J.T. Realmuto will be the best catcher on the free agent market this winter – and one of the best players of any measure. The two-time All-Star should have no shortage of potential suitors when the bidding begins. Though their opportunity to filibuster is nearing an end, the Phillies aren’t yielding the floor quite yet. Expect interim GM Ned Rice and President Andy MacPhail to continue their efforts to bring the Oklahoman back to Philadelphia. A true two-way serviceman like Realmuto with elite skills on both sides of the ball will wag the tails of more than a few executives around the game, however.
Realmuto will turn 30-years-old in March of next season, and any team that signs him will have to be aware of the threat the aging curve poses to his long-term productivity. And yet, it’s not as if we haven’t seen productive offensive catchers in the past. Similar performers of the past can provide insight into how well Realmuto may age as he enters his thirties (and how much he might be worth over the life of that next contract), which the Athletic’s Tim Britton explores. Looking at a collection of catchers with similar career arcs to Realmuto’s, Britton lands on either a four-year, $96MM deal or a six-year, $128MM deal as the proper valuation for Realmuto’s services moving forward.
It’s worth mentioning, Realmuto’s future viability could benefit from a rule change or two. If the designated hitter stays in the National League, for instance, Realmuto’s next club could keep him fresh into his thirties while still allowing his bat to play. He is one of the rare catchers whose bat could conceivably play at DH. But there’s also the possibility of electronic strike zones, which could lessen the detriment that aging has on a catcher’s defensive performance.
But electronic strike zones aren’t coming next season, and it’s hard to know when exactly they may enter everyday use. It’s that very issue that threatens the employability of bigger-body backstops like Gary Sánchez, Wilson Ramos, and Jorge Alfaro, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman provides this interesting insight from an anonymous executive, “When the automated strike zone comes maybe you can have a DH catch because framing will mean nothing or maybe if we give the catcher an earpiece and can feed him every pitch, game calling will mean nothing. But we are asking catchers to make 150 decisions a game and have deep relationships with every pitcher and more than ever you cannot throw the defensive component away.”
Each of Sánchez, Ramos, and Alfaro lost playing time down the stretch and in the playoffs to better defensive catchers. Sánchez in particular faced a rather public “benching.” As the playoffs wore on and Sánchez struggled to light a fuse at the plate, the Yankees increasingly went with Kyle Higashioka as their primary receiver. Sánchez has another round of arbitration this winter after making a full-scale salary of $5MM in 2020, but the Yankees are likely to try and move him before the contract tender date of December 2nd, writes Sherman.
Given the state of the game amid the pandemic, rampant revenue losses make for a more uncertain winter than any in recent memory. The number of teams capable of luring J.T. may be limited if the price for entry is in the neighborhood suggested by Britton. James McCann and Mike Zunino represent the “best of the rest,” though the trade market could add a player like Sánchez to grease the wheels. Take another look at our free agency preview, provided here by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, but it’s certainly going to be interesting to see the length, duration, and location of Realmuto’s next deal.
Jays have 3 catchers making either Jansen or Hands McGuire available via trade.
I don’t like what baseball is turning into, and not in a “get off my lawn” sort of way that makes people thankful that the older generations will slowly fade into oblivion. But electronic strike zones where you no longer need a “catcher”? Just throw any physical body behind home plate and give him an earpiece? (So much for the Astros cheating.) What necessitates this change? Replacing or reviewing umpires better with more accurate technology is one thing, but don’t turn the players on the field into robots.
Yeah, wasn’t that a ridiculous comment? Electronic strike zones will expand the number of guys who can catch, but there is more to it than pitch framing. So go ahead and put Mike Engelberg (fat catcher kid from Bad News Bears) behind an MLB dish and I’ll run and bunt on him all day!
Sadly though bunting on the shift hasn’t materialized. This generation of players are looking for the big bomb and highlight reel at bats. Sucks for the traditional fan. The new norm is plain awful.
Bryce Harper attempted to bunt through the shift quite often. It worked about as much as it didn’t work. It’s not as simple as a matter of “these young guys don’t want to play small ball.” There are analytics telling people that small ball isn’t worth it.
This is why I have no patience for those that want to ban the shift. If you’re a pull-happy lefty, and refuse to learn how to drop a bunt down towards 3B, you deserve to suffer.
Even with a big, slow lefty slugger like Papi, a lead-off bunt single is like money in the bank,
lead off baserunner scores 50% of the time. of course it’s worth it.
And that’s what analytics aren’t what baseball needs. They are killing work ethic to an extent. No one practices certain facets of the game anymore and when those facets are needed, no one cand do it.
It’s not a matter of work ethic. That’s the point I disagree with. When you have numbers showing you that small ball doesn’t work, and coaches telling you the same, you listen. I love small ball. But the idea that these young guys aren’t working as hard is something I disagree with. This is how the game is how the game is taught now.
So it worked 50% of the time. That’s a great bunting average on the shift.
Why would they learn how to bunt? Bunts don’t have a good launch angle. And chicks dig the long ball.
/s
I’m from the older generation and feel sorry for you that you never will appreciate how great a game baseball was back in the day. This may be breaking news to you, but baseball is way more than strikeouts and home runs. The game as it’s played today is boring and too long.
Should call this place yankeestraderumors.
Why? Because they mentioned Sanchez in an article about fathers with frames that may not last into later years?
*catchers
No. because there has been 6 articles about Yankees in two days. There are many teams, who haven’t been mentioned once in that time span. But, I guess your comprehension doesn’t go beyond the headline.
Because they held a news conference touching on a lot of subjects. Being that they just finished their season while other teams were done a couple weeks ago, it makes sense.
Salty much? Hate to break it to you but the Yankees are on of the most popular teams in baseball, they’re going to attract more readers, therefore more articles.
It’s the same with the Giants, the Cubs, the Red Sox, etc.
Jt has come this far now and he owes Phillies no loyalty ,he’d be crazy not to test free agency and talk to other teams before deciding what he wants to do , do the right thing jt and explore your options
Sure, but where is Sandy Leon going to wind up???????????????
Who cares? Like the sarcasm though!….I hope its sarcasm though!
Realmuto will be a Met (if Cohen wants him) if he doesn’t, than the other teams have a chance. I could see him taking less to play for Phillies but if it’s about money for him and Cohen wants him the Phillies have not shot imo
What if JT insists on signing for 20 years 50 million per?
So Bobby Bonilla’s contract basically. I love it.
That’s absurd. Free agency hasn’t even begun but you have insights into where Realmuto will sign. Mets aren’t the far and away leader in the Realmuto sweepstakes that you make them out to be. I can’t recall the Mets beings far and away anything to be honest.
I’m not saying they are. But if this is a bidding war and Cohen wants to win the bidding war he will. It’s just a fact. Mets have by far the most money in the mlb now.
The word ‘fact’ – I don’t think it means what you think it means.
You use the word “fact” in a way I’m entirely unfamiliar with.
So if guy with more money wants to outbid you? You could outbid him??? How does that work???
Maybe a dictionary would be a good buy???
Are you Steve Cohen? Or did Steve Cohen personally tell you he plans to outbid everyone for Realmuto?
Metsfan – u don’t know what the word ‘fact’ means. A fact is a truth. It’s evidence. You have an opinion about how Cohen will play the free-agent market and you refer to it as a fact. It’s a simple matter of you not knowing what a fact is.
That’s why I said “ if he wants to win the bidding war”……… I never said we would get him. But if he wants to win the bidding war he won’t lose.. obviously realmuto might want to stay a Philly or Cohen might not want to over pay. But Mets have by far the most money in mlb now. So if Cohen wanted to outbid everyone he could.
Read please. I said if he wanted too. I obviously don’t know if he wants too……
See…we did read.
“It’s just a fact.” ~ Metsfan22
😉
I think you are right to be excited about new ownership. Cohen has deep pockets and intends to spend money in an offseason when other teams will be cutting expenses. I don’t think this makes the Mets a lock to sign Realmuto, but the Mets very well may be the biggest spender this offseason.
While Cohen will have the largest personal fortune, if he’s approved, I’m sure Cohen could afford to have a $500 million annual payroll. There are other owners who could dip into their personal fortune and have payrolls of $300 million. So, yes there is an area where Cohen could potentially outspend everyone dramatically but it seems likely that even if the Mets have the highest payroll it’ll still be in a stratosphere others can match.
The Phillies paid Harper over $300 million. The Yankees paid Cole over $300 million. If Cohen wants to give Realmuto a $300 million it won’t be that other owners can’t afford that. It’ll be that other owners think it’s a bad idea.
Yes…. if you read……. than you would know the fact was the IF COHEN WANTED TOO…. he would not get outbid bc he has the most money.. NOT….. THE METS WILL GET REALMUTO…..
Of course. I wouldn’t want realmuto for 300 mil. I hope that doesn’t happen. I was just saying Cohen could outbid anyone. Phil’s probably have the advantage bc he feels like a home there
as a Mets fan, i hope we dont sign Realmuto!! a disaster waiting to happen…
Metfan22, You’re being ridiculous. These opinions of yours which you are claiming to be facts aren’t even particularly well thought out as opinions.
The Mets don’t have “by far” the most money in baseball now. The owner’s money is not the team’s money and while Cohen will likely be running higher payrolls the team will need to generate more revenue to for him to be willing to sustain that spend (will be much harder with out owning the cable network).
The Yankees and Dodgers have ‘by far’ the most money in terms of actual spending power in the MLB because they generate the most revenue.
Mets fans hoping a billionaire owner will swoop in to save them by outspending the rest of the league are extremely misguided in how billionaires operate.
Mike Illitch certainly used to try that approach with the Tigers. It’s not inconceivable that Cohen will spend stupid money on a free agent or two.
Clearly you didn’t read closely enough because the “fact” that he stated was that IF Cohen wanted to outbid everyone else, he could. That is objectively a fact. He has more money than everyone else, therefore if he decided to outbid everyone else no matter the ultimate cost, he would end up bidding the most because he has the most. Whether Cohen will actually spend to that degree remains to be seen but it is a fact that the person with the most money can spend more money than everyone else.
Ok im a mets fan and even i agree MetsFan22 is just talking out of somewhere not nameable.
Metsfan22: I could pay you 3 billion dollars for this 50 cent hershey bar because i have the money but i wont but i can if i want to but that wouldnt make sense but remember i could but i probably wont.
Dont get me wrong i would love JT on the team but there is a ceiling especially for catchers. He is no mike trout obviously and as there are few if any are 162 game catchers and even fewer that are full time into their mid 30s.
I think the ceiling is 200M based on history and insane bidding. Even i wouldnt suggest that high unless you plan to move him to dh/first base or front load his contract (maybe covid adjustment?) so it is tradable or defer some of it. Im saying 6 years around 160 175 sounds like the top end unless someone really over bids.
Thank you. That’s all I’ve trying to say.
Yeah I’m not saying we should over pay for realmuto. I was telling the dude that I’d we wanted to get him at all cost. And realmuto only cared about money. There is nothing anyone else could do
The Mets have the most money by far now that they have a owner with 14 billions dollars lol. That’s how life works. He already said he will spend and not worry about losing money rn. He is a life long Mets fan
Yes, the Mets have an owner who has $14 billion. And John Middleton is worth $3.4 billion. If Cohen is planning on having a payroll of $3.5 billion a year he can outbid Middleton.
We both know that won’t happen. If Cohen has a payroll of $250 million it’ll be the highest in baseball. Even if his payroll is $300 million a year he can certainly be outbid by another owner.
So, no Cohen having the highest net worth won’t ensure the Mets get all the players. What will ensure that is if Cohen is willing to beyond what anyone else is willing to spend. So yeah, if he wants to make J.T. Realmuto, Trevor Bauer, and George Springer the three highest paid players in baseball with $400 million contracts each, he’ll get them. Many owners could afford to do that. No other one will.
So under your way of thinking (richest owner wins all bids), then if we created a chart of owner wealth and overlaid a chart of free agent signings, we’d see a strong correlation.
But we don’t see that.
Averagejoe15, everything you state is intelligent and true, but expect it to go over certain folks’ heads as they continue to rant misinformation as if they’re enlightening us.
Obviously I’m not expecting every player. The payroll is there for a reason. But him being the richest owner means that he will most likely have less problem paying more for players than Middleton. Middleton is already talking about how covid affected his money and how he is worried that he won’t be able to spend a lot. Cohen is about to drop 50 mil in the analytics department. Having the richest owner in baseball by far probably means will have the highest payroll (without penalties) in the mlb every year. Or at least tied with yanks and dodgers.
I’m not saying our payroll will be 500 mil. I’m just pointing out he is the richest owner by far and if his life depended on getting realmuto nobody could outbid him. The Mets have never spent as much as the yanks and dodgers. That’s about to change. That’s all I was getting at
Middleton didn’t say that at all. His fortune is in the billions and it’s secure. He hasn’t talked about the team’s payroll for 2021 or whether they’ll spend a lot or a little. What he has said is the team’s revenue dropped by over $100 million and that’s impacting the club.
Middleton is like all the other MLB owners in that they determine payroll based on revenue. Baseball teams don’t spend more than they make. The Phillies certainly could do so, as Middleton is worth billions and he owns less than half the team.
Cohen could come in and say, “revenue be damned. I’ll spend $50 or $100 million more than revenue.” There’s precedent for new owners doing a massive spending spree. The Dodgers had a payroll of $271 million in 2015. Yet, their payroll dropped dramatically.
I don’t know why. I can only speculate.
1. The luxury tax penalties are such that a team doesn’t want to pay them, especially the higher tax that drops a team’s draft pick.
2. No one wants to operate a business $50 million in the red, even if they can afford it.
3. Other MLB owners don’t spend like that and they eventually realize they’re all in this together.
4. They realize that giving out huge contracts hamstrings a team because there’s always a budget.
At the end of your post you admit that the Mets “will have the highest payroll (without penalties) in the mlb every year.” That’s possible but the highest payroll (without penalties) means that you can’t outbid every other team on Realmuto, Springer, and Bauer.
The Mets had a CBT payroll of $202 million this year. You can’t get much higher without incurring a penalty and the penalties get severe somewhere in the $230 million range.
The Mets payroll wasn’t “really” 202 mil this year lol. The wilpons actual payroll in terms of the team was like in the 160 range. And that’s very sad for a NY team.
Please reread what I wrote. Their CBT payroll was $202 million, not their actual payroll. CBT is competitive balance tax. The CBT payroll is what teams pay attention to because when you go over a threshold you have to pay penalties.
“Add all of that up, and the Mets are paying a total of $174.5 million. But between the insurance on David Wright’s contract and the settlement, it’s probably safe to assume his $12 million shouldn’t really be counted in what the Mets are paying their 2020 roster. That leaves us at $162.5 million.
Because the competitive balance tax uses the average annual value of a player’s contract and the Wright salary is included, Cot’s has the team’s CBT hit at $188.3 million, well below the threshold of $208 million that would make a team pay what’s commonly referred to as the “luxury tax,” a tiny percentage fee based only on the amount of payroll that exceeds the threshold.”
I don’t know where you got “202” from but this is the actual spending.. as you could see it nots a lot for a NY team
Mets fans are hilarious. Just because the owner is wealthy, it doesn’t mean he is going to spend his personal money on building his new team. These guys became billionaires because they are shrewd and ruthless. Cohen borrowed money to buy the team so he can use these loans to offset his team income and avoid paying income tax. He’s not going to dip into his personal fortune to fund his baseball team. He has allocated a certain amount of money for baseball operations and will stick to that no matter what. His personal fortune is completely separate from his Mets investment and he will not be co-mingling funds. If he has set a payroll budget of $200M, that’s all they will spend. If he set it at $250M, that’s what they will spend, period. He’s not writing personal checks to sign any player. This is a business and another investment for him and he will use his experience to maximize his return on this investment as he has done with all of his previous successes. I know he said he is willing to lose money to bring a winner to NY, but that loss will be a calculated number that gives him tax and other benefits to continue to maximize his investment.
Actually, Middleton did make a comment about next years payouts..He said spending will depend on revenues.. When he said it, possible attendance for next year was still up in the air…..even now, they aren’t sure how it will be handled..
keep in mind folks that baseball is still a business….they go out of their way to stay under the Lux Tax…He (Middleton) did say he would go over it, not just to get a player, but if it was clear it would get them deep into a playoff…words matter
please no!! unless you can get him for 4 or 5 years max. He is already having hip issues and is 30 years old
Since J T has been quoted as saying he wants to be paid like the star catcher he is, he will never give the Phillies a discount..Nor should he..I hope Middleton can work it out, but JT is going to get paid by someone.
Zunino would be an ideal fit for a team with a young pitching staff. He is such a good receiver and game caller. The Yankees, Rays, and Tigers all come to mind. I am sure the Rays will try and bring him back.
The Yankees are about to ruin Sanchez. The need to just let the man work it out.
Sanchez ruined himself. He doesn’t take his conditioning seriously and doesn’t work on his defense nearly enough. Sanchez’s future in MLB is at 1B or DH and he’ll only be successful there if he gets in better shape and can hit at least at league average batting average (.240+). You can’t carry a guy who hits .180 or .190 even if he can give you 30 HRs. Rob Deer 2.0.
Obviously, I’ve little trust in Sherman.
But.
There certainly seems to be some discontent towards Gary with Cashman.
I wonder if they’d actually move on.
Going with Higgy & Jason Castro might be worth exploring. Yanks do have Tanner Swanson & Castro did great with him. (side note: was really excited to see how Swanson would help Gary. I’m not sure that really was given a fair chance because 2020 – uh?)
Higgy & Castro are both good defensive catchers. I’m not one of those guys freaking out about “lineup balance” but that could certainly be a decent RH/LH platoon.
Gary swatted 34 HR’s wayyyyy back in…2019.
Anyway, I think those two could put up something close to that? *Combined* of course.
Guess I’m curious what Sanchez could bring on the trade market. Let’s not forget, Cashman turned SKJR Murphy into Aaron Hicks.
Eyyyo ducky. It’ll be fascinating to see what Cash and co choose to do. But, honestly, I think he’s back next year with a much shorter leash. With the weird market, I bet they can nab up some veterans to hang around in the minors as possible back ups if they move on and give higgy the starting job.
That’d be my guess, too @sretcher.
Like you pointed out below what a great buy low candidate. It does seem maybe the organization’s perception has changed on him. Benching him in the LCS…well, that *had* to be about something.
Pretty good breakdown on his batted ball profile over at fangraphs.
He’s still absolutely hammering the ball. Just right at the defense.
I’m a Gary Sanchez fan. But – man – when he’s in a funk he’s really hard to watch.
Hope you are well & having a great Autumn, man.
Yanks won’t resign him. That would be a $10 mil gamble for a guy they’ve already turned the page on. His Yankee days are over.
Yeah!
Because there’s a grand total of ONE starting caliber catcher this year, NO reason to try to trade Sánchez to one of the losers of the JTR sweepstakes and get a prospect or two back. Oh wait…
Funny, as a yankees fan, I entirely understand the sentiment of wanting to move on from Gary Sánchez. On the flip side, if I were a team looking for a catcher, Sanchez is exactly the kind of player I’d want to buy low on.
I feel similar except if I was a team looking for a DH, he’s someone I’d want to buy low on. The guys try’s hard he’s just not a good catcher. I’ve got to image his hitting would improve if he no longer had to devote all of that time with 15 different pitchers and could instead simply take BP all day.
Klentak really screwed this up……..he made a “bold” trade to get Realmuto by giving up Sixto, Alfaro and someone else……this was to make up for his bone head Segura trade where he basically gave Crawford away as a throw in…..Klentak cannot recognize talent……..he held on to Crawford when they could have traded him for two years and gotten a haul…….then he is forced to give him away…….so he makes up for it by doing a 180 and giving away Sanchez.
But the real problem is that he did not resign JT. Why did he pay up so much if he wasn’t going to sign him long term? Just stoopid incompetence. No real plan. Ineptitude. Now they are going to lose him or pay through the nose……..
Man….I haven’t seen The Replacements in years. Great handle, man. Brought back memories.
Was an awesome movie……
as a Mets fan, i would like to have Alfaro from the Marlins or McCann from the ChiSox
Alfaro has a cannon for an arm…he has very good power, but he’s a catcher that can’t catch..he’s a passed ball machine…many a wild pitch should have been ruled a passed ball..
They had a plan. Supplement a young core with talented veterans. The young core just never developed as expected.
Hoskins took a step back, Herrera was a character question mark before the DV incident, no #2 developed alongside Nola. The Phils had/have a lot of talent, the weakness just seems to be in player dev and getting the most out of guys.
They had a plan.
————————————–
The plan was the problem. IMHO, they weren’t that good in 2018 to warrant an over-the-top move. By trading pieces to obtain JT and Segura, they got a little bit better, but not 90-win better, and effectively shortened their window to the 2 years they had JT for.
I also have a problem with them signing Santana, when there was a decent chance Hoskins would be the 1B, and signing Arrieta.for $25 per, when he was clearly an aging #2 at best. But that’s a different conversation.
FWIW, I have the same conversation with Reds’ fans. Some like the fact that Williams tried to take a shot with the Puig trade, and I look at it as a waste of two good prospects to get just a few more wins.
I agree that Rhys is not progressing..in fact, its two years in a row….I would be ok moving him in a package for a decent starter..they need pitching..
As for Goofy, I think he will be back in center next year..Roman continues to think he is a power hitter and still can’t stay on the field..
What about Yadi?
I assume everyone thinks he will end up back in cardinal red, since he has been left off this list.
I’d rather see the Sox keep McCann and, given the demand for catchers, try to trade Grandal for a solid starting pitcher.
Interesting that Yadi Molina is a free agent and left off of this list.
Because…he’s only signing with one team. Sort of like when Derek Jeter was a free agent later in his career. It didn’t matter. Everyone knew he was returning to the Yankees. Everyone knows Molina is returning to the Cardinals.
The window for the Phillies to extend Realmuto has closed. They had the better part of two years to show him that they wanted him and they never delivered that message. We Philly fans can blame the ineptness of Klentak for that. No surprise that Cigar Guy (Middleton) demoted him after five plain vanilla seasons.
I say the window has closed because Realmuto is about ten days or so away from kissing the golden goose on the beak. He’d be foolish to re-sign with the Phillies now unless they open up the vault for him.
Lastly, I think Realmuto will be paid handsomely, and probably by the Mets or Yankees. Only fly in the ointment for him is the well known fact that catchers mostly go backwards once they are in their thirties. No better example of that than Buster Posey. Just a shell of the player he was in his prime.
Their wasn’t a window for an extension. Realmuto made it clear from last year that he wanted to test FA. He wants to make a statement for catchers.
Nah, all the Phillies had to do was give him what he wanted. He and his agent assuredly had/have a number in mind.
Not saying they should have, but the opportunity was there.
What he wants is a bit ludicrous.
Yup, same as Betts was intent on testing the market, until he got what he wanted. If the Phillies offered him $150M/6 this morning, he’d be signing in Philly this afternoon.
No team should be offering a 30 year old catcher with recent injury history 150/6. That’s insane. Hence why Realmuto always wanted to test FA. He wants to see if any team gives him an insane offer.
Remember when everyone knew that Prince Fielder was probably not a good free agent to chase after, yet he still got 9 years and $214 million when the Tigers suddenly got desperate? All it takes is one.
This is a good point, but really it’s a huge gamble, I don’t think the Mets or Phillies are a Realmuto away from winning the division.
Were the Orioles a Chris Davis away?
Add in New York media pressure and “Is he final piece to win?” doesn’t necessarily become the driving factor of the bid
Also, the Phils have a pump catcher that they are high on
I’m a big Realmuto fan, but the Mets and Phillies both have too many holes to splurge on a 30 year old catcher who all of a sudden has been injured in the last 2 seasons. The Mets need pitching far more than offense. The Phillies suddenly have a holes at SS, CF and of course pitching. Realmuto is the best catcher in the game, but ironically I don’t think the two teams most often connected to him should sign him.
As a RS fan, I say this all the time. Writers LOVE to link up big-market teams with the top FAs. But, while these guys are great players, and the RS have some money, we need a lot more than a Springer or a Bauer. We also need an SP, an RP, and a 2B, and that’s me being nice.
I agree with that statement…I would add 2nd base because I am no longer high on
Mr. Kingery..he plays better at 3rd and center than he does at his “best” position,,and, another who just can’t hit..never made an adjustment..
you met fans want a catcher over 30 with a future hip condition? How about this…DRAFT CATCHERS THAT CAN HIT, almost every other team in the league has done it..cant be that hard..resign ramos for a yr if possible
The Yankees without question need to say good bye to Sanchez. Bring back Romine and split time with Higgy. The problem is the Yankees won’t make any significant changes. They are not angry enough to blow it up.
So, two back-up catchers equal one starting catcher?
Romaine has is own problems. He can’t throw out base runners. The Rays would steal all day long on him. Having a below average hitter is fine for a season when you block everything behind the plate like Higgy does. Sign another cheap defensive first backstop and a backup and put all the money on pitching.
‘the number of teams capable of luring JT will be limited’.
a perfect statement to match the ‘competitive balance’ state of baseball.
Higashioka is a back up catcher. Injury prone. Spent 12 years in the minors. 31 next season. He’s not a starter. The Yankees won’t be trading Sanchez in the next six weeks as Sherman speculates because they don’t have a replacement, and no, they’re not spending big on Realmuto. They’ll enter 2021 with Sanchez, betting he’s more likely the guy who hit 34 HRs with a 119 OPS+ way back in 2019, which, as a reminder, was the last full MLB season.
I agree with your thinking on Realmuto but Sanchez is a goner. He is not worth the possible $10 mil he could win in arbitration and the Yanks don’t have the ability to move him to 1st or DH.
Don’t disagree but I would say this….if an arbitrator actually would award Sanchez a raise to $10 Million based on his performance this year…then the whole process of arbitration is a JOKE!
All maybe true about what you said except for Higgy being injury prone….what injuries has he sustained and when which let him to no being considered to move up to the big club?
Don’t know where you your info but it is incorrect……that but has never been a reason and isn’t why you can say he doesn’t deserve to be in a catcher rotation for the Yankees going forward.
Out there somewhere, Toronto also has Riley Adams who is a young developing catcher who is not major league ready but he could be included with other players to strike a deal with Yankees. I say Toronto because they appear to have a surplus of catchers. Right about now almost any major league catcher stacks up well against Sanchez, who can’t field or hit.
Get rid of Judge, Gardner, Sanchez
Sign JT, Brantley, Trade for SP
We can only the Yankees get rid of those 3 players but we all know that’s not happening. You add Stanton to that list as well
Correct.
We all know it’s not happening for the simple reason that it is stupid.
I hope you find this helpful.
The Yankees should sign McCann or Zunino. They can keep Sanchez as a DH, or move him to 1B and trade Voit for starting pitching. I’d be surprised if the Yankees non-tender Sanchez but it could happen given the current market.
Crazy to look at the Delmon Young trade tree and see how badly the Phillies mismanage their assets. Jorge Alfaro and Sixto Sanchez will end up getting traded for a compensatory pick after all is said and done. Either that or they’ll desperately overpay him and subsequently regret the signing after 2 years. As a Phillies fan, neither of those options is particularly appealing.