This week, the hard-charging Mets have lost not one but two catchers to serious injury. As such, they're faced with trying to build upon their hot start to 2018 without Travis d'Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki. While there's reason to believe that the Mets have a workable in-house situation as is, it's not surprising that they may be casting about for upgrades at the position. Speaking of which ...
The Mets have spoken to the Marlins about J.T. Realmuto. It would take a haul to land him, plus Realmuto has not played yet this season because of a back contusion. That said, the Marlins are rebuilding so maybe there is common ground that can be found.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) April 13, 2018
The Marlins of course began tanking this past offseason with the trades of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, and Dee Gordon, so presumably they're open to moving other veterans. Perhaps there would be some hesitation to trade J.T. Realmuto within the division, but such considerations tend to be overstated.
In any event, Realmuto would be an excellent addition for New York. In addition to being a plus defender behind the plate, Realmuto owns a 104 OPS+ for his career, and he's coming off a 2017 campaign in which he batted .278/.332/.451 with 17 home runs. That's very strong production by catcher standards, and he's still just 27 years of age. Realmuto's also not slated for free agency until after the 2020 season.
Obviously, he'd be an ideal solution for the Mets and an upgrade over even a fully healthy d'Arnaud. The issue may be that Realmuto may command a price in trade that the Mets simply can't afford. Infielder Andres Gimenez is the only prospect the Mets have who approaches consensus top-100 status, and he may not move the needle when it comes to an established, affordable player like Realmuto who's still a long way from free agency. Should the Marlins decide to put Realmuto on the block once he's healthy, a number of teams would surely be interested. For the Mets to land him, it might require some creativity.
