đ JT Realmuto was supposed to be Steve Cohen's first 'big splash'
Almost A Met: JT Realmuto
Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome back to this weekâs edition of Almost A Met. Today we are looking at a player who was supposed to Steve Cohenâs first âbig splashâ after buying the Mets.
But before we get into itâŚ
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The Mets and JT Realmuto seemed destined
Look, everyone was elated when Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets from the hated Wilpon family. Finally, the Mets would have the financial might to do what they wanted and actually field a big-market team in New York. It was a dream that Mets fans had wanted for decades.
Cohen completed the purchase of the team in November 2020, just as free agency was heating up. Baseball seemed scared of what Cohen could do with all of his financial resources and there was one free agent in particular that seemed like a perfect fit for the Mets.
Almost everyone thought C JT Realmuto, one of the best catchers in the game, would be wearing orange and blue.
We all know it didnât work out that way. But it seemed closer than people think. In fact, it was believed that Realmuto would be Cohenâs âfirst big splash.â
Why JT Realmuto and the Mets were linked
The 2019 Mets were a strange team. They were led by GM Brodie Van Wagenen and Manager Mickey Callaway, and made a late push for the playoffs but ultimately fell short with an 86-76 record.
Meanwhile, the 2020 COVID-shortened season was a major disappointment, with the team finishing 26-34 under Manager Luis Rojas (following the Carlos Beltran-manager debacle).
While their catcher C Wilson Ramos finished 2019 with a 2.1 WAR, his 2020 stats were much worse. He would send up with just 0.3 WAR, hitting just 5 HRs and 15 RBIs over 45 games. His contract was expiring, and catcher seemed like an obvious area the team could upgrade.
With a new front office and ownership, it seemed likely that theyâd want to make some changes. Luckily for the Mets, arguably the best catcher in baseball was going to be available on the free agent market.
From 2014 through 2020, Realmuto amassed 19.7 WAR, hit 95 HRs and had 358 RBIs. His OBS+ was 111 over those years, and even hit for average, hitting .278 over that span. He was also known as a strong defender, and in short, he was among the best at his position.
For a team with a new deep-pocketed owner, Realmuto made a ton of sense.
In fact, this wasnât even the first time Realmuto and the Mets were linked together. In December 2018, Van Wagenen âremained engagedâ with the Miami Marlins about acquiring the catcher, according to MLB.com.
Several iterations of deals were explored, according to the siteâs reporting, including a three-team trade that would have sent SP Noah Syndergaard to the Yankees while the Mets acquired Realmuto. Other names like OF Brandon Nimmo and OF Michael Conforto were also targets of the Marlins, according to the report.
While those trades never happened, Realmuto was eventually shipped to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he played before reaching free agency.
It was predicted that Realmuto would be Steve Cohenâs first Mets âbig splashâ
Fast forward to late 2020, and three experts at MLB.com expected Cohen and his deep pockets to go out and get Realmuto finally.
âLook, we have no track record with Steve Cohen, so it's not easy to say with 100 percent clarity how he will operate. But I genuinely believe the Mets will prioritize the position and prioritize the player, and get their guy in Cohen's first big splash,â MLB.comâs Anthony DiComo said.
A month earlier, ESPNâs Buster Olney also reportedly thought the same thing.
âI think itâs going to be hard with Steve Cohen buying the Mets. Every new owner comes in and wants to make a statement and heâs going to be the richest owner in baseball⌠and [the Mets] need a catcher. Itâs going to be a bidding war,â Olney said, according to AMNY. âI wouldnât be surprised if the word out of the Mets is that theyâll bid more than whatever the Phillies put on the table.â
While everything seemed to line up nicely for Realmuto to solve the Mets catching problems⌠It didnât turn out that way.
On December 15, 2020 the Mets officially announced that they signed C James McCann to a four-year $40.6 million deal.
McCann was widely regarded as the second-best catcher on the free agent market, but he was clearly a major step down from Realmutoâs production. McCann had pedestrian stats for most of his career, but had a solid 2019 where he slugged 18 HRs, drove in 60 RBIs and had a 3.6 WAR. He followed that up with a 2020-shortened season with 1.3 WAR.
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Timing played a role here
So why did the Mets acquire McCann instead of Realmuto?
It appeared that the Mets wanted to move quickly to try and solve their catching situation and Realmuto wasnât ready to make a decision.
Team President Sandy Alderson addressed the McCann-over-Realmuto decision in a press conference shortly after the signing was made official.
âThis was a timing issue [âŚ] We have a number of needs. We can afford to wait to fill some of them. We canât afford to wait to fill all of them,â Alderson said, according to MetsMerizedOnline (in an article written by friend of the newsletter ) âThis wasnât a compromise pick [âŚ] Thereâs a lot we like about James.â
What happened next?
A few years after the signing, Alderson elaborated during a podcast with Jon Heyman. He seemed to indicate that signing Realmuto may have impacted the Mets ability to make a franchise altering trade for SS Francisco Lindor. (Quotes via SNY).
âI donât think Realmuto was ready to make a decision at the time we were ready to make a decision,â Alderson said. âLook, every choice has its consequences. Letâs say, hypothetically that we had signed Realmuto instead of McCann. Would we still have been actively engaged with Lindor and Carrasco? I donât know. I think you have to look at the totality of the situation, and the fact that we chose to go in a another direction behind the plate may have put us in the right posture to do Lindor/Carrasco.â
Alderson added:
âThis is not a continuum. Itâs just kind of a linearâyouâve got to make decisions from time to time and recognize the implications of those decisions, but by signing McCann we got a very good player and we maintained some flexibility, which allowed us to engage with Cleveland. Engaging with Cleveland and getting Lindor and Carrasco perhaps limits other options, but leaves other options available.â
The Mets acquired Lindor on January 7, 2021. Later in the month, Realmuto signed a 5-year $115.5 million deal with the Phillies.
As for how McCann and Realmuto performed, they couldnât have been much different.
McCann was a disaster in Queens. He only lasted two years of his four year deal, accumulated -0.4 WAR, hit 13 HRs and 64 RBIs. His OBP was just .282 and his OPS+ was 70. The Mets traded him to the Baltimore Orioles ahead of the 2023 season.
Meanwhile, Realmuto continued to be a stud. Over the course of his deal, he amassed 18.2 WAR, hit 80 HRs, drove in 306 RBIs, and had an OPS+ of 110.
I suppose if you believe that signing Realmuto would have blocked the Mets from acquiring Lindor, one of the best players the team has ever had, you can sort of rationalize not spending big on Realmuto.
But if you look at the two options, there is only one clear option: Realmuto would have been better than McCann by miles.
â Would you have signed Realmuto?
Letâs get in the GM chair. Would you have signed Realmuto (even if it meant MAYBE not getting Lindor?)
Next newsletter weâll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.
Last newsletterâs answers: 80% of Almost A Met readers said they would have hired Joe McEwing to be manager, while 20% said they wouldnât have.
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đ Next time on âAlmost A Metâ
Next newsletter weâll be look at how the Wilpons almost certainly killed a deal for 2B Jason Kipnis. Stay tuned!