It looks like Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto made the right decision during the 2020 offseason — if there was even one to make.
According to Realmuto and a Newsday story from October 2022, the Mets under team president Sandy Alderson acted aggressively to let the catcher know they wanted him at the start of free agency. But that was it, Realmuto said: “They didn’t even try” after that until a month later when they were in discussions with James McCann instead.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported Tuesday, however, that the Mets did make some sort of an offer, though maybe it wasn’t formal enough in Realmuto’s mind.
The one for McCann is especially perplexing. The Mets probably should have signed J.T. Realmuto.
The pre-Stearns Mets actually called Realmuto and suggested they’d pay “about $125 million” if he went early, but to his camp, it seemed too quick. He wound up signing for $115.5 million. Perhaps he was one guy who preferred to be in Philadelphia. (You can’t blame him the way things have turned out.)
Evan at 33, Realmuto has remained an anomaly: an above-average offensive catcher with 88th percentile sprint speed. In the three-plus years since he re-signed with the Phillies, Realmuto has a .266/.331/.456 line (116 OPS+) with 66 home runs 240 RBIs and 51 steals. He made his third All-Star team in 2021 and won his second Gold Glove and third Silver Slugger in 2022 when he also earned down-ballot MVP votes.
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