As the 2020 MLB season comes to an end, teams like the Phillies now are tasked with deciding which players they want to keep in their organizations. One of the Phillies’ more notable free agents set to hit the market this year is their star-studded catcher J.T. Realmuto.
Realmuto is widely recognized as the best catcher in baseball. In 2019, Realmuto played exceptionally well for the Phillies, earning the Silver Slugger award for the National League and the Gold Glove Award at his position.
Realmuto is entering his eighth season in the MLB, joining the Phillies via trade in February of 2019. According to MLB.com, Realmuto is targeting a contract within the $200 million range.
If Realmuto was to land this contract he’d not only become the highest-paid catcher in the MLB, but he’d also be the highest-paid catcher in MLB history.
Comments made by the team’s former general manager Matt Klentak and managing partner John Middleton suggest that the team’s chances of re-signing Realmuto aren’t guaranteed.
“We still love the player. We’d still love to have him in red pinstripes for the long haul. But there’s a lot of uncertainty in the game right now on a variety of levels. We just need to play that out,” said Klentak to The Press of Atlantic City reporters earlier in the year.
Despite the comments being made by team management, fans and even Phillies players have expressed their desire to have J.T. Realmuto back.
One of the more noteworthy voices being heard amongst the cries of people asking for the Phillies to re-sign Realmuto comes from Bryce Harper, the Phillies’ star outfielder.
Harper has demanded on numerous occasions that the Phillies re-sign Realmuto, expressing this belief as recently as the end of the 2020 regular season.
“J.T. Realmuto needs to be our catcher next year — plain and simple,” Harper said to reporters after the Phillies’ last game of the season.
Fans have expressed similar beliefs, with students at Cabrini sharing a similar sentiment in regard to Realmuto’s potential re-signing.
“Regardless of his age, when you have a talent as good as Realmuto playing for your team, you got to find some way to keep him,” Kevin Waldron, junior marketing major, said. “ I’m a huge fan of J.T. so it would suck to see him walk this offseason for nothing at all.”
When asked if he thinks the team will actually sign Realmuto, Waldron responded with a no, pointing towards the team’s other problems and gaps that may be tackled during the offseason.
