Pain-free Realmuto open to new deal with Phils
PHILADELPHIA >> The first injury report for the 2020 Phillies is positive: J.T. Realmuto is walking and painfree after surgery.
The All-Star catcher had a minor operation Friday to tidy a troublesome meniscus in his right knee. Echoing Gabe Kapler’s original report that the surgery was “successful,” Realmuto said he will be fully healthy “in two to three weeks.”
“Surgery was great,” he said. “Everything went smooth. I am already walking around now without any pain. It’s still a little stiff, but the pain is all gone. I can move pretty much as well as I want now. Now it’s all about just getting the flexibility back.”
Realmuto’s knee was heavily bandaged Sunday morning, but he was not using crutches to walk.
“It’s a fairly quick recovery,” he said after a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins. “And everything looks normal after surgery. So everything is good.”
In his first season with the Phillies after a trade with the Marlins, Realmuto hit .275 with 25 home runs and 83 RBIs. Having thrown out a baseball-best 43 runners, he is considered a heavy favorite to win a Gold Glove.
“Obviously from a team standpoint it was a disappointing year for us,” he said. “We had a lot of expectations and we didn’t live up to them. We didn’t play as well as we thought we could have. There were a lot of injuries that held us back, but we could have done more as a team to play a little bit better and stay in the hunt a little longer. But all in all, I loved this group of guys we played with this year. Everybody played really hard and fought through a lot of adversity. We stayed in the playoff hunt for a long time with not too much stuff going our way. So there is something to be said for that. But we just didn’t get the job done.”
Realmuto remains under Phillies control, but it eligible for arbitration in the offseason. Since he could be a free agent by 2021, the Phils are expected to make signing him to a long-term commitment a priority.
“That’s a conversation we’ll definitely have this offseason,” he said. “I’m certainly not opposed to staying here. I love playing here in Philadelphia. I love the crowd. I love the fans. I love my team. So we’ll see how that goes in the offseason.” ***
One season down, a dozen to go for Bryce Harper. The Phillies’ $330,000,000 offseason purchase finished with 35 home runs, a careerhigh 114 RBIs, 99 walks, 98 runs scored and two innings worth of “Thank you, Harper” chants from the fans in right field.
In character Sunday, Harper turned and returned the applause.
“He deserves that,” Kapler said. “He played hard all season long. He didn’t take an inning off the entire season. Believe me, there’s a lot of superstars around the game who wouldn’t give what he gave this year.”
Harper appreciated the backing.
“Yeah, that was awesome, being able to sit back there and hear them support me,” Harper said. “They’ve done that all season long. I’ve tried to play hard for them. I’ve tried to play to the best of my ability. I’m going to continue to do that. These fans deserve that. This city deserves that.”
While Harper was disappointed in the Phillies’ 81-81 record, his first season with the Phillies was memorable.
“It’s been great,” he said. “Of course you want to come in in your first year and try to win ballgames, try to play the best you can to the best of your ability and play every single night. I’ve been trying to do that all year long. I’m going to continue to do that. These fans and this city have opened my arms to me and my family like no other. I can’t thank them enough for the support they’ve shown myself and my teammates all year long.
“I am looking forward to next year.”
*** Maikel Franco had a sharp single to right-center in a fizzling ninth-inning rally. Though eligible for arbitration, his contract is up, and there is a strong possibility that he has played his last game for the Phillies.
“It’s not going to be a sad day,” he said. “It’s an emotional day for me. Everything that this organization has given to me is amazing. At the end of the day, they made my dream come true, playing in the big leagues. I had a good thing happen with this team.”
In a season in which he was dumped to the minors for a dozen games, Franco hit .234 with 17 home runs.
“Right now I’m not saying anything crazy,” he said. “But at the end of the day, there were a lot of good moments, a lot of good memories here. Let’s see what’s going to happen.”