Bo Bichette rumblings should prompt Blue Jays to make difficult (but needed) decision

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette is back in the headlines. His name has emerged, again, as one of the star players who the Blue Jays apparently have no hope of re-signing or extending, at least according to one MLB insider. As USA Today's Bob Nightengale proffered this week, "Bichette is as good as gone, with no real interest in returning, friends say."

Where there's smoke, there's fire, as they say. This isn't the first time Nightengale has said this; he said the same thing in August. Despite Bichette's insistence in September on wanting to stay and win with the Blue Jays, it really feels like the writing's on the wall.

Whether it's by his choice to find greener grass elsewhere next winter or the front office refusing to pay for extensions for the team's two best players, fans should start getting used to the idea of the 26-year-old wearing a different uniform in 2026 — or perhaps even earlier.

Blue Jays need to make the hard choice and find a trade for Bo Bichette

As difficult as it will be to see the former second-round draft pick head out the door, if Nightengale's sources are on the money, the Blue Jays must find a trade to maximize Bichette's value. Whether that's now or during the season, not getting something significant in return for the two-time All-Star would be an embarrassing black eye for this front office. And let's be honest, this current regime of general manager Ross Atkins and president and CEO Mark Shapiro doesn't need any more bad press.

Yes, it's true that Bichette's 2024 campaign was one to forget, but his value hasn't really diminished. An injury-riddled season that saw him hit just .225 in 81 games isn't enough to make people around baseball forget everything he had previously achieved in his career. He entered 2024 as a career .299 hitter with an .826 OPS and was coming off three straight seasons of receiving AL MVP votes.

What exactly a deal involving Bichette would look like is hard to say. If Atkins is listening to trade offers this winter, as The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) said he is, the homegrown talent should garner a hefty return to help kickstart a full rebuild.

With the Blue Jays currently sliding down the slippery slope toward that seemingly inevitable outcome, maybe something similar to this Blue Jays-Cincinnati Reds trade proposal from Jays Journal's Jesse Courville-Lynch would be a good place to start. In any case, the Blue Jays need to bite the bullet and make a decision one way or the other.

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