The Toronto Blue Jays entered the 2025 MLB season eager to silence the critics and return to the postseason for the first time since 2023.
However, the first month of the season has been a struggle.
After starting the season 12-8, the Blue Jays have lost seven of their last eight and currently have with a 13-15 record after getting swept by the Yankees in Sunday’s doubleheader.
While there’s still a lot of season left, those struggles have dropped the Blue Jays’ playoff changes to just 10% (per Baseball Reference), which makes it seem like they’re in danger of missing the postseason for the second straight season.
If these struggles end up continuing for the rest of the season, there’s a chance that the Blue Jays could end up selling at the trade deadline for a second straight season, which could result in trades involving some beloved Blue Jays.
Could Bo Bichette and Chris Bassitt be on the trade block?
With one month of the season done, ESPN’s David Schoenfield took a stab at looking at some trade deadline candidates for every team in MLB, where he mentioned both Bo Bichette and Chris Bassitt for the Blue Jays.
While it might be hard to think about a fan favorite like Bichette and a strong pitcher like Bassitt being traded, it’s a hypothetical that could become reality soon.
Both Bichette and Bassitt will be free agents after this season, and neither of them have extension offers in place. There’s been some public back-and-forth about Bichette wanting to sign an extension with the Blue Jays, but nothing has come of it so far.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s mega-extension may has put the Blue Jays in a difficult position to re-sign Bichette, who seems to be seeking a $200 million deal.
Guerrero’s been the face of the franchise since he was called up in 2019, and he’s also been incredibly productive in the time since.
While Bichette has been a two-time All-Star who also led the American League in hits twice, he’s coming off a rough year where he struggled with injuries.
But the 27-year-old Bichette has been better this year (.292 average, 25 hits, 13 RBI), which means that the Blue Jays could get a solid return for him. If the Blue Jays don’t think that they’ll be able to ink Bichette to an extension, then they should explore his trade market.
The same could be said for the 36-year-old Bassitt. While Bassitt might not get as big of a return as BIchette, he’s also putting together a solid season.
He has a 2.62 ERA through 34 1/3 innings this season after struggling last year. He ranks in the 85th percentile in chase rate and the 86th percentile in whiff rate.
They both got some buzz as trade candidates in spring training because they’re both on expiring contracts, and that buzz has only gotten louder as the season has gone on.
But when it comes down to it, the best way for the Blue Jays to quiet that buzz is by winning games.
The Blue Jays have a six-game homestand this week against the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians, and they’ll need to have a winning week against those teams to change the convesation around the team.
If not, the trade deadline noise around these two veterans is only going to get louder.
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