Do Miami Marlins Bullpen Issues Change J.T. Realmuto Plan?

With their bullpen collapsing, are the Miami Marlins more or less likely to keep their franchise catcher?

One month ago, all doubt was seemingly settled as to whether or not the Miami Marlins would be holding on to star catcher J.T. Realmuto.

And not just for the rest of the 2018 season. All signs pointed to every effort being made to lock up the face of the franchise long-term.

The fact that Realmuto ultimately stayed in South Beach come deadline time shocked many a national pundit. The only outcomes discussed heading into July were that the Marlins would either lower their asking price, or that some club would ultimately cave in to Miami’s demands. Realmuto’s staying put was scarcely discussed at all.

Ultimately, two reasons gradually developed over the course of July that changed the narrative. For one, the three teams that seemed best suited to make a Realmuto sized splash all went in different directions. The Los Angeles Dodgers added an even bigger superstar. The Houston Astros realized they were good enough to punt the catcher position and still win it all. And the Washington Nationals, perhaps the best fit,  finally realized they were more than one player away from a title and threw in the towel.

Secondly though, and far more importantly, was that Realmuto in many ways became too good for the Miami Marlins to trade.

Sure, this ownership did trade away four All-Star caliber talents this offseason. Yet not a single one of them has ever been short listed as the best player in baseball at his position. Realmuto almost unquestionably is just that. That’s the kind of piece you build around, particularly at a position that has such a profound impact on offense and defense alike.

However, at the same time keeping Realmuto started to seem more and more possible, the Marlins also seemed to have a fairly deep and young bullpen on their hands. Kyle Barraclough, Adam Conley, and Drew Steckenrider all were rumored to be hot commodities at the deadline as well. Certainly, all three were doing their part to make Miami competitive enough to cause some fans to start either dreaming big or wondering what if.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

Could the Miami Marlins have grabbed a Wild Card spot after all, if the 2017 core had been kept one more season? Or much more plausibly, could the road back to relevance be shorter that had been first feared? And even if the plan was still to spend a couple seasons scuffling, then all three of those bullpen arms looked like great 2019 trade chips for adding talent.

One month later though, all three have fallen on hard times. The Marlins are in freefall, charging hard for locking up that No. 3 draft pick next June. Right now it’s strictly the J.T. Realmuto show down here in Miami when it comes to valuable trade chips. Plenty of work is needed in rebuilding this club. Unfortunately, a lot less of the parts on the roster look worth trading then they did in July.

So it comes down to whether or not the Miami Marlins are committed to playing the long game with their remaining young talent. If the answer is yes, they have at least two years left to reach a decision on everyone mentioned above.

But if the front office that has probably already been sweating the mediocre showings from their new look outfield is now worried they still don’t have any promising pitching…then Miami Marlins fans might have to start getting comfortable with a decade’s worth of All-Star Games featuring Realmuto representing another organization after all.