brooklyn and Queens area? It really does smell like garbage. Makes a person understand why they can’t smell the stench of the Mets.
I’ll see you continue to not win divisions Lol
I’m okay with making the playoffs without division titles if we keep winning championships. Being the last team standing is all that matters and all history remembers.
And with your continued efforts about the Mets being better than the Marlins over a 10-year span…the Mets can have a better season than the Marlins in 9 of those 10 seasons, and if they don’t win a championship and the Marlins win a championship in the 1 season when they are better, the Marlins had a better 10-year span.
Marlins fan. Acuna is signed through 2026 with 2 years of team options. Albies is signed through 2025 with 2 years of team options. They’re both under incredibly team friendly contracts.
Acuna is signed till 2028 Albies till 2027 on incredibly team friendly deals.
I just don’t see the Mets finishing above the Braves and Nats… above the Phillies? yeah, maybe.
Anybody giving Realmuto a long term deal is likely going to regret it not even halfway through the deal. Catchers do not have a penchant for staying at the top of their game long term. Buster Posey and Yadier Molina are far more the exception rather than the rule. And I don’t think Realmuto is on their tier. He reminds a lot of Jonathan Lucroy, who was at or near the top of catchers for a 2-3 year period, then fell hard. I could be wrong, but I think Realmuto is more that than Posey or Molina.
But it’s not my money, and I’m sure someone will spend long term because these people rarely learn from their mistakes.
Realmuto is easily better than peak Lucroy and a better hitter than peak Molina.
You forgot the words, “in my opinion.” You did not state a fact. Because in my opinion, he is NOT better than them.
OPS+ is my fact go take a look. You have to be on drugs to think Lucroy was ever better than this version of Realmuto.
“Anybody giving _______ a long term deal is likely going to regret it ”
MLBTR comment template
Realmuto played games at 1B last year. Even though he’s an amazing catcher, he could transition to the infield or even DH (which will be in the NL) down the road.
Also saying Realmuto isn’t on the tier of Posey and Molina is ridiculous. Realmuto is currently the best catcher in all of baseball IMO.
I’m sure they are. Things are being handled differently without David M and Ruben around.
Been saying NYM should inquire with Rockies about Lowrie for McGee swap. Mets can use another veteran LHP and Rockies could deploy Lowrie at 2B.
I would prefer sending Shaw over McGee, but I could see that. Although I doubt Lowrie is much better than Rodgers or McMahon, he could provide a veteran bench presence that the Rockies desperately need.
You don’t want Shaw. He has a vesting option that is well within reach.
Why would the Rockies need Lowrie to play 2B? They have McMahon, Hampson and a rehabbing Rogers. Already too many pegs for one hole.
I think the JT signs a 6 year $120 million extension by the end of next week. Lock him up Klentak.
LoL
Thats practically Grandal money. Youre going to pony up far more than that if youre keeping him.
For a catcher in his mid thirties before the contract ends. Can’t possibly end badly right?
For sure on the money if not the years. Not a Phillies fan, but you must lock Realmuto in.
If a 31 yr old Grandal gets 4 years, you can bet on JT getting 6-7 ((up to 35 also) If he really wants it. Position is just too thin and hes athletic enough to dream on being great at least halfway through it.
I even agree they do have to pay him what he wants. But any long term catcher contract at top tier rates should scare fans. Catchers not named Molina or Rodriguez tend to fall straight off a clif starting in their late 20s.
I bet he Gets $23 a year like Donaldson got, but for 6 years and a option/buyout. Hes easily worth Donaldson money both IRL and on this bloated market IMO. Im sure Texas, Atlanta, and a handful of other teams wouldn’t mind paying him big bucks.
Guru – In the ballpark with my thinking and agree with your rationale. Nats really wanted him, for good reason.
Yeah, Braves went hard after him too and there was a ton of drama about it over a year and a half. So much so, that I actually think it played a (small) part in them drafting Shea Langeliers #8 overall the next draft. They realize the trade and FA markets for C is getting ridiculously thin and competitive.
Right. The Suzuku – Gomes duo in DC is short-term; touchy with recent injuries to Kurt S. Thought Grandal or even Chirinos might be in the cards after losing out on Realmuto. It is thin at the position.
That’s me being a optimist. 6 years $150 is more likely, maybe 7th year option. I really don’t think he gets 30+ a year though.
Just cross your fingers LA and NY dont decide they want him.
I think 6yrs $150 w a 7th yr $25 option with $8 or so buyout would be a nice deal for both sides like you mentioned. But Grandal and Moose and a few others just got pretty overpaid. So who knows how high the market could go.
Im curious to see how much his position as a catcher scares teams when it comes to a contract this long.
The Lowrie thing sounds like an excerpt from Major League…”the leg brace makes me feel like myself”. Jed has been injured through his entire career, the glimpses of greatness make you wonder what could have been if he had stayed healthy.
Calling that device on Lowrie’s leg a “brace” is a dramatic understatement. Thing looks like a soft cast from above where his shorts hang to near the ankle. You can’t see any skin but his kneecap. I can’t imagine that thing would be MLB legal to wear in game, and the thought of sliding on it is laughable. I’d say he’s played his last game as a Met, but has he truly played his first?
That’s because you’re a Mets’ hater. Lowrie has actually played way more than his first game. He’s played 9. And he’s maintained an excellent 12.5 BB%.
More seriously, the NYM and Pirates should’ve been connected in the Marte trade.
Marte to the NYMs.
Lowrie, Familia, and a half-dozen prospects to the Pirates. If things go as expected, the Pirates get a half-dozen prospects (or young players) for Marte and $30M.
If things go well, and either guy is salvageable, they get the prospects at a cost of less than $30M. Right now, the Pirates competitive advantage is a low payroll.