Phillies Still Have Not Made a Formal Offer to the All-Star Catcher
According to John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Phillies have yet to present free agent catcher J.T. Realmuto with a formal offer. The entire story can be found here.
According to Clark and from the information gathered from his source, there is interest. However, both sides “have had conversations but no official offer has ever been made.” This report comes on the heels of a national report from Monday.
Of course, the Phillies are under new leadership in the front office. Dave Dombrowski was hired by the organization to be the President of Baseball Operations earlier this month. Furthermore, the team officially announced the promotion of Sam Fuld to their General Manager role last week.
As such, the Dombrowski and Fuld are likely trying to figure out the best course of action for the team moving forward. According to the article, Dombrowski touched on this very topic last week in a press conference with reporters. Dombrowski stated, “The lines of communication [have] been open with Realmuto’s agent, Jeff Berry, though no negotiations had taken place.”
The Philadelphia Phillies and J.T. Realmuto
One of the complicating factors behind all of this is of course the state of the Phillies payroll. As it stands right now, the Phillies have the ninth highest project payroll in baseball at $132.6 million dollars. Factoring everything in from a Competitive Balance standpoint is where things get interesting. Based on that amount, the Phillies have a little north of $60 million to spend before reaching the luxury tax threshold of $210 million dollars.
As with any free agent, the market remains fluid and the number of teams interested continues to change. No one can predict exactly what type of contract Realmuto will end up signing. It’s too challenging based on the current economic conditions around the game and the uncertainty surrounding the 2021 season.
However, the Phillies are keeping the door open on a reunion with the 29-year old catcher. Now only time will tell if they end up making an official offer and if the offer will be good enough to retain J.T. Realmuto.
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