It’s highly possible that catcher J.T. Realmuto has played his last game for the Miami Marlins.
His agent, Jeff Berry, said in no uncertain terms that he believes Realmuto will be in a different uniform next season.
NEWS: Jeff Berry, agent with @CAA_Baseball, on @MLBNetworkRadio just now regarding client J.T. Realmuto: “I think he will definitely be wearing a different uniform by the start of spring training.” Berry made clear that Realmuto won’t sign an extension with #Marlins. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 30, 2018
This certainly isn’t surprising. Realmuto was one of a select few key players to remain in Miami after last season’s rebuild. Following the trades of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna were traded, Realmuto reportedly requested a trade last offseason.
While that didn’t happen, he was also close to being dealt at the trade deadline in 2018.
Working against an imminent trade is that the Marlins do have time. Even if Realmuto won’t sign an extension, he’s not going to become a free agent until after the 2020 season. So, Miami doesn’t need to make the trade anytime soon.
With that understood, he would attract an awful lot on the trade market. Realmuto is simply one of the game’s best catchers. In 2018, he hit .277/.340/.484 with 21 home runs. Plenty of teams would absolutely love to bring someone like that on board and would give up a lot to do so.