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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: arbitration, J.T. Realmuto, O’Brien chat

By Alan Carpenter

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 18: Charlie Culberson #16 of the Atlanta Braves makes a sliding stop for an out during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at SunTrust Park on September 18, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 18: Charlie Culberson #16 of the Atlanta Braves makes a sliding stop for an out during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at SunTrust Park on September 18, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /
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MIAMI, FL – JULY 24: J.T. Realmuto #11 of the Miami Marlins is covered in whipped cream after being smothered by The Monkey after the game against the Atlanta Braves at Marlins Park on July 24, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – JULY 24: J.T. Realmuto #11 of the Miami Marlins is covered in whipped cream after being smothered by The Monkey after the game against the Atlanta Braves at Marlins Park on July 24, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Thoughts on Realmuto

The Braves are tired of this dragging out – I’m sure the Marlins are, too.  The fact of it is, though, at some point soon they must trade J.T. Realmuto… somewhere.

Why?  There’s reasons:

  • He has years of control left.  His peak value is now.  Today.  Not July… Now.
  • They need bodies for their farm system.  They want premium talent, but they need at least one, plus probably some quantity more.  That needs to happen now.
  • His next contract will be around $6.1 million that they don’t want to spend on a player that won’t help them to escape 5th place.
  • There’s not even a point to going to an arbitration hearing with him… that procedure has its own expenses, and if they aren’t keeping the player, then that expense is likewise pointless.

Now to bring this back home, do the Braves really want him?  Yeah – I don’t think there’s a question about it.  But they also aren’t going to bid against themselves in order to meet an arbitrary price that Miami has set.

In yesterday’s piece about the latest news on this subject, Matthew noted the disparity between what Miami wants for Realmuto vs. what they accepted for Christian Yelich just a year ago.

Teams (not just Atlanta) are rightly holding the line and not choosing to make up for that deal by overpaying on this one.  Sure, J.T. is the best catcher in the game right now (or at least in the Top 3).  But Yelich broke out for an MVP season and Milwaukee got him for 5 seasons – even in 2019, he still has double the team control of Realmuto.

Here is what Miami received in return:

Your mileage may vary, but as of this writing, no team seems to be offering up a Top 10 prospect or anything approaching that for Realmuto.

It is still unknown as to what the Braves have offered.  Speculation involved Austin Riley, which would be a bit surprising.  Cristian Pache is known to have been made available in trade talks with other clubs, and that could apply here.

Hopefully Miami will take a moment and take somebody’s offer… it would be nice to get this one over with.

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