Free Agent Poll: J.T. Realmuto

I helped oneself to an idea from Lone Star Ball. It isn’t the first time I’ve stolen from them. The idea is to go through some of the top free agents, use the contract FanGraphs suggests they will get and have a poll asking if we would like to sign him for that amount.

I planned to skip J.T. Realmuto, but then I saw a tweet for a post with someone saying the Blue Jays should sign him. I’m afraid I have to disagree, but I’ve been wrong before (my wife is nodding her head).

Keith Law has J.T. his number 2 free agent, FanGraphs has him in the number one spot.

Craig Edwins figures Realmuto will get a 6-year, $140 million contract, fetching $23.3 million a season. I’m wondering if any team will be wanting to give a 6-year deal right now. But if someone is going to get a contract like that, Realmuto should be the guy.

J.T. hit .266/.349/.491 with 11 home runs in 47 games this season. He has been remarkably consistent. In the last three seasons, he’s had slugging averages of .484, 493, and .491, with on-base averages of .340, .328, and .349. The team that signs him knows what they are going to get. His fWAR for the last four years has been 4.4, 4.9, 5.7, and 1.7.

Defensively, he gets good marks for framing, and he threw out 47% of base stealers in 2019, 25% this year. He won a Gold Glove in 2019.

He turns 30 in March, so the sixth year of the contract might not look so great, but whoever signs him should get enough value out of the first 3 or 4 years to cover the last two.

I don’t see him for the Blue Jays, especially for six years. I’m thinking Jansen and Kirk will make a good tandem, with Kirk getting more and more of the playing time as time goes on. But I’m ok with people disagreeing with me. Occasionally.