PHILADELPHIA — Bo Bichette braced for a rude reception Thursday from a fanbase that almost became his this season.
“If you know anything about Philly, nothing will surprise me,” Bichette said before the Mets beat the Phillies 6-4 at Citizens Bank Park.
Bichette was booed each time he walked to the plate in his 0-for-5 performance, which snapped his streak of multihit games at six.
Last January the Mets, after learning that free agent Kyle Tucker had chosen the Dodgers, pivoted toward Bichette — who was deep into negotiations with the Phillies.
Bichette took the Mets offer of $126 million over three years — with opt-outs after 2026 and ’27 — preventing the Phillies from adding another key bat. Earlier in the offseason, the defending NL East champions had re-signed Kyle Schwarber to a five-year contract worth $150 million.
“We were definitely talking, but there were a few things that were unfinished, so I wouldn’t say necessarily that we were at the finish line,” Bichette said.
The Phillies’ reported offer for Bichette was $200 million over seven years. Dave Dombrowski, the team’s president of baseball operations, described losing Bichette as a “gut punch.”
Bichette, who helped the Blue Jays reach the World Series last season, isn’t looking back.
“[The Phillies] are a great team that I was interested in being part of, but I wouldn’t say I think too much of what could have been,” Bichette said.
Bichette reiterated factors that attracted him when he selected the Mets.
“Ownership is doing their best to get a team of talent on the field to win and the team has a ton of talent,” Bichette said. “Playing in New York, the market here, all that was important to me — we have the opportunity to win, with talent, in a place that fans care about the team.”
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The Phillies fired manager Rob Thomson following a slow start — replacing him with bench coach Don Mattingly — and have surged into wild-card contention. They began play 40-34, ahead by 1 ½ games for the second wild card.
It has been a different story for the Mets, who haven’t recovered from their 12-game losing streak in April, despite improved play in recent weeks.
They are 34-41, last in the NL East.
“We have played better for a decent stretch of time,” Bichette said, referring to the team’s 25-20 record since May 1. “Probably not to our capabilities, but we just have to continue to keep on grinding, putting up wins however we can. Most teams have that little hot stretch that kind of evens out the cold stretch and hopefully we have that soon.”
