This morning Jim Bowden of The Athletic posted a story about five potential landing spots for Marlins’ catcher JT Realmuto. The Rockies, who could really use an upgrade behind the dish, were among the teams. Even more notably, Bowden later tweeted that the Rockies were among the teams who have “touched base” with the Marlins about Realmuto.
This is the type of rumor that’s on the fence between revelatory and un-revelatory. On the one hand, we can believe Bowden in that the Rockies probably have made contact with the Marlins. That’s good, and it does mean the Rockies are exploring the possibility of making a trade. On the other hand, “touching base” is a pretty low bar, and the conversation could very well have been quick and definitive. So take the rumor with a larger sized grain of salt.
Bowden has made no indication that his suggested trade was based on anything other than his own speculation. Here’s what he proposes: Garrett Hampson and Peter Lambert for Realmuto. Two guys on the Rockies pre-season top 10 prospect list for two years of Realmuto.
In my view, that sounds like a pretty good deal. The reason is because of context. The Rockies are well positioned to win in 2019, but they need to improve in key areas, one of them is catcher. While it may hurt in the long term to lose Hampson and Lambert, Realmuto could make a huge difference right away. I doubt the Red Sox regret trading Anderson Espinoza and Yoán Moncada.
But that’s just my view. What do you think?