Realmuto’s market may be drying up

J.T. Realmuto is a special player, especially because there are so few (if any other) primeaged, two-way catchers in the sport, much less available.

In this world of supply and demand, supply is low and demand high. But the Marlins have to be careful about thinning the demand.

Consider that interested teams such as Washington ( Yan Gomes/Kurt Suzuki), Atlanta ( Brian McCann to join Tyler Flowers) and Houston ( Robinson Chirinos to join Max Stassi) decided to stop waiting for the price to drop on Realmuto and fill their catcher spots. Of course, Realmuto is a big enough difference-maker that if Miami lowered its requests, those teams could open space by, for example, trading Gomes, Flowers or Chirinos. But all three have been described as having moved on from Realmuto and not haggling to get the price lowered.

The Dodgers, too, were defined as having halted aggressive action on Realmuto because Miami was asking for Cody Bellinger plus prospects.

The Marlins have told the prospect-rich Padres they have the inventory to obtain Realmuto, but as of Tuesday morning had yet to tell San Diego officials exactly what combination could get it done.

One Marlins official described having “multiple teams showing heavy interest” in Realmuto with the Mets being “extremely aggressive.”

The Cubs are operating as if they do not have a lot of money to spend this season, which intensif ies the need for internal improvement — namely for Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber to upgrade their offensive performance.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon said: “We just need patience. These guys are young, talented and have great work ethics. I don’t have questions about them. I am not running away from them. I believe in them.”

The White Sox acquired former Yankee Ivan Nova from the Pirates for low-level minor league pitcher Yordi Rosario and $500,000 in international slot money. Nova has one year at $8.5 million left on a three-year pact. In two-plus seasons since being traded by the Yankees, Nova was 25-25 for the Pirates with a 3.99 ERA.