Bichette to Phils? 'We thought it was going to happen'

PHILADLEPHIA -- There was a brief time last week when the Phillies believed Bo Bichette was coming to Philadelphia -- and J.T. Realmuto was headed elsewhere.

So, just how close was all of that to happening?

"Well, I can't say that we ever thought it was done," Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Tuesday. " ... But we thought we were very close to having a deal done. We thought it was going to happen."

But then came the news that Bichette had spurned the Phillies' offer -- reportedly for seven years and $200 million, according to a source -- to agree on a three-year, $126 million pact with the rival Mets.

"It's a gut punch. I mean, you feel it," Dombrowski said. "That day, you are very -- upset, I guess is the way to say it. But you have to pick yourself up and shake it off, because you can't just wallow in what took place."

Almost immediately, Dombrowski reached out to Realmuto's agent, with whom he’d been in constant contact throughout the winter. Within hours, the two sides had agreed to a three-year deal to bring Realmuto back to the Phillies. The deal is worth $45 million with a potential $5 million per season in incentives.

"The whole time, this is where we wanted to be," Realmuto said. "Things got a little hairy there at the end, but I'm glad we're back here.”

The Phillies wanted Realmuto to be here, too. In fact, they made him an offer early in the offseason that had been on the table for some time.

Realmuto, who turns 35 in March, was coming off a five-year, $115.5 million contract. Though he knew a pay cut was in order to some extent, the gap between what he was looking for and what the Phillies were offering was more than expected.

"I'm in a weird spot where, for me, it sucks that catchers -- in my opinion -- are just undervalued in this game as far as contracts and dollars go," Realmuto said. " ... At the end of the day, I just value myself and what I do for the team and the clubhouse differently than what the Phillies did for a while. So, that's why it took longer than it maybe should have."

It almost took too long.

Dombrowski had told Realmuto's camp from the beginning that if things got to the point where the Phillies planned to head in another direction, they would hear it from him first. So, with the club seemingly closing in on a deal with Bichette, the offer to Realmuto was suddenly off the table.

"I did let them know we were getting very close to making a deal, and at that point, we weren't going to be able to [sign] both of them at that particular time," Dombrowski said. "So yes, we did get to that point. And I understand it's not an ideal scenario. It's a difficult situation. But I think sometimes you have to do things in a professional fashion, even though it's not easy."

In the hours that followed, however, the Dodgers agreed with Kyle Tucker on a four-year, $240 million deal. Then, having missed out on a few other free-agent targets, the Mets swayed Bichette at the last minute with their shocking short-term offer.

"We thought we were very close to having a deal done. We thought it was going to happen," Dombrowski said. "But it wasn't done, and there's a difference between the two. Until you sign a memo of understanding, you don't have a deal done. And we did not sign one of those."

Was there a verbal agreement?

"Well, I'm not going to get into the blow by blow," Dombrowski said. "But we just thought that we were going to get a deal done."

Once that unraveled, the Phillies quickly navigated their winter-long impasse with Realmuto.

“There was only a short period of time this offseason where I even thought I wasn't coming back to Philadelphia,” Realmuto said. “My focus was just on my legacy here and being able to finish my career with the Phillies.”

Re-signing Realmuto figures to be the Phillies’ final major move of an offseason that also saw them re-sign Kyle Schwarber to a five-year, $150 million deal. They added outfielder Adolis García (and still plan to part ways with Nick Castellanos in the coming weeks). They lost Ranger Suárezto the Red Sox in free agency. They traded away Matt Strahm as part of a bullpen makeover.

As for potentially pursuing one of the remaining marquee free agents such as Cody Bellinger or Framber Valdez, that seems unlikely.

“I think we're content where we are at this point,” Dombrowski said. “ … When you look at where we are at this point, I feel great about our club going to Spring Training. I think we have a very good chance.”