The Philadelphia Phillies were dealt some brutal news when Bo Bichette decided to sign with the New York Mets instead of the Phillies. Despite having momentum, the Phillies couldn’t land Bichette.

Immediately, they pivoted to J.T. Realmuto, signing him to a fairly big $45 million, three-year extension. It seemed like a lot in the moment, and a few weeks later, it looks even worse.

According to The Shredder of MLB Now, the Top 10 Catchers in the sport not only doesn’t include Realmuto, but of these catchers, there’s only one who is getting paid as much as the 35-year-old veteran. This deal doesn’t look good for the Phillies already.

Phillies’ $45M deal for J.T. Realmuto already looking like a mistake

The Shredder’s top-10 catchers for 2026 include Cal Raleigh, William Contreras, Will Smith, Drake Baldwin, Alejandro Kirk, Gabriel Moreno, Yanier Diaz, Sean Murphy, Ivan Herrera, and Shea Langeliers.

Of those ten catchers, only one player has an equal or higher AAV than Realmuto, and it’s the best catcher in the sport in Raleigh, who is getting $17.5 million AAV. Realmuto’s $15 million AAV is more than every other catcher’s deal in the sport.

Paying Realmuto this much money, and him not being inside the top-10 of the position, would be a massive waste of resources.

He’s regressing defensively and offensively, and while he might bring intangibles as a pitch-caller for the Phillies that goes underrated, his $15 million per-year deal is still far too much for a catcher that’s at this point in his career.

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He’s going to be 35 at the start of the year, and while he might provide solid value once again like he has the last few years, this three-year deal at $15 million is still a major overpay for someone at his stage in his career.

What makes this contract even worse for the Phillies is that this isn’t a simple one or two-year deal. It’s a three-year contract that will have Realmuto signed through his age-38 season.

He’s already not worth $15 million per-year, and when that final year comes around, the Phillies will likely be in a similar spot that they are now with Taijuan Walker and Nick Castellanos.

It’s not a good deal, and this ranking from The Shredder, with Realmuto not a top-10 catcher despite making the 2nd most AAV for a catcher, only further highlights how bad of a contract this was.

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