Dave Dombrowski met with the media on Zoom to officially announce the signing of J.T. Realmuto Tuesday morning. Realmuto also met with the media, but it was on a separate call, prior to Dombrowski’s meeting. It was also announced that utility man Weston Wilson has been designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Realmuto.

Regarding Realmuto, Dombrowski noted that he and the team are “thrilled” to have him back on the roster and viewed him as the best available catcher. The Phillies President of Baseball Operations noted that it didn’t take long for him to get in touch with Realmuto after infielder Bo Bichette opted to sign with the New York Mets after being courted by the Phillies.

“I can’t tell you the minutes but it was within an hour because I called John Middleton to just let him know that we were not getting the Bichette deal done because we had, of course, been in conversation and I told him what my thought process was at that moment and, of course, that was to be in a position to call J.T.’s camp and try and get that deal done. He, of course, gave his blessing to that regard. He let’s you make those (decisions), but I just wanted to keep him informed. I then called his (J.T.’s) agent right away. I don’t know the number of minutes, but it was very fast.”

Dombrowski confirmed that he had been in near constant touch with Realmuto’s agent, Matt Riccato. He also said that he had kept Riccato up to date on what the Phillies plans were:

“I have had so many conversations with him (Riccato) since the end of the season. We always wanted to bring J.T. back, that was always a priority for us; we also knew that he wanted to come back. It really became a situation where there was a disagreement where dollars were concerned is what it came down to and we just really couldn’t bridge that gap for an extended time period. So, with that and leading into the Winter Meetings we had to at least be open minded because we didn’t really know if we would close the gap even though we had the mutual desire to do that. We ended up being in a position where we discussed other catching alternatives. They knew we were doing that; we were very open in that regard because we didn’t want to catch them off-guard based on what we think of J.T. You can t think very highly of somebody…it really just came down to we had a disagreement in the dollars and we couldn’t bridge that gap, and we didn’t bridge that gap until the very end.”

What happened with Bo Bichette?

“I can’t say that we ever thought it was done,” Dombrowski admitted about the deal with Bichette. “There’s a difference. We thought we were very close to having a deal done. We thought it was going to happen. But it wasn’t done. It wasn’t that we weren’t moving toward that direction (signing Bichette). 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.”

Dombrowski admitted that when he was told that Bichette was going to sign with the Mets, it was “a gut punch.”

“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,” said Dombrowski.

The roster

Dombrowski reiterated that he feels the Phillies “have a good club,” which he previously expressed at his end of the season press conference. He also talked about how crucial it was that the Phillies were able to re-sign Kyle Schwarber to a new, five-year, $150-million deal.

As for any more big moves, Dombrowski feels that the team’s roster is pretty well set with the exception of the possible addition of some depth pieces. Despite fan frustrations about how the offseason has gone, Dombrowski is not expecting any major additions to the team at this point.

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