Is fewer games for J.T. Realmuto the best approach for the Phillies in 2025?
The Philadelphia Phillies front office has some decisions to make this offseason if they hope to improve a ball club that suffered a one and done fate in the playoffs this year. Like 29 other teams currently waiting for free agency to start after the conclusion of the World Series, Dave Dombrowski and his baseball operations team find themselves evaluating what went wrong in a 2024 season that failed to meet lofty expectations.
Dombrowski admitted as much during his season-ending press conference. While many names and faces will likely return next season, some hints about the future of the starting rotation and outfield mix certainly raised a couple of eyebrows before the microphones went cold and the cameras stopped rolling. Bounced from the postseason earlier than expected, speculation about the future has become the dominant theme of the offseason
With most of the roster under contract for 2025, how will the team handle some of its aging veteran core? Can Nick Castellanos play 162 games again next season? Is Brandon Marsh simply a platoon player at this stage of his Phillies tenure?
Those are just a few of the pressing questions on every Phillies fan’s mind right now. When it comes to the position of catcher, what type of workload J.T. Realmuto will have remains murky at best.
Phillies’ plan for J.T. Realmuto next season is not what fans want to hear
The wear and tear on Realmuto’s body started to really show this season after the veteran catcher only appeared in 99 games after undergoing minor knee surgery in June. Realmuto will be 34 years old heading into next season, which will also be his last under contract with the Phillies before he tests free agency next offseason.
While signing an extension between now and then remains a possibility, does manager Rob Thomson plan on resting Realmuto more next season?
Thomson admitted that the possibility of Realmuto sitting more is a discussion he would like to have with the three-time All-Star backstop.
“I’ve got to talk to J.T. about that, first of all, but we’ll put a plan together and whoever that backup is, we don’t know yet, but we’ll put a plan together because I think if you give J.T. some more time off, I think his numbers will get better,” said Thomson.
Realmuto takes pride in playing every day and in the past has talked Thomson out of giving him days off during the season. Does Thomson believe he can persuade his starting catcher to take a seat more often in 2025?
“I’m not sure yet. He’s a tough guy and he’s a guy, like a lot of our guys, they want to play every day. I’ll have to do some convincing I guess,” remarked Thomson.
The troubling part of Thomson’s remarks has to do with him having to convince one of his player’s to follow his instructions.
While being a player’s manager has its advantages when it comes to clubhouse harmony and player trust, at what point does this method of management extend too far to the point of having the inmates run the asylum? And how much of a factor is Garrett Stubb’s lack of offensive production factoring into Thomson’s game-day decisions?
Could a change at backup catcher be imminent?
While Stubb’s outgoing personality is something Phillies fans have come to celebrate, at what point does the lack of offensive production from the backup catcher start to influence Thomson’s plans when it comes to resting Realmuto? If Realmuto is going to sit more in 2025, the Phillies are going to need more offense than Stubbs’ .207 batting average and one home run this season.
Rafael Marchán showed he belonged on a Major League roster this season after posting a solid .294 batting average, with 15 hits, three home runs and six RBI in 51 at-bats. The former top prospect was impressive in limited action this season while splitting time at catcher with Stubb’s while Realmuto was sidelined during June and July. Although health has always been an issue with Marchán, did Thomson see enough out of the young backstop to consider him a candidate to be the Phillies backup catcher next season?
“We like Marchán a lot,” Dombrowski said about Marchan’s chances of making the 2025 Opening Day roster, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. “We think he’s a real good catcher. He’s shown some offensive prowess also. … He’s had a lot of injuries, but when he’s played, he’s played very well. So I think we have some people capable of doing that internally. But I can’t tell you that they’ll be for sure given the job. We just have to keep an open mind as we explore that this wintertime.”
Given the potential for Realmuto to rest more next season, it seems that the most rational way to make that happen would be to make a swap at the backup catcher position.
While Stubb’s clubhouse intangibles certainly have value, it’s not unreasonable to say there seems to be some apprehension on Thomson’s part to trust his bat in the lineup more than one day of the week. If we’re making a purely baseball decision, Marchán should take over the backup catcher’s role in 2025.
