Bo Bichette is expected to rejoin the Blue Jays in Texas in time for Tuesday’s game with the Rangers.
The return of a player of Bichette’s calibre, even one playing at well below his abilities thanks in large part to injuries, should be a cause for celebration.
And in many corners it will be. But it doesn’t come without a ton of awkward questions as well.
Bichette has been at the root of some of that.
The question that looms over the organization is the future of two of its homegrown stars.
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There’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — who is enjoying an MVP-type campaign — and Bichette, who both are in that window of ‘It’s time to lock our star player down.’
But unlike Bichette, Guerrero has given few if any indications that he wants to be anywhere but Toronto and the overwhelming belief is Guerrero’s extension is almost assuredly coming this off-season.
And, on top of that, Guerrero is comparatively healthy, give or take the odd wrist or hand injury courtesy of wayward — or in some cases intentional — pitches.
That’s not to say Bichette won’t be an extension candidate himself, just that right now Guerrero’s seems more likely than Bichette’s.
Both players are under team control for at least one more season. Bichette is going into the final year of a three-year deal that will pay him $17,583,333 in 2025. Guerrero is coming off a one-year $19.9-million deal and has one more year of arbitration before he could become a free agent.
Guerrero also is a full year younger than Bichette.
But there are more reasons Guerrero would have extension priority over Bichette. At least some of them are as apparent as their current stat sheets.
As mentioned, Guerrero is in the midst of one of his best campaigns of his young career. It feels like he has found his niche, no longer chasing bad pitches, but rather showing patience and waiting on the one he wants to hit and then doing his damage.
Bichette — and again injuries are a big part of this — is hitting just .222 with four home runs this year in 80 games.
A second part of this is durability. Recurring calf issues have limited Bichette to those 80 games this season with three separate, though clearly related, absences. At just 26 years old, there’s every chance that he can put those recurring issues behind him, but still it will factor in if Jays management decides they only are willing to extend one of their two stars.
Then there’s the rest of the roster to consider. The Jays already are going to be shelling out plenty of money this off-season as they attempt to shore up a leaky bullpen and add some power to a lineup that has been sorely lacking it all year. They also have plenty of decisions to make on the remainder of the roster with just seven players under contract for next season, including Bichette.
The real reason though for all the uncertainty surrounding Bichette has been the mixed signals he has been sending. These date back to the trade deadline, when Bichette seemed to be openly toying with the idea of a new address.
Again, this could have been nothing more than responding to all the rumours circulating about his future at the time, but only Bichette knows that for sure.
In fairness, in his most recent interview with Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, Bichette stated very clearly his goal is to win a championship in Toronto alongside his good friend, Vladdy.
Still, not everyone is buying this.
As one national baseball writer suggested recently in a radio interview, this looks more like contract posturing than actual earnest talk.
Now the writer in question, ESPN’s Buster Olney, readily admitted he had not talked with Bichette, but the timing of the comments, particularly following some earlier ones by Bichette, gave some credence to Olney’s suggestion.
With just a dozen games remaining, Bichette isn’t going to get more than 50 more at bats, so improving on his current numbers, which he should, won’t be an overwhelming correction.
Teams not named the Blue Jays are going to be paying based on what they have seen most recently. That’s not a good bargaining position for Bichette.
The Jays, because they have so much more first-hand knowledge of the player, not to mention invested in his development, would be more inclined to put at least more emphasis than their competitors on what Bichette has done previously.
And, if nothing else, having the Jays interested would bump his negotiating leverage with other teams.
Of course, all of this could be moot. The team could just decide to let things ride in 2025 with Bichette playing out his final year and push back any further extension talk.
It would allow the organization to focus more on bolstering the roster elsewhere, which is something Bichette wants, but it could also come at a cost.
It would mean passing on an opportunity to get an all-star calibre player signed long-term when his leverage is at a low point because that may not be the case a year from now.
Few would argue Bichette is fully capable of getting that leverage back if given another full season.
Either way, it’s going to be an interesting off-season for the Jays and Bichette in particular.