The Phillies tendered contracts to six players on Friday, while also signing Garrett Stubbs to a 1-year contract for the 2025 season.

Tendered Contracts

  • Bryson Stott
  • Alec Bohm
  • Brandon Marsh
  • Ranger Suarez
  • Edmundo Sosa

Signed to 1-Year Deal

  • Garrett Stubbs (price not known at this moment in time)
  • Jose Ruiz ($1.225M, $20k for 30 games, $25k for 40 games, per Robert Murray)

Non-Tendered

  • Austin Hays

Whenever Stubbs’ name is brought up on the timeline, you always see mixed emotions. A lot of people don’t like the backup catcher of their baseball team because he made a comment about jumping in a pool, which was the last reason the Phillies lost in the NLCS two Octobers ago.

I’m not saying Stubbs is some elite catcher. He slashed .207/.296/.262 in 2024 with a .558 OPS and a 59 OPS+. But Stubbs is familiar face, he’s loved in the clubhouse, and he knows these pitchers just as good as J.T. Realmuto.

Bringing Stubbs back was 100% the right move from Dave Dombrowski.

It doesn’t seem like Realmuto is trending upwards anymore, in fact, the decline last season hit pretty hard. He was hurt for a few weeks, the bat wasn’t old J.T., and his play behind the plate wasn’t as quick and consistent as previous years. Realmuto is a rare case in baseball. You rarely see a catcher play for this many years and still play at an above average level. While the decline is there, he’s still giving you production that a lot of team’s can’t say they have.


The Phillies want to get Realmuto off of his feet more in 2025. Dave Dombrowski said in the end-of-season meeting that the team will have the backup catcher role towards the top of their list this offseason, whether that’s somebody in-house, a trade, or a free agent. He joked about having to convince J.T. to take more days off, because the veteran catcher loves to be out on the field every day.

Rafael Marchan played 17 games while Realmuto was hurt in 2024. He slashed .294/.345/.549 with an .894 OPS with 15 hits, 3 homers, and a 147 OPS+. Marchan has now been in the Phillies organization since 2015, where he was originally signed as a shortstop and moved to catcher. 10 years later, Marchan will be fighting for the backup catcher role in camp next season.

The worry with Marchan is his injury history. He’s been placed on the Injured List 7 times over his Phillies career, and twice last season. If Realmuto goes down, and Marchan has to play an extended period of time, I worry about experience and health.

Keeping Stubbs down in AAA is the best possible option for the Phillies, and it seems like that could be their plan. Stubbs has one minor league option remaining. The Phillies have zero to no catching depth. They have Marchan, Stubbs, and a 17-year-old Eduardo Tait, who won’t be ready for years. No other player in the system would make an impact behind the dish in the pros next season.

I’d rather the Phillies target a veteran backup than just hand that job to Marchan right now. A veteran backup presence is always valuable. If Marchan comes into camp and runs away with the job, then you have your backup catcher. If he looks iffy? You have a veteran to sit behind J.T. and play 50-70 games next season to get Realmuto off of his feet.

Bringing Garrett Stubbs back was a good thing. A team that lacks in catching depth returned a clubhouse favorite that has an excellent relationship with all of the pitchers. This can’t hurt the Phillies is any single way. The guy behind the dish is one of, if not the most important position on your baseball team. Having experience ready in case something goes wrong is very important.