A split from Bichette may be for the best for Blue Jays' clubhouse, says ex-Blue Jay

Clubhouse cohesion was one of the areas of strength for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2025. The American League champions all said the same things every single team that wins says, that they are playing for each other. Everyone gets along and is focused on the same goal. But the "power of friendship" wasn't just a gimmick with this squad, they truly believed in it, and it reflected in their play on the field.

However, a former Blue Jays infield says there was one person who maybe wasn't tapped in to the "bro-mance" of it all and that's former Blue Jay turned New York Met, Bo Bichette.

A split from Bichette may be for the best for Blue Jays' clubhouse, says ex-Blue Jay Whit Merrifield

Speaking to the 6ix Inning Stretch podcast, former Blue Jays' infielder Whit Merrifield told host Lindsay Dunn that the relationship between Bo and the coaching staff may not have been on the best of terms. Merrifield said, "I know for a fact Bo loves Toronto, loves the Jays, loves the city, loves the fans there. I also know that there was some stuff along the way that happened with Bo and the coaching staff.

There was some stuff that went on with Bo and the Jays as far as the front office and coaching staff that maybe tainted that relationship a little bit. I don't know how negotiations went, don't know how involved Toronto was in bringing Bo back. I know they probably tried a little bit for the city's sake, but I think it was probably inevitable a little bit that they ended up parting ways."

Merrifield, who played with Bichette in 2022 and '23 says he actually would have been more surprised if Bo went back to the Blue Jays after learning those details. He says, "It's not that I think that they ended on bad terms, but I just think it was probably best for both parties that he ended up somewhere else."

That somewhere else was Queens, as he signed a three-year $126 million contract to play with the Mets. It's a deal that is going to pay him $42 million per season, a figure that is higher than Bichette's former teammate and good friend Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And while it seems like Bichette still got along with his teammates, and the "playing for each other" moniker is something that often gets swept under the rug if teams are winning, it can also be hard for managers and their staff to get the most out of players if there is a rift.

We can only speculate what may have caused that to happen. It could be that Bichette felt he should have also been given a contract extension last year when Vladdy got his 14-year $500 million deal. It could have stemmed from the staff asking him to play a different position other than shortstop when he returned to the team in time for the World Series after a knee injury ended his regular season in early September. We may never know the full extent of how un-happy Bo was with the powers that be in the Toronto clubhouse.

But it's not the only disgruntled employee they have to deal with going into the 2026 season. A demotion from the starting rotation to the bullpen didn't sit well with José Berrios and he ended up leaving the team during the World Series. So while it's now up to the Mets to keep Bo happy, the Blue Jays still have one potential factor that could disrupt that clubhouse cohesion when the new season begins.