Toronto is on Bo Bichette watch
Will he stay with the Blue Jays? Won’t he? We’re stressed
Ever since the most riveting World Series in 32 years, we’ve been on high alert for Bo Bichette news. We bet there’s good intel in the Blue Jays’ group chat, but we don’t have access to that, so we’re nervously refreshing the same sites as everyone else.
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Yesterday, MLB.com reported from the annual general meetings in Las Vegas that free-agent shortstop Bichette remains a hot topic. (These meetings are when team executives start talking about next season’s rosters.) “He’s a homegrown star and is beloved in Toronto. There’s no question he is open to remaining a Blue Jay long-term, and the club wants him back. But the market will be highly competitive.”
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins agreed, telling MLB.com that he knows Bichette is in demand. “Great player,” he said. “Bo’s been a significant part of us being in a strong position today and a reason that we’re coming off five solid seasons of baseball and one really, really good year of baseball. He’s had a lot to do with it. I know he’s going to be attractive to the market. We’ll be in his market.”
Newsweek took the words right out of our mouths: “From the Blue Jays’ perspective, their top priority should be to re-sign him. He is arguably the best hitter in the league. He and Vladdy Guerrero Jr. could go down as one of the best duos in Blue Jays history, if he were to sign an extension with the club.”
Bichette has previously said he wants to remain in Toronto. And we know Toronto fans want him on the team. The only thing standing in the way is locking down that rumoured 10-year, $300-million deal.
At least the seats we’re on the edge of don’t cost $8,150.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
