With meeting on deck, Bichette could make Phils' lineup a monster

There’s been quite the buzz surrounding an upcoming meeting that will reportedly take place between star free-agent infielder Bo Bichette and the Phillies. Over the course of this offseason, Bichette’s market has appeared to widen, particularly since he is willing to move off his natural position of shortstop, and it seems the Phils have emerged as a serious suitor.

With Trea Turner entrenched at shortstop, Bichette could move to second base -- or potentially even third -- after playing short to this point in his career before appearing at the keystone position during the World Series with his range limited by a left knee injury.

Given that the Phils’ lineup already features 2025 National League home run leader Kyle Schwarber (whom the Phillies re-signed to a five-year, $150 million contract), two-time MVP Bryce Harper and defending NL batting champion Turner, adding Bichette would make Philadelphia’s batting order even more formidable -- perhaps even the best in the game if that core group were to perform well, rivaling the Dodgers’ collection of stars.

Here’s a breakdown of why Bichette would be a good fit (phit?) in Philly:

Take Bo to the Bank

Bichette will be going to the bank this offseason, regardless of where he signs. But if he signs with the Phillies, he’ll be going to “the Bank.” This one’s kind of obvious, but it’s a major factor -- Citizens Bank Park has not only proven to be one of the greatest home field advantages in the sport, but it is also a proverbial bandbox in which offense thrives.

Enter Bichette, who, despite missing nearly the entire final month of the regular season due to injury, finished tied for second in the Majors with 181 hits in 2025. According to Statcast, had Bichette played his games at CBP last year, his expected home run total would have been 23, four more than he actually hit with the Blue Jays -- including his mammoth three-run blast off Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 of the World Series.

Going from Toronto to Philadelphia would mean going from the 11th-ranked ballpark for home runs on Statcast’s park factors index (Rogers Centre) to the venue ranked No. 4. You can imagine more of Bichette’s scorching liners (many of which ended up being among his 44 doubles last year) going over the wall at Citizens Bank Park.

So, while Bichette isn’t a prototypical home run hitter (his career high is 29), a move to Philly could lead to more prodigious power production from him -- perhaps even a 30-homer campaign.

Play the hits

Making Bichette and Turner the middle-infield (or left side) duo would combine two of the best in baseball when it comes to producing hits. In 2025, they combined for 360 of them, with Bichette finishing tied with Luis Arraez for second in MLB (181) and Turner finishing tied with Aaron Judge for fourth (179).

Only Judge (.331) had a higher batting average than Bichette’s .311, and Turner led the NL by hitting .304.

Since Bichette’s first full Major League season in 2021, he ranks seventh in hits with 806 (despite missing more than half of the ’24 season due to injury) and Turner ranks third with 887.

And as our Jon Paul Morosi has reported, the Phillies are looking for a right-handed hitter, in particular. That makes sense given that most of the power in the lineup is in the left-handed batter’s box with Schwarber and Harper, and that they could potentially lose the right-handed-hitting J.T. Realmuto. Bichette obviously checks that box, too.

Follow the Hit Man

Bichette wouldn’t be the first former member of the Blue Jays the Phillies signed this offseason if he was to agree to a deal to come to Philadelphia. Just last week, former All-Star first baseman and Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly was brought on board as the Phils’ new bench coach.

Mattingly knows a thing or two about hitting, collecting 2,153 of them during his illustrious playing career as a six-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove Award winner at first base for the Yankees from 1982-95.

The man they called the “Hit Man” during his playing days has since managed and coached in a number of places, but over the past three seasons -- about half of Bichette’s MLB career -- he was in Toronto. Familiarity is perhaps an underrated aspect in free agency, and the presence of Mattingly in Philadelphia would make a transition that much smoother for Bichette.

And who knows? Mattingly might even get to watch something else he’s very familiar with: a batting race that comes down to a pair of teammates, like the one between him and Dave Winfield back in 1984 (Mattingly won that one by going 4-for-5 on the final day of the regular season, finishing at .343 to Winfield’s .340).

Hungry, hungry hitters

Bichette got about as close as you can get to winning a World Series without actually winning it last fall. After his huge homer off Ohtani staked Toronto to an early 3-0 lead in Game 7, it looked as though he might be the hero in the biggest game of his life.

But it wasn’t to be, as the Dodgers rallied for a thrilling 5-4 win in 11 innings. The Jays had been two outs away from winning it all in the ninth.

That’ll leave a player hungry over the winter -- hungry for a championship that was painfully close and yet so far away. If Bichette signs with the Phillies, he’ll be among like-minded stars who have felt the agony of being close to a title without capturing it.

Many of the Phillies came up two wins shy of a championship in 2022, when Philadelphia lost in six games to the Astros. Since then, the Phils have come a game away from returning to the World Series in 2023, and had two early exits from the postseason with NL Division Series losses in ’24 and ’25.

Like Bichette, Harper had his huge postseason home run moment in 2022, smashing a go-ahead opposite-field shot that lifted the Phillies into the World Series with an NL Championship Series Game 5 win over San Diego.

Unlike Bichette and Harper, Schwarber and Turner have a World Series ring, but if you asked them, surely you’d hear that the hunger for another title only grew after the loss in ’22.

Will Bo know Philly?

Only time will tell, and the upcoming meeting between Bichette and the Phillies could prove to be pivotal. But the fit in Philly seems to be a good one and Bichette could prove to be a big hit in one of the most passionate sports towns in America.

Inserting him into a batting order with the NL’s most feared home run threat in Schwarber, a two-time MVP looking to prove his best days aren’t behind him in Harper and another elite hit merchant in Turner could create the most menacing lineup in baseball.