5:05pm: Schneider told reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) this evening that an MRI revealed a “moderate” calf strain for Bichette and that he will be sidelined for “multiple weeks” due to the issue.
10:57am: Bo Bichette left yesterday’s game due to a right calf strain, and it comes as no surprise that the Blue Jays have now placed the shortstop on the 10-day injured list. Infielder Addison Barger has been called up from Triple-A to take Bichette’s spot on the active roster.
Bichette broke out of the batter’s box after lining out to right field at the end of the sixth inning, but immediately came up limping after a few steps. Last night’s injury was the latest occurrence in what has been a collection of calf injuries for Bichette over the last month, as he spent a minimal 10-day stint on the IL with another strain to his right calf in June. He also left Toronto’s game on July 10 with what was described as a right calf fascia strain, though with the All-Star break looming, the Jays opted to not place Bichette on the IL again, hoping that the time off would allow him to heal up.
Unfortunately, Bichette now again finds himself sidelined, and likely for well beyond a 10-day minimum. Blue Jays manager John Schneider should soon update media on the outcome of Bichette’s MRI, yet even if the MRI was clean, the recurring nature of this calf injury probably means the Jays will opt on the side of caution in giving Bichette plenty of time to fully overcome this issue. This almost surely means that Bichette will still be on the injured list when the trade deadline hits on July 30, all but eliminating the possibility that Toronto could part ways with the former All-Star.
Though it isn’t unheard of for teams to still make offers for injured players if an injury appears to be fairly minor in nature, two calf injuries for Bichette in a month’s time would likely give pause to any potential suitor. From the Jays’ perspective, they’re not going to accept a diminished trade package for a player who (if healthy) is one of their strongest trade chips. Even as it looks more and more apparent that Toronto will be deadline sellers, the team reportedly is still planning to contend in 2025, so their July 30 moves might be limited to pending free agents rather than longer-term core pieces.
Even beyond Bichette’s injuries, his trade value has been lowered by an unexpectedly disastrous 2024 season. Bichette is hitting .222/.275/.320 with four home runs over 331 plate appearances, and his 69 wRC+ is the third-lowest among all qualified hitters in baseball. Even if a low .266 BABIP and a big gap between his wOBA (.264) and his xwOBA (.306) count as some misfortune, Bichette’s power numbers have absolutely cratered from his career norms. His .098 Isolated Power number is almost half the .187 ISO he posted from 2019-23, and his traditionally strong barrels and barrel rates are both well under the league average in 2024.
It is also worth noting that this isn’t entirely a one-year trend for Bichette. His strong 2023 season sputtered to an end thanks to a pair of IL stints in the second half, as Bichette missed time to patellar tendinitis in his right knee and then a right quad strain. Bichette’s first IL stint began on August 1, 2023, and he hit only .254/.292/.402 over his final 130 PA of the 2023 season.
With almost a full year of sample size, it is clear that Bichette simply hasn’t been right since that initial bout of tendinitis last August, and it is an additional concern that all of these injuries have come to his right leg specifically. If Bichette is facing a fairly lengthy (say, a month or so) stay on the injured list anyway with his latest calf problem, it isn’t out of the question that the Blue Jays might just shut him down to get him ready for 2025, since the team won’t be in contention for the remainder of this year.
If the Jays’ next two months indeed become an information-gathering session for 2025, one silver lining to Bichette’s absence could be more playing time for Leo Jimenez at shortstop. Jimenez has hit and fielded well in his small nine-game sample size as a big leaguer, and could become a shortstop of the future if Bichette is traded at some point, or if he leaves in free agency following the 2025 season.
done for the year
Silly.
Several weeks. That could easily turn into the year. Look at Muncy
The issue with “Fat Muncy” is that he is so out of shape that any type of strain with take longer to heal due to his extremely high BMI. Especially an oblique strain. That being said, Muncy might end up missing the most amount of time in MLB history for an oblique strain. So my point is that Bichette and Muncy have very different body types/make up and I would be very surprised if Bichette doesn’t or isn’t able to return at some point this season.
Is it?
Done in Toronto at least
Why?
Do you think he has a career ending injury?
He won’t likely make it back to the field before the deadline, so he’s not getting traded.
He’s got Josh Donaldson syndrome
Bichette’s fate will rest on where the Jays are a year from now. Shatkins hasn’t extended him, but they don’t want to trade him because (stated reason is they’d be selling low) that’s waving the white flag and increases the likelihood that the FO will be replaced in the near future. Jays have games within games going on at the deadline.
Dunno where all the trade talk was coming from. Limited control, playing very poorly, and extremely overpriced for the moment because of past arbitration raises… they’d be lucky to get a team willing to take that salary dump.
I’m waiting for the Jacob Wilson story . He’s the next Rod Carew if he can stay healthy . A’s Jacob Wilson might be George Brett lite . You heard it here .
With an OPS+ of 488, you ain’t kidding!
Brett and Carew, boy that’s an extremely high bar.
I set the bar high because I don’t want him tripping over it and getting hurt .
No dealing him now…
Give him the time to properly heal and maybe come back for a few weeks in September to try and get into a good groove ahead of 25. If he is healthy in 25 and producing, he could be a very good trade chip this time next year. I like giving Jeminez everyday at bats so we can assess his hitting and fielding properly. I think he is going to be a good one, but, time will tell.
Or even just get back and show he’s in good form for a trade in the offseason.
They still hope to contend next year so if they don’t plan to extend him, it’d be better to trade him in the offseason. If they are in contention next trade deadline, they won’t want to trade him so better to move on before them.
Neither Bo nor Vlad will be traded this year or this offseason. You know that.
His trade value drops considerably a year from now.
Doesn’t drop much from where it is now, which is in the toilet. After this latest IL trip, nobody is trading much of anything for him at this deadline. Jays can only hope he looks good next spring to get anything of value for him.
Has he played his last game as a blue jay
No
Is it me or vladdy Jr and bichette haven’t lived up to the hype? Although they are still in mid 20s but will probanly require multi 100 million extensions. Technically they aren’t even in their prime seasons yet
In 2021 they did live up to the hype
Since then vlad hasn’t and Bo hasn’t lived up this year
I don’t know who people are clamoring so much about Guerrero having “one of the best offensive seasons of his career” with a low 800 ops for a first baseman
You have to remember that they played a lot of their 2021 games in minor league parks. 21 of Vlad’s 48 HRs came at Sahlen and TD. Without those, it would just have been a good season.
Past that, you’re right. The .800-.820 OPS for a slow 1B with no glove doesn’t move the needle that much.
It’s still a 132 OPS+ this year. Offense is still depressed. He isn’t a superstar but still putting up fringy all-star numbers.
@sad tormented neglected mariners fan
wRC+ for first basemen this season:
166 Bryce Harper
150 Freddie Freeman
134 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
He’s the third best hitting first basemen in the majors this year (best in the AL).
Is he putting up Albert Pujols or Miguel Cabrera numbers? No.
But trying to suggest that he’s somehow bad is just plain ignorant. He hasn’t fully lived up to the expectations but he’s having a very good year.
I would have thought a Mariners fan might have appreciated Vladdy’s performance this season. I tried reading Ty Frances numbers, but couldn’t make them out without the help of a microscope.
He’s not bad, but FG has ranked #8 among 1Bs with a 1.5 WAR. It’s a bit like Alonso. Good, but the value is suspect.
I don’t think he’s bad I was saying he wasn’t living up to his hype
Even so offense is down this year as pitching is dominant
Gives Jimenez a chance to showcase himself. He’s a better defender than Bo. Bo could be an all star year in and year out at 2B. Barring injury. Hop Bo returns in a month, tears it up, and the Jays extend him, to play 2B.
The jays have had success with Marcus semien at 2nd I would like to see bo get a little time there
He can be an Allstar if he returns to form, meaning hitting!
Perennial all star. At 2B.
Time for the Braves to jump in and get him and look forward for 2025. This season is over.
Time for the Giants to jump in.
Such a disasterclass of a season for both team and Bo
Take him to Lourdes
Or Lords. He might be better at cricket.
If the Mets offer a package of Jett Williams, Kevin Parada, and Jonah Tong for Bichette would the Blue Jays accept?
Why would the Mets want to trade for a SS?
@JoeBrady they can put Bichette at 2nd base. 2nd base is clearly our biggest position of need right now
Only if they send them Benny too.
Over last 10 hours 3 stories about 3 SSs on the shelf … Story then Corerra now Bichette. The heck.
Story and Correa have two IL stints per year written into their contracts it seems.
Bo Bichette – butt hurt
Atkins traded Gurriel @ Hernandez. Team lost it identity . They looked like they were having fun then.
The reason Atkins/shapiro traded Gurriel Jr and Hernandez is because they judged those two were a bad influence on Vladdy Jr in the room. And to some degree they were correct. The Jays never would have won anything with those two on the club. The club was leaderlesss in the room. Both of them needed a strong veteran presence in the room keeping them from acting like children. Especially Hernandez. His seed antics and a few other childish things he did were disliked my many in the room. They are getting that leadership in Arizona and LA respectively so they are acting like adults. That’s the real story.
Unfortunately when Atkins traded them, the Jays didn’t get hitting in return.
Fire shapiro…!! Fire shapiro …!! Fire shapiro …!! Fire shapiro ..!! Fire shapiro …!!
Fire shapiro …! Fire shapiro …!! Fire shapiro …!! Fire shapiro …!! Fire shapiro …!!
ZERO respect for the Cleveland Clowns !!!!
Not sure if the stories are true about Bo wanting to be traded or not but if they are why would you want to keep a player who has lost interest in playing for you?! Maybe this has been his issue all season; hence poor performance. Vladdy is at least saying he wants to play for the Jays so keep him and try to bring in some players that want to play in Toronto.
And I agree; the Shatkins duo needs to pack their bags and poison some other organization! They’ve done enough damage in Toronto.
As I have been saying, It is time to trade everyone except Vladdy Jr, Berrios, Martinez and Horwitz.
Bo has to go. Among other statements, as said when Bo was in AAA, “when we look back on his career it will be as an injury prone below average shortstop with a good bat. He really belongs at second base. It will be better for his legs and defense.”