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Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette is in his walk year, having debuted for the team in 2019. Though Bichette underperformed in the last season, mainly due to injuries, his performances in the current season have been stellar, which will likely land him a massive contract in free agency.
Per Sportrac, Bichette's market value projects an eight-year contract worth $182,381,656. Whit Merrifield, a former Blue Jays slugger, believes Bichette will garner such a deal.
Due to the guaranteed nature of an MLB contract, some analysts believe that a massive deal may affect the player negatively in performance. Merrifield doesn't think it's the case for Bo Bichette.
"A lot of times there's, there's concern about giving guys nine, 10-figure deals," Merrifield said on "6ix Inning Stretch" on Wednesday [Timestamp 37:50]. "And Bo's not that guy, you know. I think it's, I think it's very, if you know Bo at all, I think it's very easy to see that what drives him is being a good baseball player and winning games."
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"And the money is not going to deter him from chasing that and halter that work ethic. So, if I'm a team and I'm, I got a need in that position, Bo's right at the top of my list with anybody coming out, um, you know, especially this, this coming year," he added.
Whit Merrifield played nine seasons in the MLB for four different teams. Merrifield earned one of his three All-Star selections with the Blue Jays, where he played from 2022 to 2023. He spent the majority of his career with the Kansas City Royals, playing from 2016 to 2022, earning two All-Star selections.
Bo Bichette on his bond with superstar Blue Jays teammate
Bo Bichette has a lot in common with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Both have fathers who were stalwarts in the big leagues during their heyday. Moreover, they are around the same age and debuted for the Blue Jays around the same time, in 2019.
On Saturday, Bichette discussed his friendship with Guerrero Jr. during his interview with Sportsnet's Hazel Mae.
"It's probably the strongest it's ever been" Bichette said. "We both have struggled, and we both have handled it well from a personal relationship standpoint. There's even more respect now as human beings with how we've dealt with adverstity, and how we've overcome it."
Blue Jays already have Guerrero Jr. in their long-term plans, having signed him to a $500,000,000, 14-year contract extension in April. It remains to be seen whether the Jays have a similar plan for Bichette.
