J.T. Realmuto trade talks “picking up” with Rays in the mix

MLB.com’s Joe Frisario is reporting that J.T. Realmuto trade talks are “once again picking up” with little to nothing unchanged from what we already knew about the Marlins asks for the star catcher and the teams involved.

J.T. Realmuto trade talks are once again picking up, as the Marlins are engaged in substantive discussions with six clubs.

According to a source, the Braves, Dodgers, Astros, Padres, Rays and Reds are considered the front-runners to acquire Realmuto. As it’s been all offseason, the Marlins’ asking price remains extremely high.

In return, Miami seeks a top prospect and more. In some cases, it would like a catcher with some big league experience to work with a young pitching staff.

Frisario is the same reporter who believed that Rays top-ten prospect OF Jesus Sanchez may be enough to make a deal.

Sanchez has been ranked the sixth best prospect in the Rays stacked farm system by Baseball America, and in our Community voting. Meanwhile, FanGraphs ranked Sanchez as the Rays fourth best prospect in their mid-season 2018 update, and No. 47 overall.

As for including a catcher, the Rays have the recently acquired veteran Mike Zunino and rookie Michael Perez lined up to backstop in 2018, with prospect Nick Ciuffo also major league ready.

You can find our full trade analysis on a possible Realmuto-Rays swap here.