Is Atlanta a frontrunner to land Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto?

Could the Atlanta Braves, a National League East rival of the Miami Marlins, a frontrunner to land All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto?

Like we have talked about before the past few days, there will plenty of suitors for Miami Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto. Over the course of the offseason, the front office will determine which teams are contenders, with a serious chance of making a deal.

The team will also decipher which teams are pretenders, hoping to have a shot at a trade, but don’t have enough cache to pull a deal off. The Atlanta Braves are a contender in the National League East that could use another bat in the lineup. Adding Realmuto would mean the Braves may once again have a leg up in the race to win the division title.

As a side note to this story, I have expressed my views on trading players within a division and how this does not benefit the Marlins in the immediate future. The Braves have one of the better minor league systems in baseball, which means an attractive offer could be made by Atlanta’s front office.

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Per Matthew Browning of Tomahawk Take, the subject of a trade involving the Marlins and their biggest asset is nothing new.

"At the trade deadline this past July, the Braves again made attempts to pry Realmuto away from Miami, but according to a report by MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, the Marlins wanted Mike Soroka and Austin Riley (and I am assuming more), but Alex Anthopolous decided not to pull the trigger again."

Now may be the right time for both teams to talk and see if there is a match. What would it take to make this kind of deal happen when the Marlins have shown interest in dealing within their own division recently.

• Kyle Barraclough traded to the Washington Nationals.
• Justin Bour traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.
• A.J. Ramos traded to the New York Mets.

If anything else, you could make the argument the Braves have been left out of these dealings and now it’s their turn to raid Miami’s roster. The Marlins may have become dance partners with the Braves last season, but for them, the price was too high.

"“When the Marlins had their fire sale last offseason, the Atlanta Braves inquired on both Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto, but the asking price was their very top prospect, which was Ronald Acuna. For the obvious reasons that do not need to be stated, that was not going to happen.” Browning wrote."

A deal involving really depends on Miami’s willingness to make a move. Because of his contract – which the team controls for this season and next, Miami sits in a very comfortable spot, as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro explains.

"“For all the speculation that Realmuto will be dealt this offseason, president of baseball operations Michael Hill reiterated [at the GM Meetings this week] there is no urgency to move their best player,” Frisaro said. “With Realmuto still eligible for arbitration, but not for free agency until 2021, the Marlins don’t have to do anything, if they are not comfortable with the return for one of the best catchers in the game.”"