Braves forcing Phillies’ hand with JT Realmuto is a genius move

Per a report, the Braves have interest in superstar catcher JT Realmuto and Phillies fans will be furious if he heads to Atlanta. 

Wouldn’t this be something? On Thursday morning, a report dropped starting that the Atlanta Braves are now interested in potentially signing standout catcher JT Realmuto. Where in the heck did this come from?

While it doesn’t make a ton of sense on the surface, seeing as Atlanta has Travis d’Arnaud, adding a player of Realmuto’s caliber would send a major statement to the rest of the league. Even if they don’t, the fact that they’re showing interest alone is sure to infuriate an NL East rival: Philadelphia.

The Phillies must be furious with the Atlanta Braves right now over their JT Realmuto interest

This truly is a win-win for the Braves. If they do end up signing Realmuto, they’ll land one of the top free agents out there and snatch him away from the Phillies. This will of course make Bryce Harper very unhappy, who has said time and time again he wants Realmuto back.

Even if they don’t have him ink a contract with the team, this is putting enormous pressure on the Phillies to get something done with the backstop. The news of Atlanta showing interest in Realmuto really forces the Phillies’ hand here.

Do they sit back and see if Atlanta is actually serious about signing him? If they wait and let him slip away to an NL East rival, it’d be a terrible look. Instead, Philadelphia might panic and rush to get a deal with Realmuto done soon, paying him much more than what they normally might have.

At the end of the day, the Braves front office really looks genius with this whole thing. We’ll see where Realmuto lands, but Atlanta has a nice offseason victory in its back pocket regardless of what happens.