Bo Bichette may have already played his last game with Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays' season from hell received a disheartening grace note on Thursday. It was announced that Bo Bichette, the two-time All-Star at shortstop, is done for the campaign with a fractured right middle finger. That is almost poetic, but it is most importantly a tough blow for Bichette and one final nail in the coffin for a Toronto team whose postseason dreams were long dead.

Bichette has already been placed on the IR and he will not return in 2024.

Now, of course, the question becomes 'will Bo Bichette return in 2025?' He will almost certainly play baseball next season, but there are decent odds that he won't be in a Blue Jays uniform. Toronto steadfastly rebuffed trade offers at the deadline, but Bichette has made his unhappiness more or less public.

This has been the worst season of Bichette's career and he's about to enter the final year of his contract. While conventional logic goes against trading a star at his lowest point, the Jays cannot count on working out a viable contract extension with Bichette. Rather than risk losing him for nothing in a year — not to mention the potential locker room benefits of a mild purge — Toronto ought to consider placing (or receiving) a few phone calls.

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Bo Bichette injury could mean his Blue Jays career is effectively over

This has been a truly catastrophic campaign for Bichette, at least by his very high standards. Limited to 81 appearances by various ailments, Bichette slashed .225/.277/.322 with four home runs and 31 RBI across 336 plate appearances. A two-time hitting champ, Bichette's preternatural bat-to-ball skills appeared to dissipate this season. It's hard to fully blame him with so many injuries piling up, not to mention the generally sorry state of affairs in Toronto, but Bichette is supposed to be on a meteoric rise at 26 years old. This was not that.

Even with the concerns, though, Bichette should draw a robust trade market. It's only so often that an All-Star shortstop and multiple-time hit champion becomes available. Bichette's contact numbers should trend up after a full offseason to get healthy and rebuild his swing, plus quality defense at short never goes out of style.

Change is inevitable for this Blue Jays team. Most would say something foundational needs to shift. Ross Atkins appears safe in the GM chair, however, and a simple change at manager won't immediately solve the breadth of Toronto's personnel issues. The Jays can't trade Bichette for pennies on the dollar, but if the right long-term trade package becomes available, Toronto should strongly consider a pivot. Especially before Bichette gets a chance to underperform again.

Bichette recently stated this career goal is to "play with Vladdy [Guerrero Jr.] forever, to win a championship with him and to do that with [the Blue Jays] organization."

Those are strong words, the type of Blue Jays affirmation that fans couldn't have possibly expected a few months ago. Unfortunately, we can't put too much stock into public statements. We have countless examples of players saying they want to spend their career with one team, only to leave as soon as greener pastures become available. Bichette's season has been among the most miserable on baseball's most miserable team. Don't be shocked if this is the last we see of him in a Toronto uniform.