Jun 3, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette (11) tags out Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto (10) at second base during the third inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Dave Dombrowski didn't mince words when asked about the Phillies missing out on signing Bo Bichette.
"It's a gut punch," he said. "You feel it. That day you are very ... upset, I guess, is the way to say it. But you have to pick yourself up and shake it off. You can't just wallow in what took place. So, after a day of feeling that way, or a time period, you need to move forward. That's how you handle it."
The Phillies felt they were close to an agreement with Bichette. They felt he was sincere in his desire to come to Philadelphia.
But they were back-doored by the New York Mets offering him a three-year, $126 million deal with an opt out clause after each season, trumping the reported seven-year, $200 million offer the Phillies had made to him the night before.
It seemed, to many, like the Phillies got played by Bichette and his agency.
Dombrowski, though, didn't view it that way.
"You never know 100% what's going on from their perspective," Dombrowski said. "The (Kyle) Tucker signing played into it. I believe the timing of it. Organizations that are smart - and the Mets and Dodgers are smart - like I don't know if Tucker would have gone to the Mets rather than the Dodgers that the Dodgers wouldn't have jumped in (on Bichette) at the last second. I'm sure they had some feelers into it."
With Tucker also signing a shorter term deal at four years and $240 million, it basically set the market this offseason for players looking for shorter deals for larger sums of money up front rather than committing to a long-term investment.
Still, it sounds like the Phillies presented Bichette an offer he and his representatives asked for, which is why there was optimism that a deal would get done.
"I do think he was sincere about coming to Philadelphia," Dombrowski said. "We were at the numbers they asked us to pay. We were still going through some nuances ... the Mets jumped in full boar and ... their short-term offer ended up being so much that (Bichette's camp) decided to take the short-term offer rather than the long-term offer."
Sounds simple enough, but did Bichette's agency (Vayner Sports) pull the rug out from under the Phillies?
Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski talks about his team's negotiations with Bo Bichette in free agency before he signed with the Mets:
"I can't say that we ever thought it was done. We thought we were very close to having a deal done. We thought it was… pic.twitter.com/YFMvfH3ChM
Dombrowski was asked directly that even though there wasn't a memorandum of understanding - or MOU - in place, if there was a verbal agreement between the two sides last Thursday that made the Phillies feel confident they were getting Bichette.
He didn't say yes, but he didn't say no either.
"I'm not going to get into a blow-by-blow, but we just thought that we were going to get a deal done," Dombrowski said.
The Phillies quickly pivoted to re-signing J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million contract with incentives that can grow that number to $60 million.
While negotiations between the Phillies and Realmuto were icy at times this offseason - Realmuto said there was a time last week where it looked dicey and that he and his wife were talking about the possibility of not playing in Philadelphia again - Dombrowski said signing Realmuto was a priority all offseason.
But he admitted that once the possibility of signing Bichette came to fruition, the Phillies were not going to sign both, and Bichette was a higher priority.
"I talked to (Realmuto's agent) Matt Ricatto and I always told him, and I think it's the right thing to do, if we were to get to the point where we thought we would go in a different direction, I wouldn't want him to read about it in the paper," Dombrowski said. "So I did. I did let them know that we were getting very close to making a deal (with Bichette) and at that point, we weren't going to be able to make both of them at that particular time."
Fortunately for the Phillies, Realmuto didn't immediately take his wares to another organization and was still comfortable coming back to Philadelphia, even though he, in essence, became a plan B.
"It's not an ideal scenario," Dombrowski said. "It's a difficult situation, but I think sometimes you have to do things in a professional fashion, even though it's not easy."
To his credit, Realmuto swallowed a little bit of pride to accept the deal after the whole thing blew over.
"There's no secret that the Phillies had other opportunities," Realmuto said. "At the end it got a little stressful where we thought there was a chance that we wouldn't be back, which wasn't ideal for us. We made it very clear that we wanted to be with the Phillies from the start, so luckily that didn't last too long and we were able to come together to get a deal done."
