The Philadelphia Phillies have had huge shoes to fill since catcher J.T. Realmuto was placed on the injured list after undergoing surgery to repair meniscus damage in his right knee. The injury occurred at a difficult moment for the Phillies, as Realmuto had a phenomenal stretch hitting in the second slot in the batting order following Trea Turner’s injury in May.
While Realmuto recovers from what is expected to be a four-week absence, the Phillies have settled on a platoon of Garrett Stubbs and Rafael Marchán, who was recently recalled to replace Realmuto on the 26-man roster and has provided the team with some timely hits in his first four games in MLB since 2021.
While Realmuto’s injury has given the newest challenge to the Phillies’ organizational depth, it was expected that the Phillies would try to acquire another catcher to stow away in the upper minor leagues until Realmuto returned. That could still be the case, but in an unexpected move, the Phillies dealt away a minor league depth component in an under-the-radar transaction on Tuesday.
Phillies send failing catcher to the Cubs.
While trade rumours about the Phillies have picked up recently, with the MLB trade deadline just over a month away, the Phillies’ transaction this week to send catcher William Simoneit to the Chicago Cubs did not exactly send shockwaves through the MLB world.
The Phillies dealt the 27-year-old backstop to the Cubs for financial considerations, a small transaction that only comes as a surprise given the Phillies’ present scenario with Realmuto on the bench. Simoneit’s tenure with the Phillies was brief; he was signed to a minor league contract this past winter after spending the previous four seasons in the Oakland Athletics’ farm system.
This season, Simoneit participated in 20 games for the Phillies, splitting them between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and struggled to get much going at the plate at both levels. Simoneit hit.145 in 62 at-bats, including two home runs and eight RBI, while striking out 28 times. The Phillies had had enough of Simoneit’s disappointing numbers and shipped him to the Cubs to seek new possibilities.
The Phillies may still be looking to add some depth to the catching position in the near future, but for the time being, the team appears content with Stubbs and Marchán handling MLB duties, with Lehigh Valley catcher Aramis Garcia likely to be the next man up if injuries force further roster changes. With J.T. Realmuto scheduled to return in July, the Phillies will have to make do with their current catcher predicament as the former All-Star rehabs his way back into the lineup.
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