Bo Bichette may end up going from the AL East to the NL East.
Rival MLB clubs are beginning to view the Philadelphia Phillies as the most serious suitor for the two-time All-Star shortstop Bichette in free agency, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported on Tuesday. Gelb notes that Bichette and the Phillies met via video call earlier this week.
The Phillies are even said to be willing to potentially extend a 6-to-8-year contract offer to Bichette in order to sign him. You can read Gelb’s full report on the situation here.
Bichette, the 27-year-old righty hitter, remains a free agent after batting .311 with 18 home runs and 94 RBIs last season for the Toronto Blue Jays. Though Bichette is a career-long shortstop, we learned last month that he was willing to make a big positional change for any interested teams.
That could really benefit the Phillies, who have reigning NL batting champion Trea Turner entrenched as their starting shortstop. The Phillies already re-signed Kyle Schwarber in free agency and also added a notable former World Series champion in the outfield, so now their focus appears to be on upgrading their infield corps.
Another report this week did claim that one AL contender is aggressively pursuing Bichette in free agency as well. But at this point, it sounds like the two-time AL hits leader Bichette may very well be Philadelphia’s to lose.
