It looks like Bo Bichette’s days as a primary shortstop could be coming to an end. The Toronto Blue Jays home grown star is looking for somewhere to play in 2026 and it appears there’s been a new wrinkle in his free agency case – he’s open to moving positions.
According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com Bichette is telling interested teams that he is willing to sign with them as a second baseman, something that may not be surprising, but at least opens up the possibility of more bidders.
Bo Bichette may not have a choice in latest free agencyEmpty heading
Of course this could also be a necessity as most of the teams that may be interested in signing him already have a shortstop and they weren’t willing to move off their current guy for someone who brings less defensive upside as Bichette does. Statcast has graded Bichette as an average or worse defender at the only position he has played in his MLB career, outside of those games in the World Series, in which he moved to the keystone.
Going back to 2023 he is ranked in the bottom five for Outs Above Average at shortstop with a -15 OAA, and a -11 mark in Defensive Runs Saved, which is the eighth worst mark over that time frame. And while these aren’t great metrics, most of it has to do with his arm and not actually fielding the ball.
He’s made 11 fielding errors in almost 3000 innings since 2023, but he’s tied for ninth with 16 throwing errors as well. His arm strength is league average and his speed and mobility have diminished over the last few years – two things you’d need to have if you want to play the most demanding position on the infield.
With all those factors in mind, a move to the other side of the bag would help negate some of those issues, mostly with his throws as balls fielded at second are generally shorter to get to first, and the fielder usually has more time to set their feet and make the throw.
It wouldn’t be the first time a shortstop had to move positions in order to get paid. In fact Bichette’s former teammate, Marcus Semien, is a prime example of that. During the 2020-21 offseason, Semien could not find a home as many teams didn’t know what to make of his subpar 2020 season in which he was worth 0.4 bWAR in the 53 games during the COVID shortened year.
The Blue Jays signed him under the guise that he would move to second base, and the rest, as they say, is history as Semien proved that 2020 was just an outlier and he went on to hit the most home runs ever in a season by a second baseman with 45. He turned that 7.1 bWAR season into a seven-year $175 million deal with the Texas Rangers, with an AAV of $25 million.
That feels like it’s a deal that Bichette could also get, considering he is three years younger than Semien was when he signed his contract. Most analyst feel like Bichette will land somewhere within the five-year $150 million range. The Blue Jays, they could be willing to go an extra couple of years for someone who is a marketable “face of the franchise” along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. At one point Bichette was rumored to be looking at a deal that could be in the $200 million range – but the comparison to Semien’s contract also feels fair if Bichette is willing to move to second.
Bichette also brings an excellent offensive track record to the table. In every full season in which he has been healthy, Bichette has hit 18+ home runs, has had 175+ hits and produced an OPS over .800. Teams will find somewhere to get that bat into the lineup.
From the very beginning of the offseason, Bichette’s market as a shortstop wasn’t going to be a very big one at that reported price tag. Almost every team who would be capable of doing a deal like this already has a guy they like at shortstop, but they don’t all have guys at second that they are completely tethered to. This doesn’t mean Bichette won’t ever play shortstop again, but by letting teams know he’s open to options, he should see more options to choose from before signing a contract.
