The Philadelphia Phillies lost the JT Realmuto trade

After having a career year with the Miami Marlins in 2018, catcher JT Realmuto requested to be traded and his wishes were fulfilled when he was sent to the Philadelphia Phillies for two pitching prospects and catcher Jorge Alfaro.

Realmuto left a rebuilding Marlins team that finished 63-98 where he was the best player on the team, finishing with a .277 batting average, an .825 OPS, 21 home runs and 74 RBI. He joined a Phillies team that also signed Bryce Harper to a 13-year contract and expected a long awaited return to the postseason.

What the Phillies got out of Realmuto was four more home runs, nine more RBIs and 19 more strikeouts in 20 more games compared to his final season in Miami. Philadelphia also finished 81-81 after losing to the Marlins in the final game of the season.

So where does Philly go from here? Realmuto has one year left before hitting the free agent market and there are no guarantee that he would want to stay with the Phillies if they missed the playoffs again in 2020.

Meanwhile in Miami, Alfaro improved in his second full season in the big leagues, setting career highs in home runs (18), RBI (57), slugging (.425) and OPS (.736). He wont hit arbitration until 2021, where as Philadelphia could possibly field a new catcher by then if things don’t get better.

The real prize for the Marlins are the pitching prospects. Will Stewart (ranked No. 26 by MLB Pipeline) had an inconsistent season in Single-A Jupiter but there were multiple times where the 22-year-old flirted with a no-hitter. Sixto Sanchez is the Marlins top prospect and represented the organization in the All-Star Futures Game. The 21-year-old went 8-4 with a 2.53 ERA and a fastball grade of 75 on a 20-80 scale. He is projected to make his big league debut in 2020 and could potentially become the ace of the Marlins staff.

It only gets better for the Marlins from here. However for the Phillies it seems they have seen Realmuto’s ceiling and have one year left to make things right. Otherwise they have given up far too much for a two-year rental.