MIAMI — In October, J.T. Realmuto’s agent predicted the Miami Marlins’ All-Star catcher would be with another team by spring training.
He was right.
After months of speculation over what they’d do, the Marlins traded Realmuto on Thursday to the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Jorge Alfaro, two pitching prospects and $250,000 in international signing bonus pool allocation.
Along with Alfaro, the Phillies gave up 20-year-old right-hander Sixto Sanchez, their top prospect, and left-hander Will Stewart.
Realmuto, who turns 28 in March, had been with the Marlins longer than any other current player. His agent, Jeff Berry, predicted a trade after Realmuto informed the Marlins last fall he wouldn’t sign a long-term contract with them.
RANGERS: Outfielder Hunter Pence, 35, agreed to a minor league contract with his hometown Texas Rangers and will attend major league spring training.
ORIOLES: The Orioles agreed to a $800,000, one-year deal with right-hander Nate Karns, who hasn’t pitched since 2017.
YANKEES: Zack Britton will be a different pitcher for the Yankees this year – at least in name.
Known throughout his baseball career as Zach, the 31-year-old reliever said going forward his name should be spelled Zack.
Britton tweeted “I will be going by my legal name ‘Zack’ instead of my stage name ‘Zach.'”
He added: “everyone continue to breath normally.”
Britton said of his reason for not changing the spelling earlier: “It’s a long story. It never bothered me though.”
METS: Catcher Devin Mesoraco is staying with the Mets, agreeing to a minor league contract.
OWNERS MEETINGS: Major League Baseball is changing the name of its disabled lists to injured lists.
Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem said the change is being made at the suggestion of advocacy groups for the disabled, including the Link20 Network.
Clubs were notified of the change in a Dec. 20 memo to clubs from Jeff Pfeifer, senior director of league economics and operations in the commissioner’s office. The change was first reported by ESPN.
“In recent years, the commissioner has received several inquiries regarding the name of the ‘Disabled List,”‘ Pfeifer wrote. “The principal concern is that using the term ‘disabled’ for players who are injured supports the misconception that people with disabilities are injured and therefore are not able to participate or compete in sports. As a result, Major League Baseball has agreed to change the name ‘Disabled List’ to be the ‘Injured List’ at both the major and minor league levels.”
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