Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Girardi, Phillies excited for return of Realmuto
With every high-and-wide pitch he had to leap for, J.T. Realmuto cringed.
With every low-and-inside offering he had to block, he frowned.
With every late home run, grooved two-strike floater or called-for curve ball that didn’t, he growled. Once, he was even caught complaining about the Phillies’ 2020 bullpen, among the worst in baseball history, to his manager in the dugout after the game.
So inept was that bullpen last year that the idea was forwarded that Realmuto would prefer going somewhere else as a free agent, rather than having a behind-plate view at one more late-inning collapse.
Instead, he re-signed with the Phillies, accepting two things: An annual salary of $23 million for the next five years … and some responsibility for that 2020 absurdity occurring 60 feet and six inches from his mask.
‘’Yeah, as a catcher, that’s part of your job,’’ Realmuto said Monday, his previously leaked contract finally fit for the Phillies to orchestrate a cyber-conference. ‘’You take it personal when any of your pitchers struggle. So to be there and go through that with our bullpen last year, that was definitely tough on me. I thought about that all offseason long. I’ve been trying to dive into stuff about what guys could have done differently. So I definitely take that personal. And it’s something that I have to improve on.’’
The $115.5 million invested in Realmuto indicated that the Phillies did not blame him for the regular late-inning flops. He was signed as much for his clutch hitting, clout, arm and veteran leadership as he was for figuring out why so many relief pitchers on one team were unable to inspire an umpire into barking, ‘’Strike three.’’
Yet it was for all of that, including the possibility that his career could be lengthened should the National League continue to employ designated hitters, that Realmuto became the highest-paid catcher in history.
‘’What impresses me the most about J.T. is his preparation,’’ Joe Girardi said. ‘’He prepares so well in everything he does. That will help him play a lot of games. I can walk past J.T.’s locker, and he’d be writing notes down about the pitcher that day and how they were going to get the hitters out. I think the greatest compliment you can give a player as a manger is that you can pencil him in and never worry that he is not going to be prepared. You are never concerned that he is not going to do his job or that he won’t give you his best effort.’’
Realmuto will turn 30 in March and missed time last season due to a minor hip injury. In his last full season, 2019, he hit a career-high 25 home runs, drove in 83 and hit .275, while winning a Gold Glove and reaching the All-Star Game.
The new contract will bind him to the Phillies through age 35, more than enough time for John Middleton to have made good on his vow to bring another world championship trophy to Philadelphia.
That would have been much less likely had Dave Dombrowski been forced into the ‘’Plan B’’ he’d admitted to having during the negotiations.
‘’J.T.is a little bit of a freak of nature because he is such a good athlete,’’ Girardi said. ‘’And you don’t usually see such great athletes as catchers. That’s a special commodity that we have. I just look forward to watching him and what we have for the next five years, because it’s fun to watch.’’
Realmuto insists his hip has healed, and that he wants to catch, even if there is a DH in the National League. That juggling will be up to Girardi, though the Phillies did not give him a record contract for his offense alone.
Realmuto knows that, which is why he has begun to consider how he can help with the late-inning pitching.
‘’We didn’t strike a ton of guys out,’’ he said. ‘’And late in games, guys were putting the ball in play more than they should have been. So we gave up more soft-contact hits than anybody in the game. And we had some really bad luck.
‘’A lot of things didn’t go in our favor. So hopefully with a little better luck next year, that can change. But obviously, there’s a lot of changes we have to make on the mound. We have to pound the zone better. We can’t put guys on base for free. We had too many free passes last year, and we have to put guys away when we get two strikes and not make that mistake pitch and give them a chance to put it in play.’’
The Phillies avoided the mistake of losing Realmuto to free agency, delighting, among others, Bryce Harper, who texted Realmuto with a simple message: ‘’Let’s go.’’
‘’It was followed,’’ Realmuto said, ‘’with a lot of exclamation points.’’
After successfully completing the negotiations, Dombrowski was similarly enthused.
‘’It’s an exciting day for the Philadelphia Phillies organization, our fans and our players,’’ the new team president said. ‘’He’s one of the best players in Major League Baseball, so for us, this is a big day. I am thrilled to watch him play day in and day out. I’ve gotten many texts and notes from my friends in baseball who said I am going to have fun watching him play.
‘’We’re looking forward to having many good times together.’’