Olney on Bichette contract talks: ‘Both sides need more time’
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The Toronto Blue Jays locked up their franchise cornerstone on Monday, officially announcing that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had signed a 14-year, $500 million contract at a press conference in Toronto.
With the biggest piece of their core signed long-term, the Blue Jays could soon shift their attention to another important piece in the lineup, shortstop Bo Bichette. The 27-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season and ESPN’s Buster Olney says both sides are willing to let the season play out to gauge the kind of value Bichette would command on the open market.
"Everybody is punting to get to a point where you can place a better value on Bo Bichette. As we talked about in the past, coming off of last year's disastrous year, the Blue Jays are not going to make an aggressive offer. And if you're Bo Bichette you don't want to be given an offer off that terrible year,” Olney said on TSN Radio.
“Both sides really need more time."
Bichette is coming off his worst season as a professional, having hit just .225 with four home runs, 31 RBI, and a .598 OPS in 81 games last year. He has been much better to start this season, hitting .297 with 10 RBI in 17 games while raising his OPS to .711, an improvement from 2024 but well below his average OPS of .826 from his first five years in the majors.
Olney added that the pressure to sign Bichette has been lifted off the Toronto front office following Guerrero’s extension.
“Bo is obviously off to a good start. You would think given his history that he would be able to continue this, but we'll see,” said Olney. "I told you my instinct was that the signing of Vladdy took a lot of pressure off the Blue Jays in terms of also signing Bichette. I ran that past a bunch of executives from other teams and they agreed. Once you get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. under contract with that monster deal, and Bo Bichette walks out the door, it's not like your fans are going to revolt.”
Olney believes that Bichette will play next year outside of Toronto and Bichette said last week that no offer is currently on the table. Although general manager Ross Atkins says the team's vision is ‘for them to continue to play together’.
Toronto has several players coming off the books after the season in addition to Bichette. Chris Bassitt (making $22 million in 2025), Max Scherzer ($15.5 million) and Chad Green (10.5 million) are all scheduled to become free agents. The contracts of Kevin Gausman, George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Yimi Garcia are all up after 2026.