Even as the Toronto Blue Jays seem to be linked to just about everyone early in the offseason, much of the local focus remains on the club’s efforts to retain Bo Bichette – and rightfully so.
Bichette is garnering widespread interest after a sensational 2025 season (.311 average, 18 home runs, 94 RBI) in what was a contract year for the 27-year-old shortstop. While there’s still optimism that he will return to Toronto, the reigning World Series finalists are expected to have competition among other suitors.
So what’s it going to take to get Bichette signed? The recent contracts for these star infielders offer some idea of what the market might yield and what kind of pay day he can expect.
Willy Adames
San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames celebrates a home run against the Colorado Rockies. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
You only need to go back as far as last winter to find the most recent star shortstop to cash in as a free agent before age-30. Last December, Willy Adames inked a seven-year, $182 million contract, departing the Milwaukee Brewers to join the San Francisco Giants.
Adames was coming off of a season in which he set new career-highs in home runs (32), RBI (112), stolen bases (21), doubles (33), games played (161) and FanGraphs WAR (4.8).
The recently turned 30-year-old fell short of all those benchmarks in his first year with the Giants, but still put forth a solid campaign. His signing didn’t have much of an impact on his team’s fortunes. San Francisco improved by just one win, while the Brewers actually got four wins better without him.
Like Bichette, Adames is known more for his offense than his defense. However, that’s largely where the similarities stop. Bichette hits the market two years younger than Adames was. He lags behind his National League counterpart in power and speed, but is a more consistent hitter and strikes out far less.
Marcus Semien
Marcus Semien has delivered for the Texas Rangers since signing with the club ahead of the 2022 season. | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Blue Jays fans surely recall the all-time great positional season that second baseman Marcus Semien produced during his one year with the club in 2021. Signed for a bargain $18 million, Semien delivered 45 home runs, 102 RBI and 39 doubles while earning his first All-Star invite.
Those numbers put Semien in a phenomenal position to cash in, signing a seven-year, $175 million deal with the Texas Rangers the following offseason. Although he hasn’t matched those power numbers in the years since, the 35-year-old has delivered for the Rangers, reaching two more All-Star Games and helping Texas win the 2023 World Series.
It’s worth noting that Semien, at 31, was considerably older at the time of his signing than Bichette is now. The fact that he seemed to be improving into his thirties warranted a long-term deal, which the Rangers have not regretted at all.
Even with Semien’s monster 2021 season in Toronto serving as the catalyst for his mega-deal, Bichette’s body of work and still-present potential offer strong indications that he’ll land an even more lucrative contract.
Javier Baez & Trevor Story
Javier Baez (left) and Trevor Story (right) | Eric Canha-Imagn Images
We’ve lumped Javier Baez and Trevor Story together by virtue of their identical six-year, $140 million contracts, signed (with the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox, respectively) before the 2022 season.
Baez had been a World Series champion, two-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner with the Chicago Cubs before being dealt to the New York Mets (for Pete Crow-Armstrong, no less) part-way through the 2021 season. Story, meanwhile, had spent the first six seasons of his career as a power-hitting middle infielder for the Colorado Rockies.
Neither Baez nor Story, born 16 days apart in 1992, have managed to duplicate their previous success with their new clubs, although both saw a similar uptick in performance this past season.
Baez returned to the All-Star Game after slashing .275/.310/.752 with 10 home runs in the season’s first half (he would cool down in the second half), while Story hit 25 home runs and 96 RBI thanks to his healthiest season (157 games) since 2018.
Both Baez and Story can serve as cautionary tales for what a major commitment to Bichette could yield. The 2024 season proved Bichette isn’t immune to having a down year and his health history doesn’t offer any assurances that he will remain healthy as he and his new contract age.
None of these comparisons are perfect, but they do offer a general sense of what to expect regarding Bichette’s negotiations. It seems reasonable to expect a long-term deal in the neighborhood of $25 million per season. And no, a $200 million contract isn’t out of the question.
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