The Blue Jays put together an impressive win in four games over the Yankees in the ALDS this past week, and it’s all the more impressive when one considers that they managed to pull it off without one of their star players. Shortstop Bo Bichette has been on the injured list since early September due to a left knee sprain, and did not participate in the Division Series as a result. With the ALCS against the Mariners scheduled to start tomorrow, it seems a decision on Bichette’s status has not yet been made.
Earlier this afternoon, Ben Nicholson Smith of Sportsnet relayed that, per Jays manager John Schneider, Bichette hit against live pitching yesterday and ran the bases today. Schneider added that how Bichette responds to that uptick in activity will help to determine whether or not he’s rostered for the ALCS. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com expanded on that, noting that Schneider suggested the decision on Bichette would be one of the last ones they would make before rosters are announced tomorrow morning. Per Matheson, Bichette still appeared to be experiencing discomfort when he ran the bases today, and he suggested that Bichette might be confined to a DH-only role if he does return to action.
As Matheson notes, a DH role for Bichette would push George Springer into the outfield and force a fellow outfielder like Nathan Lukes or Anthony Santander out of the lineup. That’s surely only something they would do if they were confident that Bichette was healthy enough to contribute substantially at the plate. On the other hand, if Bichette isn’t quite ready to return but making enough progress, Toronto could opt to roster him even if he wouldn’t be available for Game 1. That would come with substantial risk, however, as if he was placed back on the injured list at some point in the ALCS he would not be eligible for the World Series if the Jays advance.
Moving on to the rotation, Toronto made the somewhat bold decision to leave both Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer off their ALDS roster. Both veteran starters were left off for understandable reasons; Scherzer struggled badly late in the year, while Bassitt wasn’t fully stretched out after being placed on the injured list in late September. That was fine for a five-game set where the team could lean heavily on Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber to handle starting duties, but Schneider acknowledged to reporters (including Nicholson-Smith) that both Bassitt and Scherzer will be in the mix for the club’s roster given the need for “more length” in a seven-game series. All of those roster decisions will be made by 9am CT tomorrow morning, when rosters are due for both clubs.
The concern has to be that even if they get Bo back in the lineup, he’s clearly not going to be 100% since he’s still running in pain, and after a month off, there are no guarantees he’ll be any good at all. While the offense would be better off with a healthy Bo, forcing Springer into the outfield and Lukes or Santander to the bench just to shoe horn the ghost of Bichette into the lineup seems foolish.
They’re probably better off rolling with the lineup they’ve got, give Bichette another week to recover, and trust that they can get to the World Series where he’ll hopefully be ready to join in.
It’s not as if the offense was gasping for air last round.
As much as I’d love to see Bo in the lineup, your take is also how I lean. The chances of him being ready to contribute are slim, and while I’d love to have Santander pushed to the bench, that also limits the potential of him helping.
There is also the argument that Santander may be better suited to start and get 2-3 chances to help, vs a guy like Lukes who may not need to start to help the team.
DH Bichette, bench Santander and leave Lukes in the lineup; he’s earned it!
I don’t care how much money they spent on Santander, if Bichette is good to go then it’s a no brainer to leave Santander off the ALCS roster. Toronto can’t afford to keep hoping he suddenly finds his swing. Plus, Lukes has been clutch all year including the wild card series and is an infinitely better defender than Santander.
Tony’s swings have looked decent so far .
Bo hasn’t faced game speed pitching in 5 weeks . Bo is very prone to long steaks in either direction . Its a huge gamble hoping he can find his swing right away , at least with Tony you know where his swing is and currently with where is he there’s 1 swing power potential at this moment . I’m leaving Bo off since I don’t see them carrying 3 DH and hope he can be game ready for world series (assuming jays get thru the gauntlet of pitching Seattle is about to roll out )
Yeah, I hear that. I was saying IF they think Bichette is ready. If not, then yeah let’s see if Santander can light it up.
It does suck to think the season he had, the amount of time he’s been a jay that he could have played his last game without anyone realizing in the moment and could potentially finish his jays career never being on the field for a playoff win .
Mad max is done. C-bass, Biebs, Gaus and Savage should be enough length. 1-2-3-4-1-2-3 (1Gaus-2Yesavage-3Bieber-4Bassit)
I wouldn’t be surprised if they ran out another bullpen game in Game 5. It worked against Boston late in the season. Worked against the Yankees on Wednesday. Plus it gets the Yesavage in Game 7 rather than Bieber.
Why would you want Yesavage for 7 when you can have him for 6 in the OP plan?
Since you posted this, Sportsnet posted that Bichette had a set back running the bases today
My guess is he won’t be on ALCS roster
To be fair I first heard about the base running set back about 4 hours ago but Yaa I agree with ya I don’t think he makes unless they take Tony off the roster
We are better off without Bichette in the lineup..
Bo should sit out the series due to injury
Toronto learned from a similar situation with Devon Travis.
Bring Bo back for the world series.
The team has picked up it’s hitting pace in playoffs. They put ball in play, more than the other remaining teams.
The pitchers will return. Their experience will be valuable to the team. It’s going to be a good long series.
The Bichette situation is nothing like the Travis situation
Yeah that was a weird comparison.