Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 267 | JT Realmuto Returns to Philly!

Episode Date: January 26, 2021

Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe react to JT Realmuto's 5-year, $115.5M deal to return to Philadelphia! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. It's a surprise episode for a surprise signing. Real Muto goes to the Phillies. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. How's everyone doing? We hope you're doing well. We were winding down here at the John Boy Media office in the Bronx. The day was coming to a close.

And then we get the news that the Phillies and catcher J.T. Real Muto have reached an agreement. five years, $115.5 million dollars. He goes back to Philly. Bryce Harper gets his wish, and Trevor Plouf is pissed off about it? That's not true. That's not true at all. Bad leading by me.

Close call. I have so many awesome little fun facts for people. Give us one. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, you got tidbits? No, no. No. No. Oh, okay.

Just fun facts? Just fun facts. I've had him in the bag for a while. We've been waiting for JT to sign. We've known it's going to be the Phillies. They are playing a little dance, a little charade, if you will, but here he is back in Philly, where he belongs, and it keeps the Phillies.

I'll just throw one out there right now. It keeps the Phillies, World Series contenders. Okay. World Series. World Series. Which World Series? Poker. Was a crazy game of poker.

I lost it all. A lot of OAR concerts in Connecticut growing up and my first concert at Red Rocks. Not necessarily proud of it, but it was a good show. Jim, how are you? I'm doing well. Good. I went to an OAR concert as well once.

We go together? Maybe. Connecticut? Probably. Okay. Hartford. Hartbeat. This seemed inevitable that Rio Moodo is going back to the Phillies,

especially when Dombrough came on board. It's like, they're going to get them. And the way the NLEs is playing out, if you're the Phillies and you see all these team making moves and you don't bring this dude back, I think you're in a bad spot. I think that means you've now like kind of lost your edge or whatever. They needed to bring them back. They bring them back. I like it. The big news is they got Ivan Nova on a minor league deal, and we'll talk about that at the end of the show.

Because, I mean, I know that there's people that really only care about that. It's the biggest contract that catchers had ever. but with some stipulations you guys are saying. Biggest free agent signing by a catcher ever. Like Mowers's deal was bigger, but he never hit free agency. That was just an extension. So B. Mowers A.AV record for Diction. I don't.

That's such a dumb semantics game. So it's not the most a starting catchers ever been paid in Major League Baseball. Most A.A.V. It is the most A.A.V. Now we're back to me being impressed by it. Yeah. By 0.1. Okay.

Fuck what a roll. You can be in the middle. What a real look. No, I just don't think it's a fun fact if there's so many caveats. I think that caveats make fun facts. Treves got some fun tidbits for us. Trev, give us one tidbit. Three, two, one.

Not only is J2. Real Muto the best athlete for a catcher. He's one of the best athletes in all of baseball. We can talk about that by his sprint speed. His sprint speed in 2020, 28.2. Name some guys that you think are fast. You'd say, Jake Brisnick, he flies around the outfield pretty quickly, right? He's a fast guy he steals base.

McAstro. Young Randy Moss. How about, I have another one. Willie Adamas, Joey Wendell, AJ Pollock. I don't think Joey Wendon. J.T. Romuto sprints just as quickly as all those guys, and he's a catcher and has way more muscle. he's a lot bigger and sexier

with his shirt off than those guys and he still runs just as fast. The guy's an athlete. You accidentally said Joey Wendell. He said Joey Wendell. Coming up as a young and, which most of us are. Okay. There's music playing.

Can you guys hear that? Yeah. I don't you can. I don't know. Trev can hear it. In the other room of the office, there's a show just blaring. Bump fan.

I don't think you guys gave that enough credit that that stat right you threw us off because you lump joey wendell into the fast dudes and we don't picture him as fast at all now i'm checking the numbers on jr jr jr jr jr jr jr jr jr jrrrrr's fast jrowns in the 83rd percentile real moot's in the 84th percentile for sprint speed so anyway you got the most money the catchers ever had a v five year deal what is what is the a v 115 about about 25 23.1 23.1 it's 115.5 Okay. A lot of points.

A lot of points. A lot of points. Needed to be done. If you're a Phillies fans, you're excited. I don't know who came in second place. I would guess they bid against themselves a little bit. All of the fake interest tweets were kind of hilarious now because when you saw them, like the Braves are circling and the teams on the West Coast are poking around.

Like that doesn't mean anything. That's just his agents leaking stuff to try and get the Phillies to bid against themselves. Probably worked a little bit, bumped him up. It's a good contract. I don't care about the money, really, for the Phillies. I'm happy, Reramudo, got what he's worth. I just think they needed to bring this dude back if they wanted to be players in the NL East.

It's a crazy division. The fourth place team is looking like it's going to be a really good ball club. And if you want to compete, this is what you need to do. Especially when you have Bryce Harper publicly saying, like, hey, if we don't bring him back, I'll cut my head off in center. field midgame. That would have been wild. Yeah, I mean, they've got an identity again. The Phillies have a lineup, and it's, I mean, McCutcheon, Alec Baum broke out last year, Harper, Real Mudo,

Hoskins, Segura, and then they've got some flex options between Roman Quinn, Kingery, hazily. So they've got a lineup. They've got Nola and Wheeler up top. And they're reworking that whole bullpen, you know, Archie Bradley, Alvarado. Don't, get me started on Connor Brogden. So we'll see. Can Spencer Howard breakout? We were just talking about this hours ago. The NL East is

a mess. Just a mess. And I don't know. I think it's going to be funny because something we'll probably talk about in a minute is that the marquee free agents are kind of winding down. The Braves haven't made their big move yet, and I'd still bet that they're going to do

something. And they've been the kings of this division. You know, the Mets are more in the mix than they've ever been. The Nats we're still not sure about. So I don't know. When you say World Series contenders, Trev, I'm kind of the eternal optimist and get hot and believe in it. But this Phillies team doesn't give me that at all. I get it.

You like to see another guy in their rotation because Nolan Wheeler is a very fine one too. Sure. So we need either a Spencer Howard or a Vinnie Velasquez, who he's been working out with Jay Flair and Archer so I've been talking Wow He's changed a lot of things He's been around some guys

Maybe something clicks with him But I would like to see another arm there But I think their lineup can go toe to toe With anybody the bullpen got a little bit of help I would have liked to see them go get Another guy which there's still There are plenty of people out there I don't know where they're at with this whole threshold thing

What they're trying to do But I will say that Jim you said The top four teams and at least are going to good. I would say all five of them are going to be pretty good. Oh, no, Marlins are leaving out. We're out on the Marlins. We decided. Oh, well, they made the playoffs last year. I know it was expanded, but whatever.

This is going to be a hell of a league and I can't, a hell of a division. I can't wait to see. If you wanted me to choose two teams I was out on out of the five in the in the L. East, and the Marlins may be good. I don't want to, like, upset the Marlins fans, whatever. They have young, young, good pitching. But I would, I would say the Phillies and Marlins are the two that I, when I go to their roster and I see it on paper, Jake. I'm like, eh, because really what I do is I just scroll to the pitching rotation.

And comparatively, it still lacks for me. Do you think the Phillies? Philly. Yeah, yeah. I know you're still talking about the Marlins. No, no, the Phillies. That's what they got. Okay.

Do you think the Phillies in Tampa compare as a team? No. I think Tampa's better. In what way? I think organizationally Yeah pitching Pitching

Top to bottom A little bit of Recy bias Pitching top to bottom Are there starters Better now The Rays? You don't like Glassnow

You say Glassnell is a three Yeah I mean it's true I like Yarbrough I like Torinos when he's right But I mean Yeah I don't know I don't know

I don't know I know They didn't have Exactly the time That they've wanted As Harper's been there But they're still position to be a very good team. And this,

they had to do this to continue to have that feeling. Are they a piece away, probably? But this is, this can be a very good team. Baseball. We'll find out. I don't know. Are they done? Is that it? I really hope not.

There's a, there's a pitcher. Now go grab Odo. I want every team to grab Otto. Go grab Odo. Rizzie. Now you're in. You give me Odo on the Phillies and I can buy in. What about Paxton? I mean, I like it as a flyer still, you know? I like a lefty for them.

I do like a lefty for them. You know who they just grabbed them? The problem is they're just, they're in the freaking east, man. I mean, Ivan Nova. What are you saying about him? Ivan,

no fun. Yeah. He's coming. Yeah, maybe that's their move. That's their move. You know what Ivan Nova did in his last 14 games in 2019? Give it to me.

He had a like a three or a, that was pretty good. I remember. It was like a three ERA. and did well. Because Jake and I thought it was going to lead him to get like a good deal. But didn't. Or like a signing, but it didn't.

And then last year it was bad. Look, you get Alvarado like kind of right. And you got him with Archie Bradley. And if you get Hector Nairas kind of where he needs to be, like that's a good start to a bullpen. I do like the bullpen there. But I don't know. Yeah.

If they're going to do this. They got Dumbrowski, right? I don't know, you know, their prospect pool isn't supposed to be that deep. You wonder if they still try to cash in on some young guys and see what they can find, or, you know, I was going to play this game with you guys, how many impact-free agents are left. And it- Impacts very- Right, it gets tricky, because, I mean, I think it's Bauer and Ozuna are the big fish.

I'd say there's five left. Okay. Bauer, Ozuna. I'm saying Oda Rizee, even though I don't think a lot of people would count that. But I mean, you just said that if they signed Odo, if the Phillies signed Odo, it would change your mind on them. I wasn't saying O in a no way. So get off my ass. I didn't get on your ass.

I was in your ass. Dedy. I think Dedy can change the lineup. But I wouldn't like, I wouldn't, don't put my feet to the fire and I'm going to be screaming. I'll put your feet to whatever fire I want. And then is that four? So I needed to find another one somewhere? There's a couple forgotten free age.

Justin Turner, Nelson Cruz. Those guys can be very impactful pieces. So there's a couple more pieces than you'd think that are out there. No, it seems like a nice Phillies move. Bringing Cole Hamels. I don't know what he's got left. Let's find out together, babe. Yeah, at his time there.

I want Bill Walton a little bit on that. I don't know what Cole Hamels is about. I wanted to play a game with you guys as well. Let's play a game. Don't forget about who's leading the way for them. Your guy. You gave way too much credit for Yankees championships. He's there with the Phillies.

I mean, way too much is... You came in hot. You walked yourself back on it. Trev's now putting your feet in the fire. I think Joe Gart is good at managing a bullpen. I think that's all I've ever said. Well, that's what they need. If he can manage his bullpen has decent enough pieces.

I mean, like I said, this team has the pieces to be good. I'd like more pitching and more bullpen, to be honest. Here's my game. How many catchers have signed a major league contract so far this off season. Ooh. Real moot. Two obvious ones. McCann.

Castro to the Astros. Yep. The angel signed someone and you guys laughed at me. Suzuki. Suzuki. Soos bot You got four And I'll say there's one more that I forgot

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven Eight, eight, I was kind of surprised by that Eight catchers have signed major league deals We're talking about impact free agents, Yachty's still unsigned, right? I was, I had a joke shoot up Because I was going to say the impact is that if he doesn't sign with the Cardinals Everyone's lost No one knows how to play baseball in St. Louis anymore

Luke May Luke Maly, Austin Romine, Kurt Suzuki, Jason Castro, Kurt Casali, Mike Zanino, James McCann, Real Mudo. The catchers that are left, like, how does this impact the rest of the catchers market? Wilson Ramos is the next one left that's like projected to be a positive war starting catcher. Yaddy Molina is obviously left. Tyler Flowers. And every time I hear about Flowers now I just think of Jason Kendall.

Jason Kendall shit talking them on our show What did he just say he was a giant pussy? He need Kendall back on here We do need Kendall back on here Someone oh someone commented on the Trivia show That he'd be good That he's like a memory freak guy

So and I mean I'd love to do that We don't even have to air it I can just do that That would be a lot of fun All right Put him on the list For season two trivia show Done

Yeah there's There's not that many catchers left. So they'll all go somewhere. Russell Martin's still out there. Did he retire? He's tired. Oh, yeah. Guys, know how baseball is hot in the streets? Yep. And it's fun. The whole egg stuff. Yeah. I think we're about to get real hot.

I don't, it's been hot. I think we're about to get real hot. The dam has opened. Because, I mean, a week and a half ago. There was no DJ, no spring. or no real mood, so the big fish have started to go. Guys, there's some teams that are going to make kind of splashy moves. The Dodgers, the Braves, those teams are in the mix, and they kind of haven't made their chess move yet.

And I wonder if, you know, third base for both of those teams, Chris Bryant, Nolan Aeronado, Justin Turner's still out there. How many years can he still pick it at 30s? He's getting a little old. I think baseball is about to get. get hot, hot, hot. It makes sense. It's about damn time.

We got spring training coming up. They have the rules set essentially. I think that was a decent holdup for teams. Is the DH going to be or is it not? I think it's inevitable that J.T. ends up back with the Dodgers, but that would be a huge story. And they said, you know, let's go bring in Bryant for this year and just go run it. I don't think that happens.

That would be a huge story. J.T. is going to be back with the Dodgers. Two years, 20 mil. Makes sense, right? He wants four. I don't know. He wants four years? Yeah.

My dream. Rodgers have offered too. And I wish Treves, Texas Rangers would do this, is do like the free agent scrap heap team. Like, you could still put something together, man. Pueegh, Peterson, Colton Wong still out there. Taiwan Walker, friend of the program. How much is Taiwan Walker going to make? One year, nine mill.

The Phillies, go get him. Go get him. I like it What about Angleton Simmons? He hasn't signed, has he? Hasn't signed him, Dedy and Simeon still out there. He's been the best defender

of the last 10 years. Nice. It's not even close. It's not even close. I like the Phillies to bring Diti back. I'm fine with that. I like him there. Lefty.

Good defender. Solid. Nice guy. We'll put Simmons on your Simmons makes your team better. Makes your pitchers better. I'm excited. Where does he end up?

Where does he fit? All of them are going to the Texas Rangers And they're going to start anew. I will like the Texas Rangers again if they do that. Don't lie. Don't lie. They have zero direction. It's a lie, Trev.

It's a lie. You hate them. They mistreated you. I do. But a lot of the guys that I hated are gone. Name them. Oh. Should I?

Jason Kendall. The brewer. are among teams showing interest in Justin Turner. I went to a King Felix start at a Texas Rangers game on Dollar Hot Dog Night, ate myself sick. That's obvious. How many do you think you have? Oh, it's gross.

I was with a buddy who eats. It was bad. They were disgusting. The color of those hot dogs was not free eating. Yeah. Man. It's hot probably. It's gross.

Dollar Dog Night at Oakland. back in like 2006, 2007, maybe the most foul thing you could do. They looked like a shriveled up pinky finger in a bun. It was dollar hot dogs. And they were just disgusting. You ever ate a gray hot dog? That's when you know it's good.

You read a hot dog shot of a can in? But people who actually eat those? I've never done that. Sounds like it would hurt. Right into my mouth? You've perked up with all this hot dog talk. Yeah, senior year. of college. I was in the Philadelphia area.

We had like a senior night at the ballpark, Philly game, drunkest I've been during the day ever. And then it was also Dollar Dog Night. And it was the night the Knicks lost the Zion lottery. So I went nuts. Wow. How can you not be romantic about baseball? A lot of hot dog talk. Have you guys never seen a hot dog cannon?

Is that a minor league thing? They don't do that. Oh, like they shoot the wrapped up. Hot dog. Yeah. Oh, yes. We were both picturing a loose hot dog. I was picturing a loose hot dog into the mouth like Happy Gilmore. Oh, no.

But I don't know if I would eat a hot dog cannon. A canned dog. Why are you too good for that? Hey, you were just at Costco. They got good hot dogs there. The L.A. Trev. No, I'm not a Costco hot dog guys. They are good.

Treve? I didn't like them. Well, they're good. I got that onion thing. Crank all the onions right on there. They're like a, a buck. 50? Yeah, look, you can't beat the price.

I just got some rib-eyed cap I'm going to cook tonight, Jam, you know? All right. Well, Real Mudo went to the Phillies. It makes sense. It had to happen. It's what everyone thought was going to happen. Now the Phillies, I would like them to make a splash or two more. I would hope that, you know, every team was catching the wave.

Like, it's the Phillies turn to catch a wave. Oh, Philly's wave. They got Real Mudo. They got Ivan Nova. Who's next? I signed Brian Mitchell this morning to a minor league deal If that gets you going So Girardi is just picking up all of his ex-pitchers

He's Philly So does the... Okay Girardi is just getting all of his ex-players That means Shane Green Clipper I like Shane Green there Shane Green Clippard

I did a joking tweet called the Yankees reunion Bullpen Because they're all free agents Shane, Clippard D-Rob Who else was it? There was like Moxie, Phelps

Phelps So now George George is going to steal all those guys I have two observations Before we end Quickly One is this team is going to Maybe not go as he goes

But if he does Become what people think he can become It's going to help a lot Scotty King Kinger. They gave him the bag before he even stepped on the major league field.

He has everything that you can think of tool-wise. He's got to put it together. He's been hitting with Judge for a couple years now. Maybe something clicks right there. That would be a huge boost to them.

Second point being, we need to just realize how big of a stud J.T. Rulmuto is. I want to make that point. I want to emphasize it. This guy is an absolute stud. He was a shortstop. His whole entire amateur career, he'd put a catcher's glove on for the first time, not too long ago.

Now he's the best of his position. He's an absolute animal, so good for the Phillies. We don't need to see Bryce Harper's head rolling around center field in Philadelphia. I mean, I didn't want to see that at all. I don't want to see it. How do you feel about this interaction? Jose Konseko tweeted out, Kurt Schilling would be a disgrace to the Hall of Fame. Kurt Schilling responded, cheated your ass off.

and I still owned you. Good interaction. Good interaction. Okay. Thanks, everyone. Go Phel's. Jake sucks.