The Blue Jays announced Thursday that shortstop Bo Bichette suffered a fractured center finger and has been positioned on the 10-day injured listing, ending his 2024 season. Bichette was scratched from Wednesday’s lineup after struggling a hand harm throughout pregame fielding drills. Outfielder Jonatan Clase has been recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to take Bichette’s spot on the energetic roster.
The damaged finger caps off a nightmare season for Bichette — one which’s seen the two-time All-Star climate a pair of IL stints as a result of calf strains which have severely hobbled him. Bichette solely simply returned from the injured listing Tuesday and performed in a single sport after a virtually two-month absence as a result of that ailing calf. He’ll shut out the yr with a wildly uncharacteristic .225/.277/.322 batting line and 4 homers — a far cry from the .299/.340/.487 batting line he carried into the 2024 marketing campaign.
Bichette was the topic of commerce rumblings early this summer time, however Toronto GM Ross Atkins rapidly shut down any actual notion of promoting low on his star shortstop when he stated in mid-June that buying and selling Bichette (or teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) “(didn’t) make any sense” for the Jays. Whereas the Blue Jays in the end operated as deadline sellers, they solely moved gamers who’d have been up totally free company on the finish of the present season.
All indications have been that Atkins & Co. wish to retool the roster and take intention at a return to contending subsequent season. Bichette, who recently voiced a strong desire to stay with the Jays, will presumably be part of these efforts — though different groups across the league will probably a minimum of inquire about the potential of prying him free from the one group he’s identified up to now in his profession.
The 2025 season might be Bichette’s closing yr earlier than reaching free company for the primary time. The Jays signed him to a three-year, $33.6M deal, shopping for out all three of his arbitration seasons again in February of 2023. That contract, which didn’t delay his path to the open market, requires Bichette to earn $16.5M subsequent season in what might be his age-27 marketing campaign.