Blue Jays Announce Bo Bichette News on Thursday

The club extended a qualifying offer to the Florida native for 2026, a one-year offer worth the average salary of MLB's 125 highest-paid players, per MLB.com. The qualifying offer value for 2026 is $22.025 million. It's a procedural move that guarantees the Blue Jays a compensatory draft pick if Bichette leaves in free agency, per Sportsnet's Shi Davidi.

Bichette's three-year, $33.6 million arbitration extension expired this offseason, so he is now an unrestricted free agent, per Spotrac. The 27-year-old has been with Toronto since it drafted him No. 66 overall in 2016.

The Blue Jays also reinstated right-handed pitchers Angel Bastardo, Bowden Francis, Yimi Garcia and Nick Sandlin from the 60-day injured list while selecting catcher Brandon Valenzuela to the major league roster. Additionally, right-handed pitchers Ryan Burr and Dillon Tate cleared waivers and elected free agency, while right-handed pitcher Robinson Pina cleared waivers, was reinstated from the 60-day IL and assigned outright to Triple-A.

Blue Jays Must Give Bo Bichette Raise

Toronto will have to more than double Bichette's previous average annual salary to keep its homegrown star. The veteran's market value is eight years, $186.4 million ($23.3 million average annual value), per Spotrac.

Extending Bichette would be another win for the Blue Jays' front office after re-signing fellow homegrown star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for $500 million over 14 years in April, per Spotrac. The difference is that Guerrero signed before hitting free agency, but Bichette wants to stay in Toronto, per Sportsnet.

"I've said I want to be here from the beginning," he claimed during the season.

The baseball world will find out over the coming weeks where Bichette will be for the foreseeable future.

MLB free agency begins at 5 p.m. ET Thursday.