Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Mets plan to revisit trade talks with the Miami Marlins at some point regarding the idea of trading for J.T. Realmuto.
According to Rosenthal, the team made “repeated inquiries” during the offseason for the catcher and Starlin Castro. However, they were told by the Marlins that they no longer needed to shed salary by that point.
Mike Puma of the New York Post reported on April 13th that the Mets had spoken with the Marlins about the 27-year old backstop while Tim Healy of Newsday reported that the Mets have not had any recent conversations with the Miami Marlins about him.
The Marlins were in the midst of a firesale this offseason that saw them trade away young stars that included Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, Dee Gordon, and Giancarlo Stanton.
However, despite a requested trade by Realmuto and his camp, the team decided to hang onto him.
Realmuto has ranked among the best catchers in the game and was good for a 3.6 WAR behind the dish for Miami in 2017. He also clubbed 17 home runs and drove in 65 runs while hitting to a .278/.332/.451 clip in 579 plate appearances.
At his position, Realmuto was ranked as the sixth-best defensive catcher in baseball last season according to BP with a 14.5 FRAA.
Realmuto was arbitration-eligible for the first time in 2018 and can become a free agent in 2021.
Since the Mets have lost Travis d’Arnaud for the season with a torn UCL and Kevin Plawecki for the next few weeks with a hairline fracture in his left hand, it is hardly surprising to see that they looking externally for a catcher in the coming weeks.
Jose Lobaton and Tomas Nido have taken on the position for the Mets in the meantime.
