Phillies to sign JT Realmuto



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The Phillies and JT Realmuto are reuniting, with the two sides agreeing to a five-year deal worth $ 115.5 million, according to SportsGrid’s Craig Mish (Twitter link). The contract will become official when Realmuto goes physical. Realmuto is represented by CAA Sports.

Realmuto to make $ 20 million in 2021, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets, and the remaining $ 95.5 million will be spread evenly over the other four years, or $ 23.875 million per season. Athletic’s Matt Gelb reported (via Twitter) that deferred money is involved, with Athletic’s Jayson Stark add that $ 10 million of Realmuto’s salary for 2021 is carried over. Realmuto’s contract is a five-year contract with no options or club churn, according to Nightengale. The only additional clause appears to be a $ 1million posting bonus in the event of a trade-in, according to Jon Heyman of the MLB Network.

The average annual value of $ 23.1 million is the highest given to a catcher in baseball history, slightly exceeding the standard of $ 23 million set by Joe Mauer during his eight-year and 184 stretch. million dollars with the Twins in March 2010. Several previous reports indicated that Realmuto was looking to raise the bar for receivers with his next contract, and while outperforming Mauer or Buster Posey in terms of pure dollars, it might just be Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic even affected baseball’s finances, Realmuto ended up settling at least one new benchmark.

Realmuto is now set to stay in Philadelphia for at least the 2025 season, ending a protracted negotiation process over his long-term future that seemed to begin almost as soon as the Phillies acquired him in a successful trade to the Marlins in February 2019. Both sides had a mutual interest in an extension, talks were halted last spring due to the pandemic-induced list freeze, and it then appeared that Realmuto seemed more open to considering other options at the time. approaching his free agency. Given that the Phils spent the first few weeks of the offseason overhauling their front office and apparently looking to cut spending, this has heightened speculation that Realmuto will play elsewhere in 2021.

However, the hiring of Dave Dombrowski (who is no stranger to big salaries) as the team’s new president of baseball operations seemed to indicate that owner John Middleton wasn’t entirely looking to cut costs. Most reports over the past few weeks seemed to suggest that the Phillies were Realmuto’s favorites again, both because the team were willing to pay, and also perhaps because the Realmuto market was shrinking.

The Mets quickly quit the Realmuto chase by signing James McCann, and other speculative contenders like the Angels (Kurt Suzuki) and Astros (Jason Castro) have made attractive additions at a lower cost, while the Yankees appear content to stay. with Gary Sanchez. The Nationals, Blue Jays and Braves were also said to have been interested in Realmuto, although Toronto may be done with top-tier contracts after George Springer landed, and Washington apparently opted for a strategy of spreading its money on signatures like Brad Hand and Kyle. Schwarber rather than going crazy for a Realmuto.

Other analyzes to come …



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