Four reasons the Blue Jays should forget about Juan Soto

Love the One You’re With

This morning I was listening to a song by Stephen Stills called “Love the One You’re With”, and I got chuckling about how much I think about baseball. Somehow I related the song to the Blue Jays, which might mean I have a problem.

The main hook in the song says, “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with”, and I can see a parallel of sorts here. Understandably, Blue Jays fans would love to see Juan Soto in Toronto. Some would even go as far as trading Bo Bichette in order to make it happen, but every time I see it on social media I cringe.

I understand that Bichette has had a down season compared to what we’ve grown accustomed to from the 24 year old, but that shouldn’t make us lose sight of just how talented he is. This is a player that has a career slash line of .289/.332/.481 with 59 home runs, 77 doubles, 196 RBI, and 40 stolen bases over his first 326 MLB games, or just over two full seasons in the big leagues. He’s still only 24 years old, has worked very hard and has succeeded in steadily improving his defence, and is one of the faces of this franchise.

I get that it might take a player like Bichette to convince the Nationals to choose the Blue Jays’ trade offer, but at that point I’m shutting down the talks. If I’m the GM, I’m likely also finding a way to issue a statement to the media to reinforce that Bichette’s not going anywhere, and at the very least I’m letting him know that personally.

The last thing you want is to leave Bichette feeling undervalued in any way right now. He’s been around the game long enough to understand that baseball is a business, but no one wants to see their name floated around in trade rumours.

So Blue Jays fans, I implore you, don’t forget to love the one you’re with.