Rumors: the Atlanta Braves are looking at catcher J.T. Realmuto
Considering the Source
First off, note Murray’s tweet. He cites “league sources”. That tends to be teams who have inquired and found out info on other teams… in other words, this almost certainly isn’t coming from an agent leak.
Also, the fact that he’s mentioning the Atlanta Braves specifically is unusual, for (a) that means multiple sources are getting the same vibe, and (b) no agent in his right mind would name a single team in a leak like this.
The “other west coast teams” thing is a bit curious, for there’s few clubs who’d have the money or need to even consider such a thing. The Dodgers don’t really have a need, but could inquire. The Giants are on their last Buster Posey year, but Joey Bart is coming… and as a team, they aren’t ready to compete yet.
The Angels just signed Suzuki, but they still need pitching a lot worse than catching. San Diego was sorting through a bunch of catchers earlier in this off-season… you’d think they’re good with what they have now.
That leaves Seattle… maybe Arizona… and neither is in a position to even consider such a signing. So maybe the Dodgers and that’s about it?
Since this does come down to money, the landscape is definitely limited: that could permit a club like Atlanta to ‘swoop in’ — if they were willing to step up in a big way… which would still be very surprising.
We’ve been critical on this site about Alex Anthopoulos not making the “big deal” to put this Braves club over the top in pursuit of a World Series title… on our podcasts, I’ve likened this to making a “Fred McGriff-level” trade.
When Realmuto was traded in early 2019, I was critical of the Braves not going strongly in for him then… though in fairness, they may have been close, and the Marlins merely chose a different package.
This off-season represents another opportunity to grab the best catcher in baseball, and to ink him for a time period coinciding with the Window of Opportunity in which the current young core of players will be at their own peaks.
This observation from a key Marlins beat writer is also telling:
"Craig Mish on Twitter: “GM Alex Anthopolous has always loved Realmuto so this comes as no surprise. When you can acquire a player who can change the franchise, you do it. Period.” / Twitter"
So that’s the backdrop: Realmuto isn’t the best hitting catcher of all time, but he’s a very strong hitter with very strong defensive skills — thus easily the best overall backstop in the game today.
His durability (125+ games every year) is also a big plus, and he’s still not quite 30 years old yet (that happens in March). Put him in the middle of this Braves lineup and you’ve strengthened it in every conceivable manner.
This isn’t a knock against Travis d’Arnaud: he’s been very good in recent seasons, but just isn’t the level of a proven commodity that JTR is. Realmuto is an upgrade… period.
But if you’re seriously going to pursue Realmuto, there’s more work that needs to be done — and that’s the intriguing part of this story.