The last time there was this much hype around a potential free agent signing – other than re-signing Kyle Schwarber – was when Bryce Harper and Manny Machado both visited Philadelphia in search of a new baseball home. Bo Bichette isn’t actually coming to Philly – at least not yet – but he is meeting with Phillies officials Monday on a Zoom call to discuss the potential of signing with the Phillies.
Until recently, Bichette becoming a Phillie wasn’t really a thing. It appeared that the Phillies shopping in the high price free agent aisle was done when they re-signed Schwarber. Despite fears of “running it back,” re-signing J.T. Realmuto was the only real shopping item other than some bullpen revamping and some minor league deals to provide depth and insurance. Now, Realmuto is still unsigned and the Phillies are wandering into that high-price aisle once again.
Let’s pump the brakes a little; just a little. Let’s take a look at what we know and what we don’t know.
What we know
The Phillies are still looking for help behind the plate; you know, that place where J.T. Realmuto has been since being acquired from the Marlins for Sixto Sanchez, Jorge Alfaro, and minor leaguer Will Stewart. Ideally, they would like to bring back Realmuto and of the options out there, that’s the best one. His offensive skills have fallen, but he knows and handles this pitching staff and that’s an intangible that no other catcher can provide.
We know that right now, the Phillies don’t really have a position open for Bichette. We know that they would willingly trade Alec Bohm in the right deal to open third base for either Bichette (who has never played at third) or for Bryson Stott (who played eight games at third in the minors and two in the majors.) We know that Bichette defensively is at best, an average shortstop and the sample size at second is too small to really tell how good he would be there.
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We also know that at least until now, the Phillies have kept themselves very aware of where they stand in terms of the Competitive Balance Tax (luxury tax). Signing Bichette would launch them way over where they want to be even if they don’t re-sign Realmuto, unless they shed some salary.
We also know that the Phillies have been trying to trade Alec Bohm for over a year now and have not gotten a deal done. And we can rest assured that if the Phillies sign Bichette, the price that other teams would pay for Bohm goes down because teams know that the Phillies have to trade him rather than want to trade him.
What we don’t know
Bichette has said that he would move to second if a team wanted/needed him to. But would he move to third? We also don’t know how much that would impact his decision on where to sign. If another team tells him he will play short or second and the Phillies want him at third, would he choose to go elsewhere? And then we also don’t know how good he would be at second or third defensively.
We don’t know if John Middleton has told Dave Dombrowski to forget the math and get a deal done with Bichette. We also don’t know how much the cost for things like parking or a nice, warm beer at Citizens Bank Park would go up if Middleton has made the decision to get Bichette.
We don’t know why Bohm hasn’t been traded. Maybe with no other options in sight for third base the Phillies were overvaluing Bohm. They are more apt to ask a more realistic price if they have an in-house option to take his spot.
Other scenarios to consider
Bryce Harper has said that he didn’t want to return to the outfield. Would he consider it if it meant signing Bichette and either putting him at first or moving Bohm to first? That would allow for a Brandon Marsh and Adolis Garcia platoon in left field and instantly make the outfield better.
In all of the discussions about signing Bichette, folks are forgetting one thing – or more precisely, person; Aidan Miller. It wasn’t that long ago that many folks in the masses wanted to just anoint Miller, who has little minor league experience above Double-A, the starting third baseman for 2026. While that was unrealistic, the fact that Miller isn’t too far away – a year at most – where does he play? Do the Phillies then trade Stott?
And, much like Abbott and Costello kept coming back to “Who’s on first?” We keep coming back to “Who’s the catcher?”
Through all of this we have to remember that the Phillies were looking to sign Tatsuya Imai for the rotation because right now Taijuan Walker and Andrew Painter are four and five in the starting rotation. One of them would drop out when Zack Wheeler is healthy, but can we trust that the other is going to be good to go? Perhaps that dilemma will just have to be figured out at the trade deadline.
There is a lot to like about Bo Bichette; we know that. How this would all work out and how well it would come together? We don’t know that.
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