The Phillies made the J.T. Realmuto signing official Tuesday, and the press conference quickly shifted from the contract itself to the fallout from last week.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, Philadelphia came up short on free-agent infielder Bo Bichette, who agreed to a three-year, $126 million deal with the Mets. The Phillies were clearly frustrated with how the process ended, with Dave Dombrowski acknowledging the emotional swing that comes with getting close on a deal of that scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a gut punch. I mean, you feel it,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cThat day, you are very upset\u2026 but you have to pick yourself off and shake it off\u2026 you need to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies did exactly that. Within the hour, Dombrowski re-engaged Realmuto\u2019s camp and finalized a three-year, $45 million return for their catcher and clubhouse leader.<\/p>\n
Realmuto was the priority, but the timing was telling<\/p>\n
Dombrowski made it clear Tuesday that bringing Realmuto back remained a priority all offseason, even as the club explored other options when a deal didn\u2019t come together right away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always wanted to bring JT back. That was always a priority for us,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cIt really became a situation\u2026 there was a disagreement as far as dollars were concerned\u2026 and we couldn\u2019t bridge that gap to the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Bichette talks collapsed, the Phillies moved quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called his agent right away at that point,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cI don\u2019t know the number of minutes, but it was very fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the dust settled, Dombrowski expressed confidence in where the roster stands as they head down to Clearwater soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like our club,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I look at where we are at this point, I feel great about our club going to spring training… I think we’re content where we are at this point.”<\/p>\n
Opt-out leverage<\/p>\n
As teams around the league have leaned more into short-term, high-AAV deals with opt-outs, the Phillies\u2019 stance has remained consistent. Since Bryce Harper signed his 13-year, $330 million deal in 2019, the organization and Dombrowski has agreed to\u00a010 contracts of three years or longer, with an average annual value hovering around\u00a0$24.5 million.<\/p>\n
The reported offer Philadelphia made to Bichette \u2014 seven years and $200 million (over $28.5 million a year) \u2014 would have marked the club\u2019s fourth contract of seven years or more. Ultimately, the structure, not the dollars, proved decisive.<\/p>\n
Bichette’s deal with New York included player options after each of the first two seasons.<\/p>\n
Dombrowski reiterated Tuesday that opt-outs remain a sticking point in negotiations, especially for a club already operating above the luxury-tax threshold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never felt myself, and still don\u2019t feel, that it\u2019s a wise move to make,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cIf the player has a bad year, they opt in. If they get hurt, they opt in\u2026 if they opt out, it\u2019s generally because they\u2019ve had a good year.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that it\u2019s a philosophy he\u2019s held for a long time, not something specific to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Thomson pushes back on \u201crun it back\u201d<\/p>\n
Rob Thomson didn\u2019t buy the idea that the Phillies are simply running it back, pointing to roster turnover and a youth push that will shape spring training and, potentially, the regular season.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re going to have three new relievers. We\u2019ve got a new right fielder,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cCrawford\u2019s going to get every chance to play. We\u2019ve probably got a rookie starting in Painter. We\u2019ve got Otto Kemp. So we\u2019re turning over 20 to 25 percent of our roster. If you think that\u2019s turning it back \u2014 or running it back, whatever they\u2019re saying is \u2014 yeah, I can\u2019t help it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tManager Rob Thomson spoke to reporters on Tuesday as part of the Phillies Winter Tour and was asked about the notion that the team is “running it back” next season.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Thomson also emphasized the internal expectation level remains high entering camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery high,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got a good ball club going in\u2026 we\u2019re going to infuse some youth into this lineup\u2026 I feel really good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Update on Wheeler<\/p>\n
One of the more relevant updates Tuesday involved Zack Wheeler, whose season ended early last year. The Phillies still didn\u2019t offer a firm timeline, but Dombrowski shared where things stand in the throwing program.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s throwing\u2026 up to 90 feet he has,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cHe\u2019s doing very well\u2026 I believe he\u2019s going to come in again on Thursday and throw again, but yeah, no timetable, but so far the reports have been good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomson echoed that Wheeler is at 90 feet on flat ground and \u201clooks good,\u201d while stopping short of projecting when he\u2019ll be on a mound.<\/p>\n
Will S\u00e1nchez pitch in the WBC?<\/p>\n
Cristopher S\u00e1nchez remains a key name to watch as World Baseball Classic decisions come into focus. Thomson acknowledged the balancing act, but also framed it as an honor for players who have earned the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a great honor to pitch for your country,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cYou\u2019re holding your breath when the guys go, but at the end of it, if they come out of it clean, I think it\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez is coming off his first 200-inning season and enters 2026 as one of the anchors of the staff, especially with Ranger Su\u00e1rez now out of the picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phillies made the J.T. Realmuto signing official Tuesday, and the press conference quickly shifted from the contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,16702],"class_list":{"0":"post-530876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-phillies-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}