Philadelphia Phillies: JT Realmuto’s price tag is only going up

A JT Realmuto extension for the Philadelphia Phillies is getting more expensive by the day.

When the Philadelphia Phillies pulled the trigger on a JT Realmuto trade last offseason, they really needed him to be special for the trade to end up making sense. The Phillies gave up up a starting caliber catcher in Jorge Alfaro, as well as their number one rated pitching prospect at the time: Sixto Sanchez.

In his first year for the Phillies, Realmuto won a Silver Slugger, won a Gold Glove, was selected to the All Star game, and has earned the title of “Best Catcher in Baseball” across the entire MLB. The team didn’t just make an upgrade at the catcher position, they went out and landed one of the best players in all of baseball. It’s pretty safe to say the trade turned out to be an absolute home run for the Phillies.

Despite his outstanding success in 2019, the Phillies and Realmuto were unable to agree upon a contract extension during the offseason. A scenario that has left fans beyond frustrated.

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Talks had reportedly kicked off during Spring Training, with there being mutual interest on both sides. Realmuto has expressed repeatedly that he loves the city of Philadelphia and loves his Phillies teammates, and you would assume Klentak would want to extend a player he just recently traded a haul for.

However, due to the COVID-19 shutdown, talks between Realmuto and the Phillies front office stalled for the most part. Realmuto seemed content with this reality, understanding that the uncertainty of the situation was making things difficult for everyone involved. The Phillies front office on the other hand, seemed to be looking at the scenario as a potential leverage tool.

"“We still love the player… But there’s a lot of uncertainty in the game right now on a variety of levels.” -Phillies GM Matt Klentak on JT Realmuto in June"

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a player that Klentak was reportedly almost ready to hand over 100+ million dollars to, now is it?

According to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, the apparent new plan with Realmuto is to allow him to hit the free agent market this winter, in a play to potentially get him on a discount. This obviously seems like an incredibly foolish idea on the outside looking in, as a team like the Yankees could easily come over the top and offer Realmuto $200 million. Klentak is playing with fire, and he’s already starting to get burned.

Realmuto has been off to a scorching hot start in 2020. He’s currently slashing .333/.385/.708, he leads the Phillies with three home runs and eight RBIs, and has already thrown out a handful of batters. He’s caught some extremely good games behind both Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, and Wheeler himself even said Realmuto was a driving factor into him signing with Philly this offseason.

Realmuto has been everything the Phillies could have asked for and then some. He’s elite both offensively and defensively, and the fanbase absolutely adores him. Rumors of anywhere between $20-25 million per season were discussed during Spring Training, if the Phillies do in fact wait till after 2020, we now could be looking at $25-30 million. Throw in the fact that the NL now has a DH, that’s just one more added layer to Realmuto’s value being increased.

Realmuto doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, in fact, he’ll likely only get better as the season progresses. He’s the best catcher in baseball for a reason, and Klentak and the Phillies are going to have to cough up the money that he deserves if they want him to stay in Philadelphia moving forward.