For the first time in his big-league career, Bo Bichette found himself appearing in trade rumours this season.

The two-time All-Star shortstop has struggled through an injury-riddled year and has posted career-lows across the board, including a .222 batting average and a .595 on-base plus slugging percentage over 80 games played. Bichette landed on the Injured List in July because of a calf injury and might not make it back into games with the Blue Jays before the schedule comes to an end three weeks from now.

Speculation about Bichette having one foot out the door started back in July when the Blue Jays were playing a series in San Francisco. A reporter for NBC Sports Bay Area asked about his thoughts on the city and whether he’d consider joining the Giants in the future as a free agent, to which Bichette said his number one priority when choosing a team would be playing for a winner.

This is a fairly normal thing for a professional athlete to say, but the words got stretched quite far because of how the team was (and still is) performing. The Blue Jays were out of contention well before the All-Star break and it became clear that the front office would sell ahead of the trade deadline, so Bichette’s name became common in speculation.

A couple of weeks after Bichette said that he wanted to play for a winner, Bob Nightengale casually mentioned in the notes section of a USA Today article that Bichette had “told friends that he would welcome a trade” from the Blue Jays. About a month after that, once the deadline had passed, Nightengale noted: “The Toronto Blue Jays are expected to entertain trade offers this winter for shortstop Bo Bichette, who has no plans to stay in Toronto once he’s a free agent after the 2025 season.”

With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. having the best stretch of his career at the plate over the past few months and Bichette on the sidelines dealing with an injury, all focus on the long-term contract front has shifted to the first baseman. With only one season left before both players can reach free agency, Bichette clarified that his desire is to stay in Toronto and play alongside Guerrero Jr. for the rest of his career.

The Blue Jays are limping to the end of a lost season with a 68-76 record in early September, but the team’s front office has stated that they have no plans to move into a rebuild and will try to be competitive in 2025. There are major issues to address in the winter (such as the glaring lack of power in the lineup and a bullpen that was among baseball’s worst this season) and not a tremendous amount of room to spend, so Ross Atkins might go looking for a trade to shake up the roster.

Trading Bo Bichette this off-season would eliminate the risk of letting him walk for nothing and it would also likely help plug some holes elsewhere on the roster. On the flip side, having Bo Bichette (a player who was worth 3.9, 4.8, and 4.9 WAR over the past three seasons) on the team and playing to his capabilities might be the best chance the Blue Jays have of climbing back into the playoffs next season.