Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays likely had high hopes that the team would find a way to keep Bo Bichette for the long haul, but in retrospect, it might have never been that likely.
The team acquired Andres Gimenez before last season and put in place their potential replacement at shortstop. Then it signed infielder Kazuma Okamoto as Bichette continued to negotiate with other teams in free agency during this latest offseason.
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Blue Jays fans may never know exactly how deep the team got in negotiations to potentially keep Bichette on the team, but reports did show that he had to pick between significant offers from two National League rivals.
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Bo Bichette Rejects $200 Million Offer To Join New York Mets
Before Bichette agreed to take his three-year, $126 million deal that includes player opt-outs after each season from the New York Mets, he was offered a long-term contract from the Philadelphia Phillies.
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“The Phillies had agreed to Bo Bichette’s request for a seven-year, $200 million deal … and believed they would sign him until the Mets swooped in with their three-year, $126 million offer,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on X, formerly Twitter, in January.
Though the Phillies’ offer was significant, Bichette ultimately chose a higher annual salary from the Mets, plus the chance to opt out and cash in on free agency once again. But the Phillies didn’t just try to recruit Bichette with a long-term offer, as the team included his Blue Jays bench coach, Don Mattingly, during their negotiations.
“I was on a Zoom call with Bo, I knew what kind of player he was, I knew how good he was, what he brought to the table,” Mattingly, who joined the Phillies after leaving the Blue Jays at the end of last season, said during an appearance on “Foul Territory.” “So I guess in a sense, I was part of (the recruiting process).”
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Bo Bichette’s Toronto Blue Jays Coach Don Mattingly Defends New York Mets Decision
Though Mattingly encouraged his new team to pursue Bichette following their time together with the Blue Jays, he acknowledged that the player had little choice but to accept the high-average Mets offer instead.
“Obviously, when New York comes, what they did with him, it’s like … you can’t fault the player, right?” Mattingly added during the “Foul Territory” segment. “I know Philly’s pitch was huge, but that was something different.”
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Phillies fans might still be disappointed that Bichette picked their division rival over a longer-term and overall larger contract in Philadelphia. But as his Blue Jays coach pointed out, the chance to make a significant salary while retaining so much flexibility with the Mets would be hard for any star player to pass up.