MLB insider suggests Bo Bichette is ready to move on from the Blue Jays

For years now, the debate amongst media members and followers of the Blue Jays has been whether the club will extend superstars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette. In most scenarios, it's always been a question of which one they'll lock up and which one they'll either trade or let hit free agency.

In recent times, it's become more and more clear that Guerrero is going to be the top target for an extension while Bichette is going to either be dangled in trade discussions or held onto until he walks in free agency. A recent report from USA Today's Bob Nightengale has added some fuel to that specific fire.

According to Nightengale, the Blue Jays "are expected to entertain trade offers this winter" for Bichette. He goes on to say that Bichette has no plans to stay in Toronto once he hits free agency at the conclusion of next season.

Bo Bichette trade rumors continue to swirl

Depending on who you ask, this is either a surprising development or something that's been obvious from a mile away. For a while now, it's seemed like Bichette is mentally clocking out of Toronto, but that could also be because he's not exactly proud of the struggles he's gone through this year.

"Struggles" is putting it nicely, especially when talking about a player who has led the AL in hits in two of the past three seasons. Amongst qualified hitters (min. 300 PA) this year, Bichette has the eighth-lowest wRC+ (69) in the league. Since 100 is considered "average", Bichette is 31 percent below league-average this year at the dish.

Narrowing it down even further to shortstops with the same minimum PA filter applied, Bichette is at the very bottom of the league in wRC+, wOBA and fWAR. He's also near the bottom in average, OBP and SLG. Really, there's not much that he's been good at this year.

This falloff has been pretty dramatic to see from the superstar, but there's still going to be plenty of interested suitors this offseason. Only the Dodgers stood out as a team that could've used him at this year's trade deadline, but a poorly timed injury ended those discussions nearly before they began.

Speculatively speaking, the Dodgers should once again be interested in the offseason, with the Brewers (who are set to lose Willy Adames to free agency in a few months) being other possibilities, but it's going to be a matter of which team is willing to gut the farm. Struggles or not, the Blue Jays do not have to move Bichette, so they're going to ask for a lot in return.