The Phillies didn’t simply miss out on Bo Bichette they had him snatched away in plain sight by their biggest rival. What felt like a routine free-agent loss was anything but, especially with the New York Mets swooping in and walking off with the bat Philadelphia believed was nearly theirs.
When Dave Dombrowski described the situation as a “gut punch,” it was a rare moment of honesty from a front office executive. The Mets didn’t just outbid the Phillies; they changed the entire tone of the offseason and left Philadelphia watching as New York secured the prize.
From the Mets’ perspective, this was the exact statement move owner Steve Cohen has been promising an aggressive, big-market strike designed to win immediately. Bichette’s three-year, $126 million deal signaled that New York was all-in, and they accomplished exactly what they set out to do.
If the Phillies want to answer that move in a way that actually matters, the response has to sting. And there’s only one type of move that truly fits that description: trading for Freddy Peralta.
Landing Peralta wouldn’t just strengthen Philadelphia it would block the Mets from making the next logical upgrade. After signing Bichette, the natural expectation in New York is another postseason-caliber arm, and Peralta is the name that keeps coming up.
He’s available at the perfect time, with just one year left on a remarkably affordable contract, making him a prime trade target across the league. That affordability is exactly why the Mets are expected to pursue him.
For Philadelphia, turning that earlier “gut punch” into a counterstrike means acting first and securing the pitcher everyone assumes the Mets will chase.
The key question is whether the Phillies can top New York’s best offer and they might be uniquely positioned to do so. With a rotation that already includes Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, and Taijuan Walker, plus more talent waiting in the wings, the Phillies can negotiate from a position of strength rather than desperation.
That’s what makes the move so dangerous. A Peralta trade wouldn’t be about survival for Philadelphia; it would be about control and postseason leverage. And if the Phillies pull it off, the storyline in New York shifts quickly from celebrating Bo Bichette to watching their rival steal the next big move right out from under them.
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