Phillies' Bryce Harper on Realmuto Contract: 'Something We Need to Make Happen'

Bryce Harper landed a record-breaking 13-year contract worth $330 million with the Philadelphia Phillies in February 2019.

Now, the 27-year-old All-Star outfielder wants Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto to get his.

"I think the Phillies organization absolutely loves J.T. and our team absolutely loves him as well," Harper told NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jim Salisbury.

Harper continued:

"He's the best catcher in baseball. He's a great person. He's a great family man. He's a guy that we need in our clubhouse. I think the Phillies fans understand that as well. Us as an organization, we have to understand that he's going to help us in the years to come and if you want the best catcher in baseball then we'll make that happen.

"But at this time, of course, it's shut down, but I don't think anybody should fear us not getting J.T. back. I want him more than anything, so I mean it's something we need to make happen as an organization. But you know when that time comes, then (GM Matt) Klentak and (managing partner John) Middleton will make that decision and hopefully, he's back in Phillies red."

The Phillies and Realmuto mutually agreed to pause all contract talks after MLB announced the cancellation of spring training and delay of Opening Day on March 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Klentak confirmed on March 17.

Realmuto's 2020 salary was set by the Phillies at $10 million after the club won an arbitration case against the 29-year-old All-Star. He was requesting $12.4 million for the one-year deal.

Realmuto was traded from the Miami Marlins to Philadelphia on Feb. 7, 2019. In his first season with the team, he hit a career-high 25 home runs and plated a career-most 83 RBI on a .275/.328/.493 slash line. Behind the plate, Realmuto led the league by catching 47 percent of runners attempting to steal.

The two-time All-Star earned his first Gold Glove and second Silver Slugger.

Realmuto is using that production as leverage to ask for a top-line deal, per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer in mid-March: 

"The All-Star catcher can become a free agent after the season, though, and his representatives are believed to be using Joe Mauer’s catcher-record $23 million average annual salary as a baseline in extension talks. One source suggested Realmuto’s camp is targeting St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt’s five-year, $130 million extension last year."

Despite possessing star power in the likes of Harper and Realmuto, the Phillies underperformed in 2019. They missed the postseason for the eighth straight year at 81-81.