The big news around baseball this week is the superstar slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Stick in Toronto on an extension of $ 500 million that will keep it with the Blue Jays for the next 14 years. Although the agreement is mainly notable because of Guerrero itself being one of the brightest young stars of the game whose free agency had long been anticipated by fans of the league, it is also the firmer declaration to date of Blue Jays that they fully intend to continue to try to compete even in the middle of an increasingly difficult Al East division.
Entering training in the spring, the club had a number of key players who were preparing to get out of books in the coming seasons. This is always the case for the majority of these players, with important parts such as Kevin Gausman,, Chris Bassitt,, George SpringerAnd Daulton Varsho Chat to arrive on the free market in the next two seasons. That being said, the club’s off -season additions Andres Gimenez And Anthony Santander combine with their recent extensions for Guerrero and Alejandro Kirk To give the club a talented core of position players to build a new iteration of the club with pre-Arb arbitration players Ernie Clement,, Bowden FrancisAnd Will Wagner help build this foundation more.
With nearly two complete seasons until Gausman, Springer and Varsho leave for the free agency, it is not quite clear what the needs of the Jays will look like when it happens. The imminent losses of Bassitt, Scherzer and Green de Toronto will surely have to be discussed, but most teams need to launch each winter and replace these players should be quite simple. With Signed Guerrero, this leaves the most relevant question in front of Toronto at this stage like what to do with the stopped stop Bichette Bo. The 27-year-old was a consensual prospect of the TOP-5 in sport when he arrived at the Majors in 2019 and spent most of his career associated with Guerrero as one of the two promising stars of the club.
Although Bichette has never had the MVP caliber campaigns that Guerrero published during the 2021 and 2000 seasons, the media threshing it was largely justified by his work in the majors. In 46 games at the bottom of the section in 2019 after a mid-season call, Bichette made a big impression by reducing .311 / .358 / .571 with a 143 WRC + and 11 Homers in just 212 plates. A passage of 29 games with Toronto during the shortened season of the 2020 saw him descend a little on Earth when he published a 120 WRC +, but this level of production turned out to be very durable for Bichette because her first three complete seasons saw him reduce .298 / .339 / .476 with a 125 WRC + and 13.6 FWAR.
From 2021 to 23, Bichette was sandwiched between Yordan Alvarez And Sean Murphy In the FWAR ranking, good for the 22nd baseball, and his 125 WRC + allowed him to stand from shoulder to shoulder with the best infairy like Tourner of Traits And Alex Bregman. Between these strong numbers and his relative youth, Bichette seemed certain to be labeled for a great salary with the only question being whether she came to Toronto or elsewhere. Unfortunately, the 2024 season threw all this completely out of the rails. Not only was Bichette limited to 81 games last year due to several veal strains and surgery on his middle finger, but he also had trouble in the matches in good health to participate. In 336 trips to the plate last year, Bichette was reduced .225 / .277 / .322 (71 WRC +).
A look under the hood reveals that the removal of Bichette and the walking rates were both as good as ever last year, but it was completely undermined with its power. He hit only four circuits after regularly flashed the power of 25 to 30 in Homer in previous years. Son .303 Xwoba suggested that he became somewhat unlucky in terms of luck with the hit balloon, and that probably contributed to a Babip. 269 with career. Although an average of the stick closer to its XBA of .255 would surely have helped its a little more robust overall production, the expected figures are not all this kind in the electricity service. His XSLG was only 0.375, which, although better than his real production last season, would have been much lower than the average if he had enough plates to qualify. This is largely thanks to a massive decrease in the barrel rate. Bichette increased only 4.4% of its balls struck last year, less than half of its career standard throughout her career.
Mediocre defender at the Copped Stop even in his best years, the value of Bichette is so linked to his bat that the difficulties of last season made it difficult to find the star level in free referee without a big rebound in the 2025 campaign. Despite Bichette himself and the Blue Jays as a whole did not meet the expectations last year, Toronto chose not to exchange it before his last year under the team, On him to regain his form this season. There is still a long way to go this season, but the first yields seem to be well on this decision. Bichette .277 / .333 / .362 (103 WRC +) Line of an oblique bar bar entering the game today is still pedestrian, but nevertheless a great improvement compared to last year, and more important, he resumed reached the ball with authority (barrel rate of 7.3%, 46.3% hard rate) in a way that aligns mainly with his career standards.
Although this is certainly good news for Bichette and for the Blue Jays that the Copped Stop seems to be back to the publication of quality offensive numbers, what it means for its future is uncertain. There are similarities with Cody Bellinger In Bichette’s profile as a free agent, because the two players share an All-Star caliber upwards of bat options first in a high-end defensive position which could make them very attractive in free agency, but combine the rise in the campaigns cribed with disturbing injuries where they resembled talents of level lower than a replacement. During the 2023-24 offseason, Bellinger was limited to a short-term agreement from the market, although his $ 80 million pact over three years with the Cubs offered him a healthy AAV and multiple opt-out opportunities. Bellinger marketed his season aged 28 Kyle Tucker) could allow Bichette to find a stronger market.
However, this uncertainty of the market could be part of the reason why the Jays did not address the possibility of an extension with their curl stop. Bichette told journalists in February that the teams had not had talks, and he reiterated Hazel Mae from Sportsnet yesterday that “Nothing is on the table” For him Blue Jays in terms of extension. Bichette clearly indicated that he would like to stay in Toronto, quoting the desire to play for a single organization throughout his career and to continue his partnership with Guerrero. If Bichette is once again healthy and effective this year, it could make a lot of sense for a Blue Jays Club which will need offensive firepower more offensive than last year, even after adding Santander to the mixture. On the other hand, the Blue Jays already have a luxury pay pay of $ 200 million for 2026 (by rosterresource) before even considering contracts at the refereeing for players like Varsho and Clement.
This could make it difficult to add another big salary to books for Blue Jays to the stomach, and the club has apparently set up to improve the loss of the Bichette by exchanging Gimenez. The 26-year-old has played the vast majority of his big league games in the second goal, but he has a stop experience and is considered perhaps the best defensive player in all sport, which suggests that he should have little trouble sliding on the left side of the inner field. Given the aforementioned mediocre defense of bichette short, Gimenez could actually prove to be an upgrade in the position in terms of a glove.
This would mean that you need to replace Gimenez at the second base and on Bichette in the range. A big Wagner season this year could make it possible to do internally. Other internal options that could help Davis Schneider,, Addison Barger,, Orelvis Martinez And Leo Jimenez. In terms of external options, the upcoming off -season has infairy like Gleyber Torres,, Ha-seong kim,, Alex Bregman And History of Trevor As possibilities, according to certain deactivation decisions.
How will MLBTR readers think that the situation in Toronto will take place? Will Bichette be allowed to hit a free agency? And, in the affirmative, will he play in Toronto or elsewhere on the day of opening 2026? Have your word to say in the survey below:
