{"id":275708,"date":"2025-11-06T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275708\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T19:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:00:11","slug":"blue-jays-extend-qualifying-offer-to-bo-bichette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/275708\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays extend qualifying offer to Bo Bichette"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Blue Jays have extended a qualifying offer to free-agent infielder Bo Bichette, the team announced on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MLB\u2019s qualifying offer system allows teams to extend a one-year contract to certain free agents at a set salary \u2014 $22.025 million for the 2026 season. If the player accepts, they stay with their team for one year. If he rejects, he becomes a free agent, and his former team receives draft-pick compensation if he signs with another team.<\/p>\n

Bichette, 27, is a free agent for the first time as a major leaguer. He\u2019s coming off a productive season at the plate, hitting .311\/.357\/.483 with 18 home runs, 94 RBIs and 44 doubles across 139 regular-season games. <\/p>\n

Considered a procedural move by MLB clubs, Bichette is expected to decline the qualifying offer. The Blue Jays can still negotiate a new contract with the talented infielder this winter.<\/p>\n

Bichette missed the first two postseason series and returned for the Fall Classic, finishing the World Series hitting .348\/.444\/.478 with a home run (a three-run shot in Game 7) and six RBIs despite playing at less than 100 per cent with a strained knee. He appeared at second base for the first time in his major-league career, shifting Andres Gimenez to shortstop.<\/p>\n

After the Blue Jays dropped Game 7 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bichette was asked about his impending free agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said I want to be here from the beginning,\u201d he said following the Blue Jays\u2019 loss. \u201cI\u2019ll remember this group forever. I think this group taught me what a team is. I think it\u2019s probably the most valuable lesson in my career, so they mean a ton to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drafted in the second round of the 2016 MLB Draft, Bichette has played his entire seven-year career with the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

In other roster moves, the Blue Jays announced that right-handed pitchers Angel Bastardo, Bowden Francis, Yimi Garc\u00eda and Nick Sandlin were reinstated from the 60-day injured list.<\/p>\n

Additionally, catcher Brandon Valenzuela, acquired this season from the San Diego Padres for infielder Will Wagner, was added to the major-league roster, while right-handed relievers Ryan Burr and Dillon Tate cleared waivers and became free agents.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Robinson Pina also cleared waivers, was reinstated from the 60-day IL and was outrighted to Triple-A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Blue Jays have extended a qualifying offer to free-agent infielder Bo Bichette, the team announced on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-275708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}