The Phillies and JT Realmuto are meeting, as the two sides have agreed to a $ 115.5 million five-year deal, according to Craig Mish of SportsGrid (Twitter link) The contract will become official when Realmuto undergoes a physical examination. Realmuto is represented by CAA Sports.
Realmuto to earn $ 20 million in 2021, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets, and the other $ 95.5 million will be shared equally over the other four years, or $ 23.875 million per season. Matt Gelb of Atlético reported (via Twitter) that some deferred money is involved, with Athletic’s Jayson Stark adding that $ 10 million of Realmuto’s 2021 salary is being postponed. The Realmuto contract is a direct five-year deal, with no club or opt-out options, according to Nightengale. The only extra clause appears to be a $ 1MM award bonus in the event of a trade, as Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
The average annual value of $ 23.1 million is the highest given to any recipient in baseball history, slightly exceeding the previous standard of $ 23 million set by Joe Mauer in his eight-year extension and $ 184 million with Twins in March 2010. Several previous reports indicated that Realmuto was trying to raise the level of catcher wages with his next contract, and although beating Mauer or Buster Posey in terms of pure dollars was perhaps overkill, even before the COVID- 19 impacting baseball finances, Realmuto ended up defining at least one new benchmark.
Realmuto is scheduled to stay in Philadelphia at least until the 2025 season, ending an extended negotiation process over his long-term future that seemed to start almost as soon as the Phillies acquired him in a successful trade with the Marlins in February 2019. the two sides had a mutual interest in an extension, negotiations were interrupted last spring due to the pandemic-induced list freeze, and then it seemed that Realmuto seemed more open to considering other options as his free agency approached. As Phils spent the first few weeks of the off-season renovating its front office and apparently trying to cut spending, speculation increased that Realmuto would be playing elsewhere in 2021.
However, hiring Dave Dombrowski (who knows big payrolls) as the new president of the team’s baseball operations seemed to indicate that owner John Middleton was not looking to cut costs entirely. Most reports in the past few weeks seemed to suggest that the Phillies were again favorites for Realmuto, both because the team was willing to pay, and also perhaps because the Realmuto market was shrinking.
The Mets left the Realmuto hunt early by signing James McCann, and other speculative candidates like the Angels (Kurt Suzuki) and Astros (Jason Castro) made low-cost capture additions, while the Yankees seem content to stay with Gary Sanchez. The Nationals, Blue Jays and Braves were also reportedly interested in Realmuto, although Toronto may have won first-tier contracts after getting George Springer, and Washington apparently opted for a strategy to spread its money on signings like Brad Hand and Kyle Schwarber rather than splurge on a Realmuto.
More analysis is coming …