Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto has been an obvious extension candidate for a while, but nothing has come together yet as he nears his final season of team control. With the coronavirus pushing back the start of the season for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t appear a new Realmuto pact will materialize in the near term. The Phillies and Realmuto have hit the pause button on negotiations for the time being, general manager Matt Klentak revealed Tuesday (via Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer).
As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd explained Tuesday, there isn’t a roster freeze or a moratorium on extensions, so teams and players aren’t prohibited from hammering out long-term agreements. On the other hand, with the start of the 2020 campaign off the table for a while, there’s a lot less urgency for the two sides to get something done. The Phillies had been prioritizing a preseason extension for Realmuto, though. Therefore, it stands to reason they’ll get back to work on one when there’s clarity regarding the date of Opening Day, if not sooner.
While Realmuto at least has a contract for this year, players from the Phillies and other teams who signed minor league deals containing opt-out clauses are facing quite a bit of uncertainty.
Klentak spoke on their statuses, saying: “We do not have clarity. There’s a possibility we will have to make some of those decisions this week.”
Philadelphia has a few established veterans who landed non-guaranteed pacts with opt-outs and were competing for big league roles before the postponement of spring training. As Lauber notes, infielders Neil Walker and Logan Forsythe and relievers Anthony Swarzak and Francisco Liriano may all exit their deals Thursday. Speculatively, however, MLB could push the deadlines back for players in those situations.
If they have a contractual out in their contract, can MLB really push that back without their consent?
It wouldn’t make sense for them to use the current deadline. It isn’t clear if they earned a roster spot yet. Pushing back the deadline helps the players
It’s a players option. The player would have to opt out before the team needs to worry I would think ?
Imo no. We saw Panik added yesterday. It’s a contract with specific dates, just like a suspension with a specific number of games
Now, could it be renegotiated because teams say “we don’t know yet” and the guy knows most teams are in a bad spot?.. sure
No point in doing that from JTR’s perspective. Unless his free agency gets delayed (which, I imagine the MLBPA would have something to say about that) no season or a shorter season means less chance of an injury or poor performance hurting his earning potential.
His agent found out The Angels gave Castro a 1 year contract. Anaheim here we come.
Bottom line! the Phillies are the biggest dopes. Those imbeciles traded for JT and now realize what a bid mistake. They’re not going to sign JT because they’re cheap and they can’t get him to sign for peanuts. They will lose him in free agency and what will turn out to be is just an idiotic move.
Dopes? Sure. Cheap? Nah.
They did openly admit they had, “stupid money.”
Oh chip! Your right, I remember that. Makes you wonder why teams don’t demand the player trading for to agree to an extension in order to complete the transaction. I think the Reds did a great job doing that with Gray, they asked Yankeesfor permission to negotiate an extension before completing the Gray trade from Yankees. To many GM’s that are goats. They need to demand extension before trading and if player doesn’t then that means that player is a bad option for the organization because it generally means they think they deserve big time cash from the highest bidder.
The Phillies were never expecting him to sign for peanuts or give them a home-team discount.
They have a lot of money coming off the books at the end of this season including Segura, Arrieta and Robertson. They will sign JTR to a 5 or 6 years extension for Mauer-type AAV.
Then why the trade? Why not wait until he’s a free agent and then throw money at him?
They thought they were better in 2019 than they were? They thought 1/3 of their lineup wouldn’t be hurt a large part of the year? They didn’t think Arrieta would become a 31 year old dud?
But sure, no reason at all
Because when you have him they obviously have a better chance.and no one is bidding driving up the cost. duh
Trading for him also helped them with getting Harper signed
@Commonsenseslapsyou if that’s the case why does it matter if he signs an extension or not?
@HaloHonk4Life…
“Because when you have him they obviously have a better chance.”
Do we have any proof of that? And even if we do is that difference really big enough to be worth trading Sixto Sanchez to a division rival?
“… and no one is bidding driving up the cost. duh”
There is a not inconsiderable chance that that is exactly what will be happening even with them trading for them.
@rgreen no it didn’t. $330m is what helped them with getting Harper signed.
Definitely no proof of that. An incident or two in the clubhouse can turn a player away come free agency.
It’s a classic case of would you rather; trade for JTR and lose a prospect or two, or lose a draft pick and sign Grandal, but keep the prospects you’d trade away. Philly had that option.
Shouldn’t have stiffed him on arbitration. That 2.5 million could very well cost Philly a catcher
He literally said he’s not going to hold the arbitration thing against them…
Teams/leagues show be a little careful giving out extensions right now. Just because games will resume at some point doesn’t mean fans will show up right away. My guess is attendance will be down over the next 2 seasons.
I think everyone will show up and sell out ballparks. When this is over people are going to be very eager to get out and enjoy little things like a simple ballgame.
Let’s hope so, it’d be nice for people to be back to normal and appreciate the little things in life –
The Phillies will need to overpay for Realmuto. Why else would he sign with a team that most likely be relegated to middle of the pack status for the next three to five years? Meanwhile Klentak still leaves an impression of incompetence at every turn.
“That will most likely be relegated to…”
im fairly convinced JT is gone. soon we’ll have to suffer without him while watching a Sixto/Alfaro battery burry us in 5th in the league. PAY THE MAN.
No extension, No Matt Klentak
No Extension, No Matt Klentak
Before the COVID-19 factor I just couldn’t see the stars aligning for a Realmuto extension. Clearly there’s a factor causing Klentak et al hesitation, but toss in the uncertainty facing MLB in 2020, and the likelihood of JT remaining in PHI falls off the cliff. Free agency awaits.