The Jays have an cornerstone in place in the long term, after having finalized their 14 -year agreement with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.And the director general Ross Atkins declared following the announcement of this agreement that his club always hoped to sign his longtime teammate from Guerrero, in Shortes Bichette Boto a long -term agreement (via Hazel Mae de Sportsnet).
“The interest is definitely there,” said Atkins. “… It is also our vision (Guerrero and Bichette) to continue playing together. We will do everything in our power to see if we can align. ”
Bichette expressed the desire to stay long -term in Toronto. He said last year that his “ultimate goal” in his baseball career was “to play with Vlady forever, to win a championship with him and to do it with this organization”. Bichette recognized just a few days ago that there was currently no effort to go up in preparation, but these comments came before Guerrero’s official announcement and that a few hours after an agreement was concluded.
It goes without saying that the main objective of the Jays was to keep Guerrero, who finished sixth in voting with the MVP of the AL last year on the heels of a fourth consecutive stars campaign. Guerrero and Bichette were to become free agents after the 2025 season. Guerrero standing as a focal point of the team’s long-term management, the Jays may not have wanted to commit in one way or another concerning Bichette until the status of their first goal was resolved.
Bichette, of course, is difficult to appreciate for the moment. The 27-year-old is an All-Star twice that has collected MVP votes with Ballot at the bottom in three seasons and who looked like an organizational pillar alongside Guerrero for much of his start of his career. From its beginnings in 2019 as 21 years at the end of the 2023 season, Bichette posted a collective shot line. 299 / .340 / .487 – 26% better than the average of the league by WRC +measurement.
The 2024 season has launched its perspective in disarray. Bichette waded during the first months of the season, displaying an anemic shot line. 237 / .286 / .342 before landing on the injured list due to a calf strain. He returned after a minimum passage but was back on the shelf with a tension in the same calf three weeks later.
Bichette may not have been full force at any time between the two veal strains, because her offense in the interval was even worse than it was before her original placement (.143 / .218 / .204 in 55 plaques appearances). This time, Bichette missed two months of action, returned to go 2 for 5 in her first match … and quickly suffered a broken finger during the pre-match implementation exercises. This injury required surgery, ending its season with a line of career shot .225 / .277 / .322.
The name of Bichette floated around the rumor both in the perspective of the deadline for trade and again during the offseason, but Atkins expressed his reluctance to discuss an agreement. The GM said in June that the trade in Guerrero or Bichette “makes no sense for us” and, in the days following the start of the offseason, Atkins repeated that the concept of commercial bichette was “an uninvable” for the Blue Jays.
This thought has certainly not changed after Bichette appreciated a monster spring training (.373 / .411 / .667, four circuits in 56 appearances on plates) and started with a solid performance .291 / .344 / .364 in the regular season. He is not yet in Homer, but Bichette establishes a lot of hard contacts (the average output speed of 90.6 MPH, 48% hard rate) and increasing the ball at levels even higher than him in his career to date. If he continues to do so, the big flies will surely follow.
A large increase at the start of the season would probably make an agreement easier to conclude. In the heels of the disastrous results of last year, the team may have wondered if 2024 was an anomaly or the start of a disturbing trend. Bichette himself would probably have hesitated to sell short, given his long history and proximity to the free agency. If Bichette continues to be alike and make an aberrant value appear last year, this will increase its price but will also give the Jays more certainty that they make a solid investment.
Bichette does not carry the power power that Guerrero at the back of a colossal projection 2024, but it would be online for a solid nine-digit agreement as a free agent if it could return to its 2020-23 form. He will arrive on the market before his 28-year-old season, making him one of the youngest and the highest games on the free 2025-26 market.
From a pay point of view, the Jays should have room to extend the bichette even after signing Guerrero. Toronto will see Max Scherzer,, Chris Bassitt And Green Chad Reach the free agency at the end of the season. Rosterresource stings them with approximately $ 186 million engaged in the books next year – a striking drop of approximately $ 64.5 million compared to their 2024 payroll. This does not include arbitration increases, but Daulton Varsho is the only Blue Jay online to order a significant salary in 2026. He will gain an increase compared to the bar of $ 8.2 million this year.
