Sep 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto (10) celebrates his walk-off RBI single during the ninth inning against the New York Mets USA; at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images Eric Hartline
In a recent poll done by ESPN's Jesse Rogers, an anonymous MLB executive named J.T. Realmuto as a trade candidate.
"While most of the players our panel picked have been at least mentioned in offseason trade speculation, one name selected caught us by surprise: Realmuto. Would the Phillies trade their star catcher ahead of his final season before hitting free agency? One exec believes it could happen if Dave Dombrowski wants to shake things up after a division series exit in October. According to our voter, Realmuto might be the most tradable player on the Phillies' roster outside of Bohm."
Rogers also added this on X:
Catching up on this...not sure if it was noted in the article enough but the exec prefaced his thought that it was an out of box, throw something at the wall idea for DD to mix things up...so def wasn't predicting it so much as giving people something to think about (I assume)
It should be noted that 18 "MLB team executives and baseball insiders" were the respondents to Rogers for this story, and only one picked Realmuto when asked "Who is another top trade candidate besides Garrett Crochet?". Two answered Alec Bohm, whose trade candidacy we've written about ad nauseam already.
The idea of trading Realmuto is one that hasn't been broached, but is at least worth discussing, particularly given that the person making this prediction wasn't just someone with 38 Twitter followers and a blue check they paid $8 for.
Realmuto is entering his age-34 season, which is also the final campaign of his five-year/$115.5 million contract. He hit .266 with 14 home runs, 47 RBIs and a .751 OPS this past year, so he's definitely still providing value. But it's also fair to say that he's no longer the best catcher in baseball, a title he held for a prolonged stretch given the stress that playing that position puts on your body.
The executive referred to Realmuto as being "tradable," which is probably true considering any team that would be taking on the three-time All-Star would only be committing to his $23.875 million salary for 2025. The Phillies would probably struggle to find a team willing to take on the money owed to say, Trea Turner, right now because it's for such a long time. They likely wouldn't for Realmuto.
From @TimKellySports: Rob Thomson Has To Do ‘Some Convincing’ To Get J.T. Realmuto To Accept More Frequent off Days
Go here: https://t.co/gBJjbiEbH5 pic.twitter.com/ORDAjbJOay
With that said, if a team took on that $23.875 million — or even 80% of it — the Phillies probably wouldn't get much back in return. They could use those savings towards signing another major free agent, perhaps Alex Bregman. But they would then have to find another solution at catcher, because you're probably not going into the season with the tandem of Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs behind the dish.
Another thing you have to consider here is that Realmuto has 10-and-5 rights because he's been in the league for 10 years, and played for his current team for at least five years. That gives him a full no-trade clause, even though his contract didn't include one. So Realmuto would have to be on board with any trade. If he says he's not interested in going anywhere, that would be that.
Still, the idea of shopping Realmuto is at least interesting to consider if you believe there are teams who would be willing to take on all of his money. That would be one of your best paths towards clearing a significant chunk of salary and shaking the team up in 2025. It seems unlikely to happen, but who knows.
