Atkins: "There is interest in extending Bo Bichette"

[Matthew Lenz]

After the Toronto Blue Jays formalized their extension with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. earlier this week, it became unclear whether the team would be able to do the same with Bo Bichette. The 27-year-old shortstop is currently set to hit free agency at season's end and, despite an injury plagued 2024 that sapped his power, is expected to be one of the top commodities of the upcoming free agent class.

On Wednesday, the Blue Jays General Manager provided some clarity via Hazel Mae of Sportsnet.

This was something that was echoed by Bichette himself last season stating in part, "...my ultimate goal really is to play with Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.) forever, to win a championship with him and to do that with this organization..."

Bichette has been one of the pillars for thr Blue Jays since playing in 159 games in 2021 after partial seasons in 2019 and 2020. He has a career .776 OPS with 93 home runs, 56 stolen bases, and plus defense at one the game's most premium positions. His success and popularity has garnered him two All-Star nods as well as MVP votes in three seasons.

Do you think the Blue Jays should lock up Bichette ASAP or let him test free agency at season's end?

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[Laika]

Lock him up

It's not my money

The team probably doesn't get "better" by sliding Gimenez over the shortstop and getting cute at 2B 

Bo is underrated at the moment for a few reasons:

1. Coming off a terrible year that he should bounce back from.
2. Reputation as a bad defender may no longer be true! He might be average there. 
3. The Jays are power-starved and his skill-set is not exactly what the fans crave.

Of course the Bo camp is going to look at the Vlad Jr. contract and think they can just get whatever they want from Toronto. Mets/Dodgers effect now for the Jays where they don't have a lot of leverage in negotiations since the perception is that the wallet has no bottom - people aren't going to give ownership a discount, ever. 

[glory]

Aside from the Vlad connection, I think the odds of Bo staying in Toronto are higher now mainly because I don't see his market being that big. All the big market teams except the Dodgers are set at SS, and the Dodgers don't seem like the type of team that would value Bo at $250-300M. You would think if they were going to give a SS that type of money then it would have been Seager. On top of that, there is talk now of the owners insisting on a salary cap, which means a guaranteed lockout after 2026 and who knows what for 2027, so I don't think too many teams are going to be spending absurd amounts of money for FA's other than Tucker and the top of the SP market (Gallen, Cease, etc). Bo's kinda in the middle range of being a very good player but not a superstar. In a market where teams are spending big, he likely would have made out well, but I'm not sure this coming winter will be that type of market. 

The Jays will have the need at SS, they will have the desire to contend, and they obviously have the financial resources to give Bo what he wants, especially if Ed Rogers is involved and gets into the fetal position as soon as he meets with Bo and his agent like he did for Vlad. The caveat being if the Jays are sellers in July and move Bo mid season, but even then the Jays could easily just get under the lux tax and sign Bo as a FA even under those circumstances. I guess it depends on how badly Rogers wants to keep him. 

[BB17]

2 hours ago, Laika said:

Look him up

It's not my money

The team probably doesn't get "better" by sliding Gimenez over the shortstop and getting cute at 2B 

Bo is underrated at the moment for a few reasons:

1. Coming off a terrible year that he should bounce back from.
2. Reputation as a bad defender may no longer be true! He might be average there. 
3. The Jays are power-starved and his skill-set is not exactly what the fans crave.

Of course the Bo camp is going to look at the Vlad Jr. contract and think they can just get whatever they want from Toronto. Mets/Dodgers effect now for the Jays where they don't have a lot of leverage in negotiations since the perception is that the wallet has no bottom - people aren't going to give ownership a discount, ever. 

If you are signing Bo its all about projecting his performance and I just can't see him being an average defender at SS for any years of the deal and with his limited range I'm not really sure he would get a jump from playing 2nd either. He seems to have cured his throwing errors which he had early in his career but he's got some of the worst range at the SS position which only will get worse. He's already at -2 DRS on the year and this is while not looking bad by the "eye test".

The bat is very good but when he's 31 where do you play him? He might have to move off the infield entirely by like year 4 of the deal.

[Brownie19]

9 minutes ago, BB17 said:

If you are signing Bo its all about projecting his performance and I just can't see him being an average defender at SS for any years of the deal and with his limited range I'm not really sure he would get a jump from playing 2nd either. He seems to have cured his throwing errors which he had early in his career but he's got some of the worst range at the SS position which only will get worse. He's already at -2 DRS on the year and this is while not looking bad by the "eye test".

The bat is very good but when he's 31 where do you play him? He might have to move off the infield entirely by like year 4 of the deal.

I have no doubt he can play 3rd or 2nd long term myself.  

[max silver]

23 minutes ago, BB17 said:

If you are signing Bo its all about projecting his performance and I just can't see him being an average defender at SS for any years of the deal and with his limited range I'm not really sure he would get a jump from playing 2nd either. He seems to have cured his throwing errors which he had early in his career but he's got some of the worst range at the SS position which only will get worse. He's already at -2 DRS on the year and this is while not looking bad by the "eye test".

The bat is very good but when he's 31 where do you play him? He might have to move off the infield entirely by like year 4 of the deal.

I think Bo has improved tremendously at short stop. Statcast had him as a slightly positive defender for last season and the start of this season combined. That is just fine if he's hitting the way he's capable of. When he's 31 I don't think the athleticism is going to decline so severely that he can't move to second base.

[BB17]

14 minutes ago, max silver said:

I think Bo has improved tremendously at short stop. Statcast had him as a slightly positive defender for last season and the start of this season combined. That is just fine if he's hitting the way he's capable of. When he's 31 I don't think the athleticism is going to decline so severely that he can't move to second base.

I think he's improved a ton as well but the range is still below average and obviously will only get worse from here on out. I don't doubt he is going to be a 120wRC+ hitter for the next 3-4 years but giving him 10/300 is pretty scary imo. Even the offence could decline a ton with his unique swing once the athleticism declines considering the approach/chase rate. 

Its easy to fall in love with players while they are performing well and the Jays are off to a hot start but you don't want to be stuck with 2 albatross contracts in 5 years time. As good as Springer has been this year would you want to have him signed for another 5 years at 30M per? Cuz that's what you could have with Bo/Vladdy.

[BB17]

38 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I have no doubt he can play 3rd or 2nd long term myself.  

I'm not sure 3rd would be a good fit at all. He struggles with his throws on his backhand when he has to set his feet and throw off the back foot. And 3rd has a lot of those plays you have to make.

[max silver]

12 minutes ago, BB17 said:

I think he's improved a ton as well but the range is still below average and obviously will only get worse from here on out. I don't doubt he is going to be a 120wRC+ hitter for the next 3-4 years but giving him 10/300 is pretty scary imo. Even the offence could decline a ton with his unique swing once the athleticism declines considering the approach/chase rate. 

Its easy to fall in love with players while they are performing well and the Jays are off to a hot start but you don't want to be stuck with 2 albatross contracts in 5 years time. As good as Springer has been this year would you want to have him signed for another 5 years at 30M per? Cuz that's what you could have with Bo/Vladdy.

Bo was actually +1 runs in the 2024 season for Statcast range so the range isn't necessarily an issue at this point. 

I fully agree in not being a fan of the super long term contracts that are becoming more commonplace in MLB. It feels like the 11 year deals the Padres handed to Boegarts and Machado opened the floodgates to seeing players under contract until their late 30's/early 40's.

[Terminator]

1 minute ago, max silver said:

Bo was actually +1 runs in the 2024 season for Statcast range so the range isn't necessarily an issue at this point. 

I fully agree in not being a fan of the super long term contracts that are becoming more commonplace in MLB. It feels like the 11 year deals the Padres handed to Boegarts and Machado opened the floodgates to seeing players under contract until their late 30's/early 40's.

It's mostly due to the tax. I'd need to run the math to get exact numbers but if you give the guy an extra 2 or 3 years on his deal and add 20-30 million to the total contract you probably end up saving a lot more on the lower tax penalties. 

[G-Snarls]

If Rogers had 500M for Vladdy I'm sure they have 300M for Bo

Not that either is actually worth it 

[L54]

We’ve gone from send Vlad to Indy Ball and Bo Bichette is Tim Anderson to give them 3/4 of a billion really quickly 

Good thing nobody here is making those decisions 

[Gen.Disarray]

Not sure Tucker would come here but would you rather give Bo 300mil or give Tucker 400-450mill?

And Nimmala is still a ways away, but does having him in the system make you less willing to give Bo a really long term deal? The range of outcomes for Nimmala seems quite large.

[John_Havok]

1 minute ago, Gen.Disarray said:

Not sure Tucker would come here but would you rather give Bo 300mil or give Tucker 400-450mill?

And Nimmala is still a ways away, but does having him in the system make you less willing to give Bo a really long term deal? The range of outcomes for Nimmala seems quite large.

You'd never let a 19 year old prospect in A ball impact your desire to sign a guy who's been 3-5 fWAR guy in the majors for the last 5 years.

[G-Snarls]

16 minutes ago, L54 said:

We’ve gone from send Vlad to Indy Ball and Bo Bichette is Tim Anderson to give them 3/4 of a billion really quickly 

Good thing nobody here is making those decisions 

I doubt a single person here thinks it was smart to give Vladdy 500M

[Terminator]

1 minute ago, G-Snarls said:

I doubt a single person here thinks it was smart to give Vladdy 500M

Yeah if we polled that deal the overwhelming majority of the board would disapprove

I've been more pro re-sign Vlad than anyone here and it's pretty tepid support at best

[Jonn]

12 minutes ago, Gen.Disarray said:

Not sure Tucker would come here but would you rather give Bo 300mil or give Tucker 400-450mill?

And Nimmala is still a ways away, but does having him in the system make you less willing to give Bo a really long term deal? The range of outcomes for Nimmala seems quite large.

Kyle Tucker would absolutely consider Toronto if the team is a contender and the money is right.

Nimmala is still probably 2 years away the minimum after this Season. And that's if everything goes extremely well. He just got to High-A Ball. He probably plays at least one full Season at New Hampshire.

But there's no guarantee either Bo or Nimmala stay at the position either. Bo has looked good at SS thus far. His market might force him to 2B. I think the Jays should do whatever they can to resign him. When you opened a large window of winning you don't really let one of your best players walk.

Plus Bo has made no indication he wants to leave. He's only ever said good things and has said he wanted to play with Vlad and one franchise forever. People speculating he doesn't like it here because he isn't smiling in the dugout has always been weird to me.

[max silver]

41 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

I doubt a single person here thinks it was smart to give Vladdy 500M

I can think of at least one poster who thinks this was a smart deal.

[L54]

Giving Bo a monster deal feels like a kid who gets a s*** ton of birthday money, spends it on the first couple shiny things he sees and then regret sets in when there’s no more cash and the toys get older 

[Jays24]

Can we all appreciate the quote here?  

Thought we'd be hearing "we would like to look into the possibility of potentially extending the contract of Bo if it meets the parameters of both parties within the timeframe proposed."

[leaffie]

What would be a fair to  both sides contract for Bo?

[glory]

1 hour ago, Gen.Disarray said:

Not sure Tucker would come here but would you rather give Bo 300mil or give Tucker 400-450mill?

And Nimmala is still a ways away, but does having him in the system make you less willing to give Bo a really long term deal? The range of outcomes for Nimmala seems quite large.

I'm rooting for Nimmala but he's 19 in A+ with a lot of swing and miss in his profile. He's far from a sure thing, though he does have a high ceiling if he pans out. I don't think he'd even be a consideration in any discussions about whether to bring Bo back or not. If he was in AA or AAA, then that would be different as you could see a reasonable path for him to reach the bigs in 2026, but at his current rate/age he's probably a 2027-28 candidate depending on how he handles each level. 

I tend to agree that whoever signs Bo, the Jays or otherwise, is going to regret it. Vlad at least has a superstar offensive ceiling. Bo is closer to a 3-4 WAR talent, which is very good, but not someone I'd want to commit 10/300 to, especially with his offensive profile. Then again I didn't think Vlad should have gotten anywhere near $500M and here we are, so it's clearly not up to my tastes. 

[BB17]

Bo likely moves off SS by the time Nimmala even gets to the majors. And as good as the power has been from Nimmala there has been tons of swing and miss. Reality is he ends up a bust more than he ends up an above average player.

Orelvis Martinez should be a cautionary tale in that he hit for tons of power all throughout the minors while being super young for the position. He can still turn it around and succeed in the majors but he's looking like a bust given all the swing and miss in his game.

[Spanky99]

3 hours ago, L54 said:

We’ve gone from send Vlad to Indy Ball and Bo Bichette is Tim Anderson to give them 3/4 of a billion really quickly 

Good thing nobody here is making those decisions 

Sign me up on a Bo extension, not for 300M though, lol. The Jays should've waited for next winter to get Vlad on that extension, the perceived value is/was way off the mark and seems as though they were bidding against themselves. Could've saved a 100M if they waited I believe, but it's done now. Bo would get something around Adames money, to get more he'd need a career year.

[xposbrad]

Give him 500m, and then sign Tucker in the offseason for 600m. 

[Gen.Disarray]

19 minutes ago, Spanky99 said:

Sign me up on a Bo extension, not for 300M though, lol. The Jays should've waited for next winter to get Vlad on that extension, the perceived value is/was way off the mark and seems as though they were bidding against themselves. Could've saved a 100M if they waited I believe, but it's done now. Bo would get something around Adames money, to get more he'd need a career year.

A lot of that sounds right to me but why would Bo even consider less? Especially given the way the Vladdy "negotiations " went

[Spanky99]

1 hour ago, leaffie said:

What would be a fair to  both sides contract for Bo?

Somewhere in the 8/200M I'd think, leaffie.

[L54]

1 hour ago, Spanky99 said:

Sign me up on a Bo extension, not for 300M though, lol. The Jays should've waited for next winter to get Vlad on that extension, the perceived value is/was way off the mark and seems as though they were bidding against themselves. Could've saved a 100M if they waited I believe, but it's done now. Bo would get something around Adames money, to get more he'd need a career year.

Adames money probably isn’t too bad 

[Terminator]

1 hour ago, Spanky99 said:

Somewhere in the 8/200M I'd think, leaffie.

Good comparison to Adames, Spanky.

8 for 200 makes sense. It's 1 more year than Adames got but Bo is 1 year younger.

[Spanky99]

27 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Good comparison to Adames, Spanky.

8 for 200 makes sense. It's 1 more year than Adames got but Bo is 1 year younger.

Yeah, as soon as that contract was announced was your Bo barometer, if he puts up another 4-5 win season as he's averaged per 600PA'ish... he should get that money. Guy's a perennial stud, aside from the injury plagued year in '24. I think 8/200, 225M depends on this year, he'll get paid and that contract is fair.