The Phillies will speak with Bo Bichette.
Per Jon Heyman, the Phillies are set to conduct a video call with Bichette in the coming days to discuss a potential future in Philadelphia.
Is a Bichette contract realistic? Likely not. The Phillies are wary of surpassing the 110% tax threshold, a threshold that any Bichette contract would far surpass. It’s fair to wonder if the Phillies are being used for leverage in the Bichette market, a market in which two massive market teams (the Blue Jays and the Dodgers) are heavily involved. However, it could be real.
For a moment, let’s assume the smoke truly indicates a fire.
The fit in the lineup is clear; he would immediately improve the Phillies cleanup spot. He’s right-handed, providing Harper with the protection the Phillies have desperately tried to find. When batting cleanup for the Blue Jays in 2025, Bichette slashed .372/.422/.585 in 180 plate appearances. His Baseball Savant page in enticing to say the least.
The offensive benefit is obvious. The fit in the infield is much more nebulous.
Last season, Bichette played shortstop for the Blue Jays. He was not particularly good. According to FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, Bichette posted -13 outs above average (OAA), -12 defensive runs saved (DRS), and -6 defensive wins above replacement(dWAR). All of those metrics were the worst among qualified shortstops. Even if he was an average defender at the position, the Phillies already employ Trea Turner, who scored, at minimum, above average in each of those metrics.
Bichette has already indicated that he would be willing to play second base, a course of action that seems preferable to playing third. Bichette’s arm strength is well below average for a shortstop, making a switch to third out of the question. To fit the Phillies’ roster, Bichette would indeed need to make the change to second.
That leaves two options; the Phillies would need to either trade Bryson Stott, or trade Alec Bohm and move Stott to third.
The choice is clear.
Today the Phillies agreed to terms with a few players in arbitration negotiations. Stott will earn $5.9 million while Bohm will earn $10.2 million. If the Phillies want to limit tax payments as much as possible for the 2026 season, trading Bohm minimizes tax payments more so than Stott. Critically, Stott remains cost-controlled through the end of the 2027 season via arbitration. Bohm is a free agent at the end of 2026. Keeping Stott gives the Phillies more financial flexibility both now and in the future.
Offensively, retaining Stott gives the Phillies a more unique way of producing offense.
Stott and Bohm ended the 2025 season with similar weighted on-base average numbers (wOBA)—.322 for Bohm compared to .315 for Stott—though their profiles suggest two very different ways of getting there. Stott’s patience at the plate and speed on the bases remains an asset to a team that sacrifices those skills in favor of power.
Bohm served as Harper’s right-handed protection for most of the 2025 season, a job for which his production was insufficient. When batting cleanup, Bohm produced a .571 OPS in 107 plate appearances. With Bichette inheriting Bohm’s role as cleanup, the Phillies would benefit more from keeping Stott’s skillset at the bottom of the order rather than moving Bohm down.
Notably, Stott changed his batting stance after the All-Star Break in 2025. After making the changes, Stott produced a .855 OPS. Projecting continued improvements in Stott’s offense is reasonable while Bohm’s production has continued to decline since his Homerun Derby appearance in 2024.
Simply put, Stott offers the Phillies far more on offense.
The concern lies primarily in projecting the impact of the defensive changes for the Phillies’ infield. They would be removing a gold glove-caliber second baseman in favor of Bichette, who would likely produce below average results while making relatively unknown changes at third.
Stott did make his MLB debut at third, though he only played two games there before being sent back down. In the small sample size, Stott posted -1 defensive runs saved above average (Rdrs). Bohm has posted above 0 Rdrs only once—he posted 1 Rdrs in 2025—meaning that the Phillies may project a marginal drop in defensive performance at third.
Still, the combined defensive changes are negligible when considering the positive impact of adding a bat of Bichette’s caliber. It is a gamble, but it is a gamble the Phillies need to make if they want to take advantage of their contention window.
Leave a Reply