Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski admitted to feeling the sting after he was unable to land two-time All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette in free agency.
Bichette turned down a seven-year, $200 million contract from the Phillies, MLB.com reported. Instead, he agreed to a three-year, $126 million deal with the National League East-rival New York Mets, much to the chagrin of Dombrowski.
“It’s a gut punch,” Dombrowski said Tuesday. “You feel it. That day you are very upset, I guess is the way to say it. You have to pick yourself up and shake it off. You can’t just wallow in what took place.”
Dombrowski admitted that Bichette and the Phillies did not sign a letter of agreement that would have wrapped up negotiations pending a physical.
“It wasn’t that we weren’t moving toward that direction,” Dombrowski said. “It isn’t that we didn’t think we were going to get there based up on our conversations. We did not get to that point. So, I can’t say I ever thought we had it done. I did think we were going to get a deal done.”
Bichette, 27, batted .311 with 18 home runs and 94 RBIs in 139 games last season for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He returned from a knee injury to play in the 2025 World Series and batted .348 in seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. His three-run homer off Shohei Ohtani gave Toronto a 3-1 lead in the third inning of Game 7, which the Dodgers won 5-4 in 11 innings.
A second-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2016, Bichette is a lifetime .294 hitter with 111 homers and 437 RBIs in 748 games since making his debut in 2019.
The Phillies rebounded from missing out on Bichette by signing catcher J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million deal. That contract came a month after star designated hitter Kyle Schwarber agreed to a five-year, $150 million deal.
“I think we’re content where we are at this point,” Dombrowski said.
