The Dodgers rumors of interest in the Miami Marlins backstop make sense at a base level, but there’s more to it.
The Miami Marlins have been attempting to move catcher J.T. Realmuto nearly since they finished moving their outfielders last offseason. Now Dodgers rumors have the Los Angeles Dodgers heavily in the chase for the backstop.
According to Jon Heyman of FanCred, talks about the catcher are “gaining momentum”, and he mentions the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers as the primary teams in those talks. While there are still others with interest, per Heyward, both the Padres and Dodgers make plenty of sense.
The Marlins had been said to be demanding Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger, but if current Dodgers rumors are to be believed, their price has become more reasonable, albeit still plenty rich.
The Dodgers certainly have the pieces for such a deal. There are really three iterations of this deal that would make some level of sense:
Frankly, any one of the three deals would seem to make sense for both teams, but the Los Angeles Dodgers would likely prefer to keep one of Ruiz or Verdugo around rather than moving both, so the second or third scenarios seem much more likely.
A deal for Realmuto has made sense since early in the offseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, as the deal becomes more feasible, there are multiple reasons why this deal would make a lot of sense for the Dodgers.
Let’s take a look at each of those reasons: