January 03, 2026
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
After losing out on the Bo Bichette sweepstakes, the Phillies immediately re-signed J.T. Realmuto.
The calendar has turned to January. It's been more than three weeks since the Phillies signed Kyle Schwarber to a contract extension and turned their attention to J.T. Realmuto.
Three weeks, and nothing.
There's been an offer on the table, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki reported on Dec. 10, the day the Scchwarber deal became official, and the Phillies have been waiting.
But nothing since has happened, and now there's genuine curiosity if there will be a reunion between the Phils and the 34-year-old catcher.
How much longer should Dave Dombrowski, Phillies president of baseball operations, wait before moving on?
With some very intriguing names still remaining in free agency, especially right-handed hitting infielders, former Phillies general manager Rubén Amaro Jr. said Dombrowski can't keep waiting for the phone to ring.
On "The Phillies Show" podcast, featuring Zolecki, Amaro Jr. and longtime Phillies insider Jim Salisbury, Amaro said losing out on other potential free agents "would be a detriment to the Phillies" if Realmuto kept them waiting and utlimately signed elsewhere.
"At some point Dave is going to say ... 'It's time to make a move, we need to move forward with this ball club and try to figure out how we're going to put togehter nine players on that field,'" Amaro said in the podcast. "There are still two third baseman-infielders out there, right handed hitters that could impact this team in some way. And the fact they have a right-handed hitting third baseman right now on their team, all of those machinations, the things that could happen if J.T. doesn't sign, there's a lot of different pieces that can move around.
"Who knows who is heavy on [Alex] Bregman, who's heavy on [Bo] Bichette, who might be interested in a guy like Alec Bohm if the Phillies decided to move from him and then tried to sign one of those two free agents. There's so many different things that can happen, and none of it can happen until they know what's going on with J.T.
"And at some point, Dave Dombrowski, if I were stitting in his seat right now, I would not wait too much longer. I would not wait past the middle of January, to me, to make these moves, because all of these different things I could do to make this team a litle bit better could go away and that would be a detriment to the Phillies. You can only wait so long."
In the podcast, Sailsbury said he believes the Phillies' offer to Realmuto is likely three years, maybe two, but the hold-up is probably the average annual value.
On the flip side, the fact that Realmuto hasn't yet signed either means his offers aren't abundant or that he just isn't getting the money he seeks.
Realmuto was making more than 21 million per year on his last deal with the Phillies, which he signed before the 2022 season, but his offensive production has declined and his WAR has dropped each year over the past three seasons – from a career-best 6.5 in 2022 to 3.5 to 3.0 to last year's 2.5.
Waiting it out actually could be the Phillies' best plan to retain Realmuto on a team-friendly deal that could give them more money to pursue another free agent or trade piece who might be costly. The prospect of losing out on Bregman or Bichette sounds like a bummer, but how realisitic is it that they'd get one of them?
In order to sign either to play third base they'd have to trade Bohm, so it's not as easy as just moving on from one to sign another. Bregman and Bichette are also likely to sign major deals that would push the Phillies more above the luxury tax than they are already.
The final CBT payrolls with the Dodgers paying record taxes pic.twitter.com/W8B78F3Mkt
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 19, 2025
Dombrowski has said since his first press conference of the offseason that bringing back Realmuto is a priority and that there probably wouldn't be radical changes to the team.
The Phillies theoretically have leverage, especially if Realmuto isn't finding offers he loves in free agency.
Sure, there's risk to waiting for Realmuto to make a decision, but Salisbury made a legitimate counterpoint:
"I think it's: How long can JT wait as well?" Salisbury said. "At some point he's going to want to know where the heck he's going."
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