In exchange for the All-Star catcher, Miami received a package of Jorge Alfaro, Sixto Sanchez, Will Stewart, and a quarter-million of global bonus pool money. Per FanGraphs, he led catchers with a 4.8 WAR, the highest by a catcher since Buster Posey's 5.5 in 2015.

Expressing his discontent with the moves the franchise made last offseason, many expected that Realmuto wouldn't begin the 2018 season as a member of the Miami Marlins, but the team instead held onto him, reportedly entertaining trade offers throughout the season on him, coming close in July to moving him, but not pulling the trigger. That was part of the plan Michael Hill, president of baseball operations for the organization, spoke about at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas last month.

The scout called Sanchez "an elite prospect" with "devastating stuff" and said Alfaro is "an everyday starter in the big leagues with power and one of the best arms in baseball".

Alfaro, in three seasons with the Phillies, has hit.270 with 15 home runs.

Klentak believes getting out of cavernous Marlins Park will help those numbers.

Realmuto has a career.279 batting average, 59 home runs and 243 RBI.

"From our standpoint, that didn't play into the equation at all", Hill said. Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are still unsigned as are a handful of other big names.

Nothing wrong with taking a shot, but teams rarely overpay under any circumstances anymore, not in free agency, not in trades. Realmuto has a.245/.294/.384 career slash line at Marlins Park with a.678 OPS.

The Phillies made headlines on Thursday afternoon by acquiring highly sought after Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto.

Ended the year on the disabled list and missed the Arizona Fall League due to the injury. Still, the team is confident he would be ready for spring training.

The elbow inflammation that limited Sanchez's innings clearly did not bother Miami.

"Sanchez is the most well-regarded prospect in the deal, a 6-foot right-hander whose fastball sits in the high 90s and tops out over 100 miles per hour", Passan explained. Alfaro struck out in 40 percent of his at bats last season while walking just 18 times in 377 plate appearances.

That bunch of names covers most of the top portion of the Phillies farm, so there' still a good bit of variability in the outcome here.

"If that guy was on our side, it wouldn't have happened", Harper told reporters of Realmuto after the game.

"This is another acquisition that demonstrates our commitment to winning", Klentak said, "I hope that demonstration would be appealing to free agents".

The Marlins were engaged in trade discussions with multiple teams for most of the offseason before completing the deal.