After turning down the qualifying offer, Bo Bichette’s next move becomes the biggest question of the Blue Jays’ offseason. DD
What are predictions looking like regarding the Toronto Blue Jays’ shortstop?
The deadline for accepting or rejecting qualifying offers was yesterday, and nine MLB players rejected their offers, while four accepted. Among the bold group to reject was Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette, who has made it very clear that he’d like to return to Toronto.
He received a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer, which he declined, finding himself in the open market. This didn’t come as a major surprise, but it does leave room for questions.
Bichette is one of the Blue Jays’ greatest assets — losing him would be incredibly unfortunate for the franchise, but he has not expressed any interest in leaving. This past season, he slashed .311/.357/.483 and registered 44 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs and 94 RBIs across 139 games.
With the deadline now behind us, what could potentially be in store for the 27-year-old slugger?
Bichette’s Future With the Blue Jays
With Bichette in the open market, predictions are soaring, but there’s one thing that most can agree on: the chances of him leaving Toronto are slim. Assuming that he remains with the Blue Jays, what could his contract look like?
This is where things get chaotic, as there’s a wide array of possibilities for him in terms of numbers. Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report predicts that Bichette could end up tied to a seven-year, $184 million contract. If Millers’s prediction is correct, this would make him one of the highest-paid shortstops in the league today.
According to Spotrac, 32-year-old Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets is still holds the helm with a 10-year, $341 million contract, which he signed in March of 2021.
“Or, if he’s definitely switching from shortstop to second base, maybe he would settle for 7/$176M, which would make him the highest-paid 2B in terms of both total value of the contract and AAV, slightly outpacing the 7/$175M deal Marcus Semien signed a few years ago,” Miller wrote. “Either way, he’s going to become very rich very soon. And, either way, re-signing with the Blue Jays seems likely— unless they sign Kyle Tucker first and suddenly can’t afford to also keep Bichette”
Now, this prediction is filed among the plethora of other predictions ranging from $130 million to a whopping $210 million that revolve around Bichette. Regardless of the contract that sticks, the price tag is expected to be large-scale, pushing him above most of the shortstops in MLB today.
