{"id":539310,"date":"2026-01-26T19:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/539310\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T19:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:28:26","slug":"its-a-joke-bo-bichettes-126-million-signing-sparks-backlash-as-ex-mlb-player-slams-his-press-conference-remarks-mlb-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/539310\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a joke\u201d: Bo Bichette\u2019s $126 million signing sparks backlash as ex MLB player slams his press conference remarks | MLB News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u201cIt\u2019sBo Bichette (Image Via Getty) Bo Bichette is now a New York Mets player after agreeing to a three-year, $126 million contract on January 20, 2026. The 27-year-old shortstop, who became a star with the Toronto Blue Jays, picked the Mets over a seven-year, $200 million offer from the Philadelphia Phillies. At his first press conference at Citi Field in New York, Bichette said it was \u201cvery obvious\u201d he wanted to join the Mets because they are \u201clooking to win every single year.\u201d His comments surprised many fans and baseball analysts, especially in Philadelphia, where the Phillies believed they were close to signing him. Bo Bichette\u2019s decision and words spread fast across baseball. Some believe he followed the higher yearly pay, while others think he truly sees the Mets as the best place to win now. His remarks clearly upset parts of the Philadelphia baseball community.<\/p>\n

Ben Davis calls out Bo Bichette\u2019s comments after Mets signing<\/p>\n

On January 23, 2026, former Major League Baseball player and Phillies broadcaster Ben Davis spoke on 94WIP radio in Philadelphia about what Bichette said at his press event. Davis made strong remarks about the Mets and Bo Bichette. He said comments like \u201cwe\u2019re committed to winning every year\u201d sound like BS when said about the Mets, a team with an up-and-down recent history. Davis yelled that it feels wrong to act like the Phillies are not trying to win. \u201cThey give off the vibe that they\u2019re just a losing organization,\u201d Davis said, and added, \u201cBlow that smoke somewhere else.\u201d Davis also pointed out that Bichette might have chosen the Mets because they offered more money per year, about $42 million per season compared to the Phillies\u2019 average of about $28.6 million per year. He said, \u201cIt\u2019s a joke. You\u2019re just going to go where you get the best deal for you and get the most money,\u201d and added that calling the Mets a winning team was an exaggeration. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski admitted losing Bichette was a \u201cgut punch\u201d to the club. He said the team thought they were close to a deal, but nothing was finalized when Bichette picked the Mets\u2019 offer. Dombrowski spoke about how disappointing it was for the Phillies on January 20, 2026, but also said the team had to move forward. After Bichette signed with the Mets, the Phillies quickly re-signed catcher J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million contract to keep him in Philadelphia. Realmuto\u2019s deal came just hours after the Bichette news and helped soften the blow for Phillies fans. Bo Bichette\u2019s remarks at his press event meant to be positive instead triggered strong reactions and made this one of the most talked-about moments in early 2026 MLB free agency. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bo Bichette (Image Via Getty) Bo Bichette is now a New York Mets player after agreeing to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,70698,71295,71294,71296,101,4,2046,1690,61,2548,4203,25,71297],"class_list":["post-539310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-ben-davis","tag-bichette-comments-backlash","tag-bo-bichette-signing","tag-j-t-realmuto-contract","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-shortstop-contract"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115963056990841529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539310","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=539310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}