The Toronto Blue Jays‘ infatuation with top free agent Kyle Tucker is almost certainly going to cost them any chance they had at re-signing Bo Bichette. The longtime Toronto shortstop met with the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday over Zoom. And according to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the two sides really took to each other. Heyman said the meeting “went really well,” and went so far as to say that there’s “momentum to get it done.”
There are other teams… the Dodgers, it’s possible, the Red Sox, maybe. Yankees… Maybe his old Toronto team. But, it feels like Philly, it feels like there’s some momentum there to get it done and work it out.
Heyman added that Bichette considers the Phillies a “first-class” organization. And we shouldn’t forget that the Blue Jays’ former bench coach Don Mattingly now holds that position with the Phils. And he & Bo were very close.
To be clear, there are a number of ramifications on the roster that signing Bichette would have for the Phillies. They’d likely have to give up on the idea of re-signing their longtime catcher JT Realmuto, and would probably have to trade third baseman Alec Bohm.
“There are some moving parts here, but they’re not unmovable parts. Bohm, at $10.2 million, they could trade him,” said Heyman.
“And they could go for a lesser catcher, although I don’t think they particularly want to. But they’ve been in a staredown with JT Realmuto for quite a while now. They’ve offered him a three-year deal, but it’s not exactly what he wants.”
Matt Gelb of The Athletic echoed the same sentiments about the burgeoning Bichette & Phillies bromance, citing multiple sources indicating that both sides “emerged with optimism.”
Some big decisions, for Bichette, Tucker, and the Blue Jays, are coming soon.
