Philadelphia Phillies: Could Mookie Betts deal spark a JT Realmuto extension?

Could the Mookie Betts extension jolt the Philadelphia Phillies into action?

Despite trading away their best pitching prospect at the time for him (Sixto Sanchez), the Philadelphia Phillies have still yet to re-sign catcher JT Realmuto. Fans and players alike have been calling for it all offseason long, yet nothing has been reported in terms of progress being made since the COVID-19 shutdown.

However, the Phillies front office seeing the LA Dodgers shell out close to $400 million for their own respective superstar may change how they go about things this season.

The Dodgers made a big time power play this past offseason, sending over a trade package for 4x All-Star and 2018 MVP Mookie Betts. Despite leading them to a World Series victory the year before, the Boston Red Sox were seemingly unwilling to hand out the money needed to retain Betts’ services, and agreed to the trade proposal.

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Since then, it’s been a tad unclear what Betts’ future would be in Los Angeles. The season had obviously been shortened, and it was beginning to look like one giant 60 game “rental”.

However, the Los Angeles ownership had a goal in mind, and they weren’t going to let a few hundred million dollars stand in the way of their championship aspirations. The Dodgers handed over a 12-year, $365 million extension to Betts, making him the second-highest paid player in all of baseball. Obviously, Betts accepted.

This contract means a few things for the Phillies, the most glaring being that now Realmuto will likely be viewed as the top free agent candidate in 2021. The versatile catcher is coming off a 2019 campaign where he won a Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, and was selected to the All-Star game. While he was always going to be heavily sought after on the open market, there was a general belief that the big market teams would first target Betts. That security blanket is now gone.

Second, it shows the acceleration of the ever growing baseball market. Both the Yankees and the Dodgers just dropped $300+ million on players, and all it takes is one team to come over the top with a silly huge offer for Realmuto and he would likely walk.

Realmuto has expressed multiple times he’d like to finish his career in Philadelphia, and Bryce Harper has done the same as well. Realmuto’s price tag likely just raised a few million following the news of Betts’ monster extension, but at some point the Phillies need to buckle down and pay big money to great players.

If anything, the Betts’ extension might (emphasis on might) push the Phillies brass into action. Getting an extension done now as opposed to in free agency would be ideal for all parties involved.