The Philadelphia Phillies watched Bo Bichette sign with the Mets and now find themselves at a crossroads. According to a new report, the club is no longer expected to pursue another major position player for next season.
The report comes from a recent article by Matt Gelb of The Athletic. “The Phillies were willing to readjust everything for Bichette, but absent him, they are now unlikely to add a meaningful position player,” the MLB insider wrote, while also detailing what Philadelphia offered the former Blue Jays infielder.
“Their interest in Bichette was legitimate. The Phillies were offering seven years and somewhere in the range of $190 million to $200 million, multiple league sources told The Athletic,” Gelb revealed. It is now known that the infielder turned down that offer from Philadelphia in favor of New York’s $126 million deal.
Why didn’t the Phillies push harder for Bichette?
As Gelb explained in his report, it ultimately came down to finances. The Phillies had already run their numbers and felt that a seven-year deal approaching $200 million was more than enough, especially as a way to avoid heavier tax penalties that would come with a different contract structure.
“They were not willing to extend a short-term, higher-salary offer to Bichette, those sources said, because of the associated luxury tax penalties. The Phillies would have been taxed 110 percent on almost every dollar of Bichette’s deal. Even a $28 million AAV in 2026 would have cost the Phillies $59 million with taxes,” Gelb wrote for The Athletic.
For now, as Gelb reports, the Phillies are not focused on landing another big-name player. That said, there are still notable options on the market who would come at a lower cost than Bichette, including Cody Bellinger, who is seeking around $160 million, and Eugenio Suárez, who is 34 years old but could still provide solid production for another couple of seasons.