J.T. Realmuto … Would Ya?

Well, ya should.

Let’s review and give some background in case you’ve never read a blog before and this is your first day following baseball: In 1991, baseball decided to put a major league baseball team in Miami. Wayne Huizenga owned it, but couldn’t capitalize on a World Series victory in 1997 and justify keeping all of the stars he had traded for. So he sold the team to John Henry, who then sold it to Jeffrey Loria. Loria was the owner for a World Championship, but his ownership was woven with the thread of chaos. So he sold it to Bruce Sherman this offseason, who put Derek Jeter in charge of screwing up the latest fire sale as he gave Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees. That transaction was sandwiched by a bun made up of trades of Dee Gordon and Marcell Ozuna.

There, now you’re caught up on the history of the Miami Marlins.

I'll tell you publicly that it's pointless to get excited about this offseason.
But privately I'll go light a candle for J.T. Realmuto.
I know. That's pointless too.

— Metstradamus (@Metstradamus) December 13, 2017

Amazingly, my candle wasn’t put out by wind, rain, or Jeff Wilpon’s spittle. Realmuto, a catcher faced with the prospect of playing out a season in Miami with this three friends gone, and probably Christian Yelich as well, has decided to put in a trade request to find a team that can win. Now can the Mets win? With a young controllable catcher who is a clear upgrade from what they have now? Sure they can. Is it possible? Possible enough that Matt Snyder listed the Mets as a potential landing spot:

The Mets seem content to stick with the Travis d’Arnaud/Kevin Plawecki combo behind the plate. They also seem content to not make any sort of splash this offseason, so perhaps I should have not listed them. It just feels like a good fit here. Realmuto would definitely be an upgrade.

You shouldn’t have listed them. But you did. And you can’t take it back.

Travis d’Arnaud hit .232 and had an OPS of .675 in 2017 before teams brought up their AAA rosters. Against those AAA pitchers on mostly bad teams. Consider that d’Arnaud played 13 of 20 September games against the Braves, Marlins, Phillies, and Reds. In the other seven against Houston, Washington, and the Cubs d’Arnaud went 4-for-23 (.174) with two of those hits coming against Edwin Jackson and the other one coming against Jen-Ho Tseng. Realmuto, who hit .278 last season (and that’s .278 from April through August and .278 in September), is a definite upgrade. That’s not a question in my mind.

The question is: Do the Mets have enough to deal for him in a trade? Most likely not enough to blow ever team that isn’t in the N.L. East out of the water. Would d’Arnaud (who would only hold value as a place holder at catcher), Tomas Nido and Luis Guillorme be enough? A lower lever prospect? Would they want Thomas Szapucki who is recovering from TJ surgery? It’s dicey. Worth it for the Mets to try before that push notification that tells us that Realmuto is going elsewhere breaks our hearts?

Sure, why not.