The Philadelphia Phillies have just been dealt a massive offseason blow.
The Philadelphia Phillies re-signed Kyle Schwarber earlier this offseason, and they were hoping to add another bat alongside of him and Bryce Harper.
Bo Bichette became their primary target, and it appeared that the Phillies were the favorites to sign the former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop.
But Philadelphia was just burned on that front. Big time.
Not only did Bichette not join the Phillies, but he signed with their biggest rivals: the New York Mets.
Bichette signed a three-year, $126 million contract with the Mets on Friday, via ESPN's Jeff Passan. It follows Kyle Tucker's decision to spurn New York and sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The two-time All-Star slugger will be making $42 million annually with the Mets. Passan did not note any opt outs in the deal.
Now, the Phillies are almost out of options. They could turn to outfielder Cody Bellinger, but the New York Yankees appear to be the favorites to sign him, and Philadelphia may not want to meet his asking price anyway.
The Phillies were hit with a $56 million luxury tax bill after the 2025 campaign, so ownership has been careful with its spending.
While Philadelphia did give Schwarber $150 million on a five-year pact, it has only made two other significant additions this winter, landing outfielder Adolis Garcia and pitcher Brad Keller.
The Phillies have won 95-plus games each of the last two seasons, but they were eliminated from the NLDS on both occasions.
Philadelphia definitely needed to make some upgrades this winter, especially if it wanted to compete with the Dodgers in the National League.
Well, with LA's addition of Tucker and Philly not making any truly impactful moves thus far, that just became exceedingly more difficult.
The free-agent market has now largely dried up outside of Bellinger and Framber Valdez, and the Phillies probably won't be acquiring either one of them.
Philadelphia can try to scour the trade market to see if there are any intriguing options, but the Arizona Diamondbacks took Ketel Marte off the block, and it's hard to imagine the Chicago Cubs sending Nico Hoerner to the Phillies.
Perhaps St. Louis Cardinals super utility man Brendan Donovan could be a possibility?
Whatever the case may be, the Phillies just lost out to the Mets.