The Philadelphia Phillies thought they had their man until they didn’t.
General manager Dave Dombrowski said on Tuesday the team was disappointed to miss out on free-agent shortstop Bo Bichette, who signed a three-year deal with their NL rivals, the New York Mets, on Friday.
Dave Dombrowski on the Bo Bichette talks: “I did think we were going to get a deal done…We were close….It was a gut punch. …But until you have a signed memo of understanding, you don’t have a deal.”
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 20, 2026
“I did think we were going to get a deal done…We were close,” Dombrowski said on Tuesday as the team confirmed the return of catcher JT Realmuto. “It was a gut punch…but until you have a signed memo of understanding, you don’t have a deal.”
The Phillies and the 26-year-old Bichette were believed to have agreed to the framework of a seven-year, $200 million deal by Thursday night. But after the Mets missed out on outfielder Kyle Tucker, who signed a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team aggressively pivoted towards Bichette and landed him on a $126 million pact on Friday afternoon.
The return of Realmuto on a three-year, $45 million deal felt like cold comfort to Phillies fans, who also saw the departure of lefty Ranger Suarez to the Boston Red Sox on a five-year, $130 million deal.
Bichette had spent the entirety of his seven-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays. In 748 career games, the two-time All-Star is a .294 hitter with 904 hits, 111 home runs, 437 runs batted in and an OPS of .806.