Toronto Blue Jays, Bo Bichette continue to have mutual interest on both sides

"I still think it's early to definitely say that a return to Toronto is imminent. I do think that there continues to be mutual interest on both sides. I felt all along that both sides [Blue Jays and Bo Bichette] have needed the market to frame the value, and I think that piece of it is playing out. You hear that a lot of teams are getting involved, and some people feel that his market is still fully developing. There is one school of thought, I don't know how accurate it is, that maybe there is some benefit to waiting for Kyle Tucker to settle and then seeing where land and then more teams start to become more focused on him once the Tucker situation is resolved. I think there is just a lot of stuff at play, the Blue Jays continue to want to bring him back, he obviously has reasons to want to come back as well, but he is exploring the market right now, as he rightfully should having done the work to become a free agent".

"I don't think there was resentment at the time, and if you remember Vladimir Guerrero Jr came off a strong season and he was in a position to sign an extension if he wanted to. Bo Bichette was coming off the worst season he will probably ever have in his career where he's injured and doesn't perform before the injury. At that point it starts to become a little bit harder for both sides, because Bo Bichette isn't going top be able to maximize his worth at that point, and the team is going to be a little bit reluctant to maximize at that point. The timing perspective wasn't great, and as you guys know, the close a plyer gets to free agency, the more difficult it becomes to keep him from free agency. So I just think that with Bichette it was more a timing thing, and again I do get a sense from just talking to some people that he's a really interesting case in terms of how you value him. I've heard people suggest the spectrum of anywhere from Marcus Semien money to Xander Bogaerts money on the high end, I don't think it's going to get to Bogaerts necessarily, but there is a wide range of possibilities that people peg his value at. So there is some eye of the beholder, how long is a shortstop that certain teams will look at in different ways. The Blue Jays have some flexibility in terms of what they're doin with their infield with Gimenez in place. There is a lot in that mix right now"