Washington Nationals: A theoretical week as GM this offseason
By Blake Finney
Day 3 – Trade for Realmuto
Jerry Dipoto eat your heart out. I’m not done bringing marquee players to the Washington Nationals this winter. Next up on the conveyor belt for me to take down is the offensive void behind the plate at catcher.
After waking up on Wednesday feeling great after the first two days of work, I notice a tweet from Ken Rosenthal. “Sources tell The Athletic that J.T. Realmuto and the #Marlins reach a standstill in extension talks. The catcher has requested a trade from the team”.
I double check that I haven’t been duped by a fake account and that the blue tick is there. It is, so I pick up the phone and utilize my speed dial and give long-time friend Derek Jeter a call to inquire about the catcher. They know they need to deal him now before his trade value craters.
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After initially telling Mike Rizzo in the summer that it would take Victor Robles, Carter Kieboom and more, the failed extension talks have changed things. Victor Robles is off the table, but he still fancies him some Kieboom, seeing a lot of himself in the young shortstop.
Jeter then asks for Luis Garcia, the next best prospect in the system, but we can’t do that and let two big middle infield prospects leave in one go. But we can offer up a high-upside starter who has the makings of an ace if he can stay on the straight and narrow in Seth Romero.
Jeter brings up Daniel Johnson, a former minor league player of the year, and I try to hide the grin on my face as everything falls into place. We add in Raudy Read as a nice young catcher the Marlins can bring through, and suddenly we have a package resembling the Marcell Ozuna deal, but with even more talent.
We shake hands on the deal, and we have our catcher for the next two years. I breathe a huge sigh of relief and appear to finally be getting the hang of this General manager thing.
Trade Completed: Miami Marlins receive Carter Kieboom, Seth Romero, Daniel Johnson, and Raudy Read. Washington Nationals bring in J.T. Realmuto.