Olney: Sticking at shortstop could factor into Bichette's future with Jays

With superstar first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. already locked up on  a 14-year, $500 million extension signed in April, Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins will soon be tasked with another negotiation against a cornerstone piece as Bo Bichette gets set for free agency ahead of the upcoming offseason.

Bichette is coming off of a three-year, $33 million deal signed with the team in 2023 that bought out his remaining arbitration years.

The Blue Jays have shown more of a willingness to spend in recent seasons, a trend that has been reflected in the fifth highest payroll in Major League Baseball at $252 million (per Spotrac), but the issue of money might not be the only factor in the negotiations with their star shortstop.

ESPN’s Buster Olney joined TSN 1050’s First Up on Tuesday morning to discuss what Bichette’s free agency could like and how his positional security at shortstop could affect proceedings.

 “It depends, in large part, on what Bo really feels in his heart about, I think, to some degree about playing shortstop,” Olney said. “I know when I talk to evaluators with other teams, they feel like he’s going to need to move [off of shortstop]. That he’s going to need to be a second baseman, maybe a third baseman, but go someplace else.

“It kind of reminds you a little bit of Marcus Semien, right? When he left the Blue Jays, some teams looked at him like a shortstop, some looked at him as a second baseman, and the Texas Rangers stepped up with a huge offer and Marcus embraced the shift to second base. That’s what I’m curious about with Bo.”

Since debuting towards the tail end of the 2019 season, Bichette has played exclusively at shortstop when in the field, logging 6,033 innings played at the position over the course of his career.

The Orlando native eclipsed the 1,000-inning mark at shortstop in each season from 2021-23, and is well on pace to do so again this year after being limited to just 81 games in 2024 with a nagging calf injury.

 Semien, Bichette’s double-play partner for the 2021 season, had also played primarily as a shortstop during the early part of his career, but was shifted over to second base by the Blue Jays after acquiring him from the Oakland A’s that offseason.

Semien had previously led the league in errors three times from 2015-18, but would go on to win a Gold Glove with the Blue Jays in his first season as a full-time second baseman.

“You guys have seen the defensive metrics for [Bichette] and so many teams will follow those in making their evaluation on what they want do with him,” Olney added. “The metrics aren’t good. The defensive numbers that he’s generated are not good and you would assume as he gets older, they’re probably not going to be better than they were this year unless he changes physically and makes himself a little bit more quick.

“I’m curious to see what his own perspective is. If he’s devoted to the idea of playing shortstop, then he’s probably going to have to make some adjustments going forward.”

Bichette had previously led the league in errors during the 2021 season, but the advanced statistics grade him out to be even worse this year with a -7 run value (sixth percentile) and a -10 outs above average (first percentile), the worst marks of his seven-year career according to Baseball Savant.

Toronto has now drafted shortstops in the first round in two of the past three seasons with Arjun Nimmala and JoJo Parker, both of whom figure to be better fits defensively at the position.

“There are teams out there in the marketplace that need a shortstop, like the Atlanta Braves, a long-term solution there, or will Bo say, ‘Okay, I’m a hit-first infielder so let me prepare for the possibility of moving to a different position.’

“I think for the Blue Jays, that really complicates the conversation because if they talk to him, I’m assuming he’s going to want to stay at shortstop if he stays with the Blue Jays.”

Bichette would be the top shortstop available in free agency, with names such as a Miguel Rojas, Amed Rosario, Paul DeJong and Isiah Kiner-Falefa also being featured in the class.