Infielder Bo Bichette may have played his last game as a Toronto Blue Jay in Saturday’s Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers with his contract set to expire this winter.
But that won’t be the case if Bichette gets his way.
“Yeah, I already said it. I want to be here,” a disappointed Bichette told reporters in the locker room after the extra-inning heartbreaker.
Bichette is one of the premier free agents available this winter, alongside outfielders Kyle Tucker and Kyle Schwarber and is widely expected to come with a hefty price tag.
Bichette had one of his best years despite missing the last month of the season with a left knee injury. He slashed .311/.357/.483 with 18 home runs and 94 runs batted in across 139 games. He would almost certainly have led baseball in hits for the third time in his career had he not missed so much time down the stretch of the season, with his total of 181 finishing just three shy of Bobby Witt Jr.’s MLB-leading total of 184.
Bichette returned from the knee injury for Game 1 of the World Series and hit .348 with six RBI in the seven-game set. He hit a three-run home run off Shohei Ohtani to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead in Game 7 that ultimately would not hold up as the Jays fell just short of their first World Series title in 32 years.
“I’ll remember this group forever. This group has taught me what a team is. I think it’s probably the most valuable lesson of my career,” he said Sunday morning.
The Blue Jays drafted Bichette in the second round of the 2016 MLB Draft and he made his big-league debut three years later in 2019, playing all seven of his MLB seasons with the Jays. He is a two-time All-Star and has finished as high as 11th in American League MVP voting.
Teams have until Thursday to make the $22,025,000 qualifying offer to their former players who became free agents.
