The Phillies, Rays, and Dodgers had a three-way and the Phils came away with lefthanded reliever Jose Alvarado, who is kind of a good news, bad news guy.
The good news is he misses a lot of bats. The 25-year-old Venezuelan has struck out 161 hitters in 132.2 innings and throws in the upper 90s. The bad news is he misses home plate a lot, too. He averages nearly five walks per nine innings. And he's been hurt a lot since making his MLB debut in 2017.
He's one of those low-cost, high-reward kind of guys. But you have to wonder why Tampa got rid of him. The Rays have the best front office in baseball. Surely this guy must be damaged goods or something for the Rays to trade him. All the Phillies had to give up was Garret Cleavinger, who had a cup of coffee in the Phils bullpen this past summer.
Back to Realmuto. It's been reported that the Phils have been in contact with JT, but have yet to make a formal contract offer. WHY? They need to sign him, like yesterday. Unless they have their eyes on Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras, who is reportedly on the market.
Contreras is a less-accomplished catcher than Realmuto, but he has some pop and a career OPS of .814, just a tick below Realmuto. He wouldn't be an awful replacement for Realmuto, and he's definitely better than Andrew Knapp, and he wouldn't cost nearly as much as Realmuto. And he's younger than JT. If the Phils don't want to spend the big bucks on JT, they could do a lot worse than two-time All Star Wilson Contreras.
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