{"id":528946,"date":"2026-01-20T11:10:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/528946\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T11:10:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:10:53","slug":"phillies-j-t-realmuto-agree-to-3-year-contract-after-bo-bichette-signs-with-mets-source-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/528946\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies, J.T. Realmuto agree to 3-year contract after Bo Bichette signs with Mets, source says"},"content":{"rendered":"

After missing out on Bo Bichette, who signed with the Mets<\/a>\u00a0on Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies pivoted back to their original plan: bringing back catcher J.T. Realmuto.<\/p>\n

The Phillies and Realmuto agreed to a three-year, $45 million contract, a source confirmed to CBS News Philadelphia. The deal is pending a physical.\u00a0FanSided’s Robert Murray<\/a>\u00a0reported Realmuto can earn up to $60 million.<\/p>\n

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made it known his top priorities were re-signing Kyle Schwarber and Realmuto. The club re-signed Schwarber to a five-year, $150 million contract in December. After Schwarber signed, Realmuto became the team’s focus. The Phillies now have accomplished both, though getting across the finish line was not a straight line.<\/p>\n

The Phillies reportedly offered Realmuto a contract earlier in the offseason but couldn’t strike a deal with the three-time All-Star. The club’s interest in Bichette became known in January after a standoff with Realmuto lingered, according to\u00a0The Athletic’s Matt Gelb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Multiple reports suggested it was either Bichette or Realmuto, but not both.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Phillies were among Bichette’s top suitors and were considered among the favorites to land him before the former Toronto Blue Jay signed with the Mets, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n

Bichette signed a reported three-year, $126 million contract with the Mets on Friday. Bichette’s contract has opt out after the first and second seasons and carries a $42 million annual average value, according to the Associated Press. The deal includes a full no-trade clause and no deferred money. <\/p>\n

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale<\/a>\u00a0reported Friday that the Phillies agreed to Bichette’s ask for seven years for around $200 million Thursday night and thought that they would land him. The Mets came in and signed Bichette on a shorter-term deal with a higher AAV after\u00a0Kyle Tucker signed with the Dodgers<\/a>, Nightengale reported.<\/p>\n

Bichette’s contract is not one the Phillies have been known to do. The club prefers to sign players to long-term deals to lower AAV for luxury tax purposes. Earlier this offseason, Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly said on the “Baseball is Dead<\/a>” podcast that the club does not do contracts with opt-outs. \u00a0<\/p>\n

After losing out on Bichette, the Phillies quickly turned back to Realmuto and got the deal done. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Realmuto, who turns 35 in March, may no longer be the “Best Catcher in Baseball<\/a>,” but he remains one of them. He’s well regarded for calling games and his work with the Phillies’ pitching staff, and is still a productive offensive catcher.<\/p>\n

Age may have finally caught up to Realmuto at the plate, but the catcher position across baseball is thin offensively. Realmuto hit 12 home runs and 26 doubles with a .257 average and .700 OPS, his lowest since his second full season in 2015.<\/p>\n

Still, the Phillies often tout Realmuto’s work with their pitchers and how important he is behind the plate.<\/p>\n

Phillies pitchers posted a 3.79 ERA last season, and their starters led the National League with a 3.53 ERA. The club and its pitchers both have said how important Realmuto is to the program.<\/p>\n

The Phillies will run it back at catcher with Realmuto and Rafael March\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

Garrett Stubbs awaits in the wings. The Phils re-signed Stubbs in November to a split contract that was likely designed to deter a team from claiming him on waivers. Stubbs is out of minor-league options.<\/p>\n

\n

Pat Gallen<\/p>\n

contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After missing out on Bo Bichette, who signed with the Mets\u00a0on Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies pivoted back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,3838,144,25,4216,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-528946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","13":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","14":"tag-phillies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115927127416627710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}