Per NBC Sports Philadelphia, the Phillies didn't make Alec Bohm the one-year, $23.15 million qualifying offer. He's a free agent with no draft pick attached, and Dave Dombrowski already told you what they're losing.
The decision was reported by NBC Sports Philadelphia (Cole Weintraub) on Nov. 2: the 5 p.m. ET deadline passed without an offer. Contract terms and dates come from MLB.com, the Associated Press, CBS Sports and NBC Sports Philadelphia. Stats are from Baseball-Reference (regular season) and NBC Sports Philadelphia. WAR here is Baseball-Reference WAR (version 2.2), as of Oct. 30, 2026. Opinion is labeled.
The Phillies didn't extend a qualifying offer to Alec Bohm before the Nov. 2 deadline, per NBC Sports Philadelphia. The 5 p.m. ET cutoff came and went, and free agency opened at the same moment.
The offer would have been one year at $23.15 million. That number is the average of the 125 highest salaries in baseball, and the AP says it rose 5.1% from $22.025 million last year. Bohm made $10.2 million in 2026, per Baseball-Reference. So we're talking about a $12.95 million raise.
The part that actually changes things: no offer means no pick. If Bohm signs somewhere else, nothing comes back to Philadelphia and his new team gives up nothing, per NBC. Had the Phillies made the offer and had Bohm turned it down and left, they would've gotten a pick after the fourth round, per CBS Sports, because they're projected to pay the luxury tax. So the pick was never going to be a big one. It's still zero now.
And no, he isn't gone. NBC reported the Phillies can keep talking to him about a multiyear deal or a lower salary. Bohm said after the Wild Card Series, "I have no idea what to expect, but I'd love to be back," per NBC. That door's open. It just doesn't cost $23.15 million to walk through it anymore.
Bohm hit .249/.315/.383 with 15 homers, 29 doubles and 88 RBIs in 155 games. That's a .698 OPS and an 87 OPS+. Baseball-Reference has his 2026 WAR at minus 0.2. Statcast had him at minus 8 outs above average at third and minus 3 at first, per NBC.
He basically had two seasons. Through May 6 he was hitting .159 with one homer and a .433 OPS, per NBC, and Don Mattingly sat him for two days. From May 9 on, over 120 games, he hit .274 with 14 homers, 73 RBIs and a .773 OPS. He hit .347 with runners in scoring position, and 74 of his 88 RBIs came in those spots.
Opinion: $23.15 million is a lot of money for a player Baseball-Reference rates below replacement level. On the spreadsheet, passing is easy to defend.
The spreadsheet has a hole in it, though. NBC reported in October that Spotrac's early projection put Bohm near three years and $38 million. Spotrac lists that as about $12.6 million a year, and NBC wrote that $13 million to $16 million a year looked realistic. Those are projections, not offers. Nobody has reported what Bohm is asking for. But if the Phillies want him back, that's the range the two projections point to, and it's a lot closer to his $10.2 million than to $23.15 million.
Dombrowski didn't pretend Bohm was replaceable. At his season-ending press conference he said, "If Alec is not back with us, those 90 runs he drives in every year will be missed. You'll have to pick it up in other ways," per NBC.
Give him this: that's a real answer. He named the cost. The second half is where it gets thin. "Pick it up in other ways" is the line every front office uses when it doesn't have the other ways yet. So what are they?
On Oct. 23 Dombrowski said, "Harper's going to be our first baseman. If Bohm's coming back, that means he has to be our third baseman," per NBC. The other options NBC laid out: Bryson Stott slides to third, top prospect Aidan Miller, whose back injury kept him out of the majors in 2026, or Japanese third baseman Teruaki Sato if he's posted. Nobody has reported Miller is ready. Sato isn't posted. Stott is a real option and also the guy you'd be moving off second.
Then there's the calendar. The collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 at 11:59 p.m. ET, and the Inquirer reports owners are expected to lock out the players, which would freeze major-league transactions. Opinion: if that lockout happens as expected, the Phillies have about four weeks to figure out third base before they can't do anything at all.
The run production is real. Baseball-Reference has Bohm with at least 88 RBIs in three of the last four seasons: 97 in 2023, 97 in 2024, the year he made the All-Star team, and 88 this year. A qualifying offer is one year. No 2028 money, no 2029 money. That's about the lowest-risk way to keep a 90-RBI guy that exists.
Forecasts before the deadline split. NBC predicted the Phillies would make the offer and Bohm would take it. Philly Daily's Tim Kelly argued an offer didn't make sense. Those were opinions, and only one of them was right.
Opinion: if Bohm signs elsewhere for $13 million to $16 million a year and drives in 90 again, the missing draft pick is the smallest part of the regret.
Opinion: we think the pass is defensible on the numbers. Three ways we end up wrong:
Bohm said he'd love to be back. Now the other 29 teams get a say, and none of them has to give up a pick to get him.
Ryan Keane writes about sports, money, roster construction and front-office decisions for Negadelphia.
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