The Phillies secured a reunion with one of their key veteran free agents Tuesday morning when they signed
Kyle Schwarber to a
five-year deal, and now it appears their attention will return to their other veteran hitter who reached free agency last month. Philadelphia has an offer on the table for veteran catcher
J.T. Realmuto, according to a report from
Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. The details of that offer aren’t presently known, though
The Athletic’s Matt Gelb adds that Realmuto is
“expected” to ultimately return to Philadelphia in 2026 and suggests that he may do so on a two-year deal. Even so, Gelb makes clear that Realmuto is continuing to survey the free agent market.
The veteran backstop will play next season at the age of 35 and is coming off his worst season since his rookie campaign back in 2015. Realmuto slashed just .257/.315/.384 with a 94 wRC+ in 134 games this year. It’s the third-lowest on-base percentage and the lowest slugging percentage of his career, ignoring an 11-game cup of coffee during the 2014 season. Between Realmuto’s age and down season at the plate, it might seem likely that he would be poised to find a soft market in free agency this winter.
That’s not how things have played out, however. Realmuto has established a solid floor as a two-win regular behind the plate, and that’s allowed him to remain a valuable commodity due to a dearth of catching talent around the league.
Danny Jansen and
Victor Caratini are the next best options available in free agency behind Realmuto, but Jansen’s 72-game 2022 season is the only campaign in either player’s career where they’ve reached the 2.0 fWAR benchmark that Realmuto has established as a floor over the past three seasons.
Additionally, teams might be less concerned about Realmuto’s near-term future behind the plate given the fact that ABS is coming to the majors in 2026 by way of the challenge system; Realmuto has been a slightly below-average blocker and well above-average at controlling the running game behind the plate in recent years, but lackluster framing numbers have held back his overall defensive value. With the challenge system likely to reduce the impact of catcher framing, perhaps teams are a little more comfortable with using a catcher with a lackluster recent track record when it comes to pitch framing than they otherwise would have been.
Whether it’s Realmuto’s steady floor or the rule changes that will impact his job in 2026, he’s managed to garner some real interest around the league this winter. The
Red Sox and
Rangers are both known to have interest in Realmuto, though the fit in Texas has been downplayed by significant questions regarding the club’s ability to afford the expected price tag attached to the veteran. MLBTR predicted a two-year, $30MM guarantee for Realmuto, and as the Rangers look to cut payroll this winter it seems reasonable to expect that adding a $15MM salary to the books won’t be in the cards this winter barring a payroll-reducing trade elsewhere on the roster. The same is likely to go for other teams likely to pursue catching help this winter like the Rays and Padres.
That could make Realmuto’s market something of a two-horse race between Boston and Philadelphia, and with
Carlos Narvaez locked in for the lion’s share of starts with the Red Sox next year it’s easy to see why the Phillies stand as the likely favorite. Should Philadelphia reunite with Realmuto this winter, however, both Zolecki and Gelb suggest that it might be difficult for the team to make other impact additions without first clearing salary elsewhere on the roster. Gelb notes that while Philadelphia is expected to carry a payroll north of $300MM in 2026, they’re already not too far off from that mark.
According to
RosterResource, Philadelphia’s luxury tax payroll sits just under $289MM after the Schwarber deal. Assuming the Phillies plan on a payroll in the same vicinity as last year’s $314MM figure, that leaves the club with $25MM left to spend. Should Realmuto take up around $15MM of that money as the club projects, that would leave just $10MM for the team to use when revamping their outfield mix. That might not be enough to re-sign
Harrison Bader, who the Phillies are known to have interest in, and could instead leave them looking at some of the lesser options available in a thin outfield market like
Austin Hays,
Mike Yastrzemski,
Mike Tauchman, and
Rob Refsnyder.
Of course, another option would be for the Phillies to look to shed payroll elsewhere on their roster in order to create financial flexibility. That the Phillies are planning to
move on from Nick Castellanos this winter is one of the league’s worst-kept secrets. While they evidently plan to try and work out a trade involving the veteran in hopes of saving on at least some of his $20MM salary for next year, the club is lacking in leverage to get that sort of deal done and might wind up releasing him. Gelb suggests that a trade of someone like
Alec Bohm or
Matt Strahm could be a more likely way to save money, and either player would certainly have more value on the market than Castellanos.
Strahm is due $7.5MM in 2026 and has been a reliable setup man for the Phillies in each of the past three seasons, while Bohm has a 110 wRC+ at third base over the past two years and is
projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for $10.3MM in his final trip through arbitration this winter. Trading both players would free up nearly $18MM in the budget, which would be more than enough to re-up with Bader and Realmuto while still leaving some money left over to add someone like
Willi Castro or
Yoan Moncada to the mix who could help
Edmundo Sosa handle the hot corner until top prospect
Aidan Miller is ready to step into the big league lineup. Zolecki notes that Miller could be ready as soon as this coming summer, while fellow top prospects
Andrew Painter and
Justin Crawford figure to have every opportunity to break camp with the team on Opening Day.
