May 17, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Joey Bart (14) looks on against the Philadelphia Phillies in the fourth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
In seven seasons with the Phillies, J.T. Realmuto has established himself as arguably the greatest catcher in franchise history, getting selected to the All-Star Game twice and winning multiple Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers.
Still, the Phillies find themselves now at a crossroads with Realmuto, who will head to free agency entering his age-35 season.
Half a decade ago when Realmuto became a free agent and ultimately returned to the Phillies on a five-year/$115.5 million contract, he was at the height of his powers. Between 2019 and the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Realmuto posted an .825 OPS and was 11th among all players in the sport in WAR, per FanGraphs.
Between 2024 and 2025, Realmuto posted a .722 OPS. His 4.0 WAR over that period ranked 118th among position players. He remains elite at throwing out would-be basestealers, and is lauded for his work in helping to prepare starting pitchers each night. But he's no longer the best catcher in baseball, having slipped to minus-two defensive runs saved and a minus-7.0 framing grade in 2025, as opposed to 11 DRS and a 1.1 framing grade as recently as 2022.
J.T. Realmuto declined to talk about his future with Phillies after season-ending loss
onpattison.com/news/2025/oc...
— Tim Kelly (@timkellysports.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 11:50 AM
[image or embed]
So the Phillies — particularly since they already have Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola signed well into their 30s, and seemingly hope to do the same with Kyle Schwarber — are in a bit of a tough spot.
The most likely scenario, from here, is that Realmuto returns to the Phillies, probably on a two-year deal. But what if there's a team willing to go longer than that? How committed are you to Realmuto at this stage of his career?
The reality is that while there could be an argument for taking a step back from Realmuto when you're committed to so many other big-money players in their 30s, it's going to be hard for the Phillies to do that because there's not a great option elsewhere.
Here, though, are a few alternate scenarios to consider.
In his first full season as Realmuto's primary backup, Rafael Marchán hit just .210. However, he received only 105 at-bats, and Rob Thomson — who will be back in 2026 — called him a "tireless preparer" and added that "for that job, he's had a really, really good year" in September.
The question is whether the Phillies believe Marchán, 26, has the ceiling of being a starter or they think he's best-suited to be a backup. It is worth noting that Marchán stayed healthy as a backup in 2025, but struggled with injuries as a minor leaguer when he played more regularly.
In this scenario, Marchán would be the starter, with Garrett Stubbs serving as his backup. Stubbs returned to the Phillies in September after spending the majority of 2025 with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Stubbs did hit eight home runs with 50 RBIs for the IronPigs this season, and has pretty extensive MLB experience prior to that. But for as well-respected as Stubbs is, it's hard to see the Phillies going from having Realmuto play six out of seven games to a tandem of Marchán and Stubbs in 2026.
When the Phillies acquired Realmuto from the Miami Marlins prior to the 2019 season, he was entering his age-28 season and had two remaining years of arbitration eligibility before free agency. Rutschman is in that exact same situation now.
Granted, Realmuto was coming off of a career-year in 2018 with the Fish, while Rutschman's stock had plummeted. Not only did Rutschman hit just .220 with a .673 OPS over 90 games this past season, but he hit .207 with a .585 OPS after the 2024 All-Star Break. So in his most recent year and a half, Rutschman has been a bad player.
With that said, he was an All-Star in the first half of 2024, which followed him finishing runner-up in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022, and ninth in the junior-circuit MVP race in 2023. Forget just catchers, it wasn't that long ago that Rutschman seemed poised to be one of the faces of the sport.
There would definitely be risk in trading for Rutschman. First of all, Mike Elias and the Orioles are still going to expect pretty decent prospect capital in return for him. Secondly, maybe he's this era's Matt Wieters and goes from looking like a superstar for the O's early in his career to just kind of being a guy.
But if you're looking for the highest upside play that also allows you to get younger and cheaper in 2026, Rustchman would be the wisest gamble.
Here's how much the Phillies' 9 arbitration-eligible players are projected to make in 2026
— Tim Kelly (@timkellysports.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 11:00 AM
[image or embed]
One of the reasons it appears Realmuto is certain to get at least two years and could push for three guaranteed is there are so few impact catchers in the sport. Even as he enters his 13th season, Realmuto still looks, by far, like the top option on the free-agent market.
That doesn't necessarily mean, though, that the Phillies have to meet Realmuto's demands. It might be wiser to just take a step back at the position, even if it makes you worse to open 2026.
At the same time, even with all the uncertainty around the Phillies this minute, they are going to be a veteran-heavy club that enters 2026 with World Series aspirations. Maybe Marchán will take on a bigger role next season, but you would feel much better about that if it comes with a strong partner.
Victor Caritini graded out poorly behind the plate for the Houston Astros this past season — minus-five defensive runs saved and minus-2.6 framing grade — but also is a switch-hitter who homered 12 times and drove in 46 runs.
The options after that aren't great.
Danny Jansen, Tomás Nido, Jacob Stallings, Elias Díaz, Christian Vázquez and Austin Hedges all could potentially be free agents this offseason. It's possible a couple of those guys could be signed to minor-league deals with an invite to Spring Training to compete with Stubbs for a roster spot.
The bottom line is that if you go the free-agent route to replace Realmuto, you're placing a ton of trust in Marchán.
Let's say either the price for Rutschman is prohibitive or the Orioles just altogether aren't willing to trade him. What other trade options would the Phillies have if they aren't keen on giving Realmuto what he wants but are terrified by the free-agent alternatives?
Former No. 2 overall pick Joey Bart could be an interesting guy to take a flier on. Bart hit .249 with a .696 OPS in 2025, a disappointing season. But after washing out of San Francisco, he hit .333 with a .996 OPS in 66 at-bats against lefties — admittedly, a small sample size — for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024. The 28-year-old is about to enter his first of three arbitration years, so he could be a trade candidate to pair with Marchán.
Also in Pittsburgh is former No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis, who to this point has been a bust. The Pirates might be more inclined to move Davis a year from now when he first becomes arbitration-eligible, but it's worth checking in on. Davis, 26, hit just .167 in 252 at-bats this season. He did, however, post eight defensive runs saved behind the dish.
Other names that would make sense to check in on are Keibert Ruiz (Washington Nationals), Jonah Heim (Texas Rangers), Luis Campusano (San Diego Padres), Tyler Stephenson (Cincinnati Reds) and Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota Twins). Some of those names are more aspirational than others, and there are certainly a few that would usurp Marchán and just become the starting catcher if acquired.
Even if the Phillies wind up re-signing Realmuto, making a call on some external names and seeing what's out there would be wise for Dave Dombrowski and company.
