Bichette regret: Phillies president laments losing out to Mets - ESPN

PHILADELPHIA — Bo Bichette spurning the Phillies for the NL East rival New York Mets was akin to a gut punch for the NL East champions.

A two-time All-Star shortstop with the Toronto Blue Jays, Bichette agreed last week with the Mets to a $126 million, three-year contract that left the Phillies reeling. Philadelphia believed the former batting champion was on the brink of joining a potent lineup that already included Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner.

«It's a gut punch,» Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Tuesday. «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.»

The Phillies had a productive meeting with Bichette early last week and were expected to prepare a long-term deal only for the infielder to head instead to New York.

«I can't say that we ever thought it was done,» Dombrowski said. «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.»

Dombrowski said the Phillies and Bichette never signed a letter of agreement that would have locked the infielder into a deal, pending a successful physical.

«It wasn't that we weren't moving toward that direction,» Dombrowski said. «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 declined to say whether the Phillies had an oral agreement with Bichette and his agency, Vayner Baseball.

«We were at the numbers they really asked us to match,» Dombrowski said. «We were still going through