Minnesota Twins: 5 controllable players the front office should pursue before the trade deadline
By Nate Palmer
J.T. Realmuto, Catcher, Maimi Marlins
The Twins and their fanbase are far from the only ones who would like to see J.T. Realmuto putting on their team’s jersey. That is why the Miami Marlins may be demanding a king’s ransom for the catcher who is under team control through the 2021 season. As they should for a defensively sound and offensively superior player at his position.
Realmuto has already accounted for a 3.8 bWAR and 3.7 fWAR in 2018. Certainly, a good chunk of that comes from what is turning out be his best offensive season as the trade deadline approaches. Realmuto is slashing .311/.361/.531 and a .892 OPS with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs.
Those types of numbers would certainly solidify the Twins at the catcher position for years to come. A position that outside of Mitch Garver has no real young player that looks ready and poised to take over after Jason Castro‘s contract expires at the end of 2019. While Realmuto is no Castro when it comes to pitch framing, his offense will certainly make up for that deficiency.
It will take a very good package of prospects for the Twins to cause the Marlins to want to ship Realmuto to the Twins Cities. If the Twins succeed in acquiring Realmuto it looks as they would have a plus player at the catching position for several years to come. While it will create an interesting scenario if Castro is healthy next season, that would be a welcomed problem to have. Castro would likely also immediately become attractive to some catching needy team if the Twins wanted to move him.