This was nice to see on the timeline:

February 7th, 2019. The Phillies also sent the Marlins some international bonus money in addition to Sanchez, Alfaro, and  Stewart. Realmuto came to the Phils with two years of club control, declined a ~$19 million qualifying offer in 2020, then ultimately ended up signing a five-year deal worth $115 million.

Since the trade, Realmuto has gone to the All Star Game twice, won two Gold Gloves, made the All-MLB First Team twice and Second Team once, earned two Silver Sluggers and backstopped the Phils to a World Series appearance and NLCS. He’s already among the best catchers in Phillies history, alongside guys like Dutch, Chooch, and Bob Boone.

To expand upon the above tweets, Jorge Alfaro played 253 games for Miami, then was traded to the Padres in 2021 for cash considerations. He became a free agent at the end of the season, and has since bounced around with the Rockies, Red Sox, and Cubs.

Sixto Sanchez started with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in Triple A ball, then got his Major League promotion in 2020. He pitched 39 innings and has since had multiple surgeries on his right shoulder.


Will Stewart was a 20th round draft pick and currently a free agent. He’s bounced around in the minors since the trade.

Phillies fans were generally favorable to this deal when it went down. The lamentation was the departure of Sixto Sanchez, who is only 25 years old and could still turn out to be a solid player if he can get through the injuries. Because of that, you have to keep the asterisk on this one for a few more years at least. But in hindsight, looking at the way it all played out, it has to be considered one of the best trades in franchise history. It’s not the Roy Halladay trade, or Rick Wise for Steve Carlton, but it has to be in the top 10, even just five years later.