Report: Phillies Are FURIOUS Bo Bichette 'Pulled the Rug Out From Under Them'

The Philadelphia Phillies thought they had Bo Bichette all locked up to a splashy new $200 million free agent contract last week. Until they didn't. The former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop pulled a last-minute about-face and took a shorter deal with a higher AAV from the New York Mets.

And the Phillies are furious. "Livid" is how one Philly front office type put it.

Phillies ‘livid’ after Bo Bichette spurned team’s $200M offer for Mets deal https://t.co/t1pZifg7rH pic.twitter.com/fmYd0MQHSH
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) January 19, 2026

“The word livid was used in terms of the reaction to the news that Bo did not end up coming to the Phillies and went to the Mets,” MLB.com Phillies reporter Todd Zolecki said on The Phillies Show podcast.

“It’s kind of a rug-pulled-from-under-them situation... A lot of people very upset."

Phillies 'Very Upset' that Bichette bailed on them

The Phillies certainly thought they had a deal done with the two-time All-Star, to make Bichette their third baseman on a long-term, $200 million offer. But he "slipped through their fingers," said Zolecki. They had met with him last Monday, and it seemed like a deal was looming all week.

Jim Salisbury said, "On Thursday night, I sensed legit, real confidence that the Phillies were going to bring this thing home in the next day or two...

"Great, great disappointment with the fan base, front office, all across the board."

Instead, Bichette pivoted and took the Mets' outrageous three-year deal at $126 million — that's a $42 million AAV, tying him for the 4th highest annual salary in the sport. Clearly, even Bo Knows that he is not the 4th-best player in baseball. Granted, Kyle Tucker is not the third-best either, with his ridiculous $60 million AAV, after the other outrageous contract of the last several days.

Former general manager Rubén Amaro Jr. called the Mets' deal a "panic move" and "unreasonable", as a pivot of their own after they lost out on Tucker at the last minute to the LA Dodgers.

"It's really the Dodgers that created this whole domino effect," Amaro said.

Bichette batted .311 with a .340 OPS, 18 home runs and 94 RBIs across 139 games with the Jays in 2025, missing most of the month of September and the first two rounds of the postseason with a knee injury. He returned to play second base in the World Series, and hit a go-ahead three-run home run early in Game 7.