Philadelphia Phillies: Matt Klentak might’ve won the J.T. Realmuto trade after all

The love that Philadelphia Phillies fans have for J.T. Realmuto is exceptional, that’s not really up for debate. The city went on a year-long campaign to convince ownership to re-sign the All-Star catcher, ultimately culminating in a much deserved five-year extension.

It took less than one day for J.T. to make his impact felt in 2021, as he went 2-4 at the plate and made a fantastic run-saving defensive play during Thursday’s Opening Day win. Without J.T. and his heroics on both the offensive and the defensive side of things, the Phils would likely be 0-1 at the moment, as opposed to 1-0.

With all of that said, as great as Realmuto was and will continue to be for Philadelphia, it was pretty hard to not feel like the Phillies “lost” the initial trade with the Miami Marlins.

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The Phillies – ran by Matt Klentak at the time – parted ways with highly rated pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez back in the 2019 offseason in order to acquire their current catcher. While it took Sixto another year before he made his major league debut, his introduction into the MLB last season was nothing short of spectacular.

Sanchez, at just 21 years of age, pitched seven games for the Marlins in 2020. He went 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA, playing a huge role in Miami’s underdog playoff berth. Sixto even made a scoreless five inning start against the Cubs in the Wild Card Round, a series that the Marlins ultimately went on to win.

Even with Realmuto being the best catcher in baseball by quite some distance the last two seasons, the general consensus was that the Phillies had foolishly pawned away a future Ace. Sixto’s fastball was reaching the triple-digits with ease, and he had all the makings of a Cy Young winner.

The Philadelphia Phillies ability to re-sign J.T. this past offseason quieted some of the talk about the trade being a “loss”, as seven years of Realmuto is obviously far more valuable than just two. However, some recent developments regarding Sixto’s overall health could see the trade pendulum flipped completely back to Philly’s side:

One of the biggest reasons Sixto was initially deemed expendable by Klentak and the Phillies was due to his physical health. The young right-hander had battled injuries for most of his minor-league career, and there was some internal belief that it would keep him away from a prominent MLB role in the long run.

Now obviously, I think we’d all much prefer it if Sixto remained fully healthy for the entirety of his professional career – hate to see such a young talent miss extended time. However, any further complications regarding Sixto and his shoulder understandably changes the narrative when it comes to Klentak’s acquisition of J.T. back in 2019.

The Philadelphia Phillies may have actually won the J.T./Sixto trade.

Taking into account the Phillies and their timeline to win (aka right now!), I think everyone is in agreement that the team would much rather have Realmuto and his All-Star capabilities, as opposed to a potentially injured prospect arm.

Maybe the Phillies could have traded Sixto for someone better later down the line if they had kept him in town, but it’s pretty hard to imagine a scenario where the Phils are a successful team without J.T. at the moment. He makes such a huge impact on and off the field, and is pretty universally loved by his teammates and coaches.