Phillies missed out on Bo Bichette thanks to two mistakes made by Dave Dombrowski

The Philadelphia Phillies were dealt some crushing news when Bo Bichette was reportedly to have agreed to a deal with the New York Mets.

For the first time in a while, the Phillies lost out on a big free agent they were strongly linked to. The reason why they couldn't bring in Bichette is clear: the team is facing financial constraints.

As Matt Gelb of The Athletic pointed out, that issue is the fault of the president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski. Specifically, there are two massive mistakes that have set the team back in the last few years. Those are the signings of Taijuan Walker and Nick Castellanos.

Phillies' missing out on top free agents is the fault of Dave Dombrowski

"It's rare for the Phillies to miss on a big-name target under Dave Dombrowski," Gelb writes. "... In the end, the Phillies were hamstrung by two of Dombrowski's previous deals - the $38 million combined owed to Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker in 2026."

The Phillies are on the hook for $20 million with Nick Castellanos and $18 million with Taijuan Walker this season.

Neither is a big contributor, and their $38 million is eating into the Phillies' books, which is a massive mistake from Dombrowski.

While both are coming off the books next offseason, which will make their free-agent efforts next winter much better than they've been this offseason, it's still a massive mistake from Dombrowski.

More: MLB Hot Stove tracker: Live updates on news, rumors, signings and trades for 2025 free agency

While Walker's not been nearly good enough at any point during his Phillies career to justify this signing, the bigger issue is that Castellanos is a net-negative for the team.

Walker, at least, can be an innings-eater and provide decent outings in a pinch. Castellanos is one of the worst fielders in the Majors, and his offense has taken a big step back.

Both of these deals have turned into major mistakes, but of the two, the $20 million owed to Castellanos in the final year of his five-year, $100 million deal is the biggest mistake.

The Phillies missed on Bichette, and weren't involved in other top free agents this winter, thanks to the team being hamstrung by these two mistakes from Dombrowski.

Hopefully for Dombrowski and the Phillies, with that money freed up next offseason, he'll make better signings than the additions of Castellanos and Waker have been for the Phillies over the last few years.

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