Philadelphia Phillies: Three free agent options at catcher if J.T Realmuto leaves
With J.T Realmuto’s future with the Philadelphia Phillies in serious doubt, here are three free agent options the franchise could look to for 2021.
Yes, I know. We are potentially heading towards a really bad breakup with Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T Realmuto. As the franchise has failed to secure an extension with the All-Star catcher, and he gets set to hit free agency.
While you would never be able to straight up “replace” a player of Realmuto’s caliber, you will still need somebody to serve as your starting catcher in 2021.
Here are three options the Philadelphia Phillies will have, if they do indeed fail to resign J.T.
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3. Kurt Suzuki
2020 Team: Washington Nationals
2020 Salary: $6 million
We start out with a familiar face, as Kurt Suzuki has seemingly been a thorn in the Philadelphia Phillies side for years now. The reason it feels this way is because, well, he has been a thorn in the Phils’ side. Having spent multiple years in the National League East, the 16 year veteran has faced the Phils’ in 59 different games. In that time, he has smacked 11 career home runs against Philadelphia, which is the most he has against any team in the big leagues.
Of course as mentioned, you will not be able to replicate the kind of production Realmuto brings. However, Suzuki could be a nice platoon piece with a guy like Andrew Knapp (yikes) and could be a nice stabilizing figure behind the plate for the pitching staff. You even have that aspect of Suzuki having insider knowledge on a team like the Washington Nationals staff which could be valuable.
In 2020, Suzuki was decent in a platoon role, as he slashed .270/.349/.745 with 2 long balls and 17 RBIs across 33 games. Again, not anything special but not a bad season at all.
At the ripe age of 37 years old, Kurt Suzuki would be nothing more than a stop gap option for the Phillies. The thing that makes him so appealing is he should come rather cheap, and as sad as it is, this appears to be the route the Phillies want to go (meaning saving money.)