Do Dave Dombrowski’s comments about Bo Bichette make you feel better?

Yesterday, the team held a few Zoom conferences with members of the organization. The more prominent one was with J.T. Realmuto as he talked about coming back to Philadelphia to be a member of the Phillies and how he tries to extract whatever he can to help his fellow catchers. An admirable quest for him, even if it cost the team an extra year.

One of the other conversations was with Dave Dombrowski, who talked about Realmuto, but also about the team’s pursuit of Bo Bichette in free agency. He made several quotes that were noteworthy in their behind the scenes look at how the team went about courting the shortstop:

“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.”

Another one talked about what he thought about when it came to the contract.

“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.”

He also talked about the team’s policy to not offer opt-out clauses in their contract negotiations.

“I have never felt myself. and still don’t feel it’s a wise move to make when you look at the risks attached to it,” Dombrowski said…“It’s a policy I’ve had for a long time, and I think I would say the majority of clubs have that policy.”

Dombrowski is usually straightforward in his dealings with the press, so you truly know what he is thinking when he gives answers. Yet it does reveal that the team’s interest was genuine, that they kind of thought they were going to land the free agent shortstop. So, do his comments make you feel better or worse about the whole production? Some have suggested that a lot of what the team was performative, that they weren’t actually going to do anything in the end, but from the sounds of it, even they thought they had a shot.