The Toronto Blue Jays are sitting in third place in the American League East division and a losing record after the first 37 games.
There is still plenty of time to turn things around, but the team might be disappointed with such a poor start after it added players like Anthony Santander, Max Scherzer and Jeff Hoffman this winter and locked in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a $500 million contract.
Unless there is a dramatic improvement, the Blue Jays could be headed toward some wholesale change. Manager John Schneider might be on the hot seat without some playoff wins added to his resume this year. And Guerrero’s long-time running mate, Bo Bichette, seems likely to find a new home in free agency after this season or even sooner via trade.
Covering Bichette’s focus on improving his defense this year for The Athletic, Mitch Bannon noted that his ability to do so could “define Bichette’s potential free agency.’
“If the Blue Jays fail to extend Bichette, he’ll enter the market as a 27-year-old free agent with All-Star upside and three years with MVP votes,” Bannon added. “But what is his defensive future? Bichette is likely to move off shortstop eventually, wherever he ends up this offseason. That move could come in three years or, for some teams, as soon as next season. It could come sooner if he’s traded.”
Bannon suggested the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves, in addition to the Blue Jays, as teams that could need Bichette’s services at shortstop moving forward. But he also noted that Bichette’s “market opens even more” if he can shift to second base for a new team.
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Bichette responded to that possibility by acknowledging that shifting to second could give him a fit with some additional suitors, while also noting that he’s more focused on his current team at the moment.
“I know there are teams that have shortstops that wouldn’t move,” Bichette said.
Awareness of long-term shortstops elsewhere in and of itself isn’t much of a sound bite. But in the context of Bannon’s article about how adapting to second base could be in his future, it seems Bichette is open to such a change if he finds himself in a new home later this season or next.
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