I don't think Bichette will be traded either. I may be naively optimistic but I think a Bichette extension might be more possible than most people seem to think? I agree that given this disastrous season his value may be harder to come to a consensus about. That said, it does seem to me that Bo's decisions in his career have been guided less by maximizing dollars, and more by principle & his own goals - from the draft, to refusing the pre-arb raise on principle, to negotiating a somewhat team-friendly incentive-based extension to avoid arbitration. If you believe that his recent comments about wanting to remain a Blue Jay have truth to them, then it's not out of the realm of possibility that Bo and the team figure something out here.
I also imagine it's probably easier for the team to attract the Sotos and other free agents of the world if they can show that they're planning to remain competitive with a couple other stars in the lineup. Which is why I see your point re Vladdy waiting out the Soto benchmark but I would think the team has incentive to get 'er done sooner.
People with the emotional bandwidth to have strong feelings about tertiary coaching staff need some real problems.
I don't think Bichette will be traded either. I may be naively optimistic but I think a Bichette extension might be more possible than most people seem to think? I agree that given this disastrous season his value may be harder to come to a consensus about. That said, it does seem to me that Bo's decisions in his career have been guided less by maximizing dollars, and more by principle & his own goals - from the draft, to refusing the pre-arb raise on principle, to negotiating a somewhat team-friendly incentive-based extension to avoid arbitration. If you believe that his recent comments about wanting to remain a Blue Jay have truth to them, then it's not out of the realm of possibility that Bo and the team figure something out here.
I also imagine it's probably easier for the team to attract the Sotos and other free agents of the world if they can show that they're planning to remain competitive with a couple other stars in the lineup. Which is why I see your point re Vladdy waiting out the Soto benchmark but I would think the team has incentive to get 'er done sooner.
Maybe if Mattingly would just shave those damn sideburns already, people would cut him some slack.
'They're going to extend Vlad, eventually.' 🥳
'They're going to still be flawed because they didn't do enough.' 😐😑😮💨😔
Solid predictions. And HOW stupid are fans about Don Mattingly?😁