Bichette’s arrival marks the end of darkest days
The Blue Jays are one of the worst teams in the American League, they just traded away their best pitcher and the club won’t be ready to contend any time soon. Yet somehow on Monday afternoon they became a team that might be watchable again. Toronto has Bo Bichette to thank for that.
Bichette became the latest Jays prospect to make his big-league debut when he got the start at shortstop and hit sixth against the Kansas City Royals, going 1-for-4 in a 7-3 victory. He was promoted to be an everyday player while veteran Freddy Galvis is expected to slide into a super-utility role if he’s not traded before Wednesday’s 4 p.m. deadline. The youth movement is officially on.
It was hard not to notice that Bichette arrived in the majors with far less fanfare than fellow prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. received earlier this year. There wasn’t a documentary film crew following his every move, nor was there a standing-room-only news conference for his first media availability. Instead, a small handful of local Toronto reporters were there to greet him at Kauffman Stadium. If Guerrero’s arrival was a circus, Bichette’s first day was just another day at the park.
For the Jays, though, Bichette’s arrival means so much more than that. It marks the start of a new beginning. A life preserver for a franchise which has been treading water for the last couple of years. It’s not going to be smooth sailing from here on out, but the Jays finally have a group that people should be excited to watch grow together. Bichette and Guerrero together at the big-league level right alongside Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
“It’s awesome,” said Bichette, who is ranked the eighth overall prospect by MLB Pipeline. “This is something we’ve been talking about for a few years now, being up here together. Obviously, they’ve had a month or two under their belts, but I’m happy to join and happy to get rolling to see what we can do.”
There are multiple phases in every rebuild and the first two are the ones that nobody wants any part of. The sale of assets, sometimes for pennies on the dollar, to shed contracts and roster spots for the next wave of talent. Then there are the placeholders, veteran players signed to deal, simply to plug a hole until the youngsters are ready.
Blue Jays fans have been suffering through both situations for the last two years. Sure, some of the experiments worked, but for every Seunghwan Oh or Daniel Hudson there was a Socrates Brito, Alen Hanson, Oliver Drake, Jaime Garcia or Edwin Jackson. It’s one thing to lose with young talent that has room to grow, it’s another thing entirely to lose with castoffs who have no future in the game.
The next step is more enjoyable. It’s when the organization gets to show off the fruits of its labour. The Jays have a promising catcher in Danny Jansen. An infield that might turn into the one of the best in baseball featuring Guerrero at third, Bichette at shortstop and Biggio at second and more help on the way in the form of prospect Jordan Groshans. In the outfield, there is far more uncertainty, but there’s also a major building block in Gurriel.
The pitching? Well that’s another story and how the front office fares in its search for arms likely will determine how long general manager Ross Atkins remains with the organization. If the early returns aren’t great, Atkins might not be around much longer.
If recent top picks such as Adam Kloffenstein and Alek Manoah pan out and get fast-tracked to the majors, along
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with the recent trade deadline acquisitions, the Jays might have the makings of a future contender.
Most of these questions can be put off until another day. There is still some heavy lifting for the Jays to do before the deadline, and throughout the off-season, but Bichette’s arrival should at least signify that the darkest days of this rebuild are over.
The future is now, and with depth that continues to rise through the minors, there are no longer any excuses for the patchwork solutions and veteran castoffs.
The wins might not come right away and that’s OK, too. If a team is going to lose, it should lose with youth. There aren’t too many moral victories left for 30-plus veterans, but there are for rookies still in the process of understanding what it takes to be a big leaguer and what it takes to win at this level.
“We all work pretty hard, we play pretty hard, we have an idea of what we want to be in this game and the type of things we want to accomplish,” said Bichette, who was slashing .275/.333./.473 in 56 games for Buffalo prior to his promotion. “One of those things is win a World Series. That’s something we always talked about. If we can get up there, create a culture, create an atmosphere that’s fun to be around and win games, that’s what we’re going to try and do.”
There’s no guarantee any of this is going to work, but for the first time in quite a while it’s worth watching to find out. The Jays might not win right away, but this is a talented group that should grow together over time and based on how bad the product was over the last two seasons, it’s about time.