What losing out on Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker could mean for the Blue Jays

ESPN says the Jays’ bid to sign Kyle Tucker came up short, with the coveted outfield instead inking a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ magical offseason came to a screeching halt on Thursday night and Friday morning with news that outfielder Kyle Tucker has agreed to a US$240 million, four-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers while Bo Bichette will head to the New York Mets on a US$126 million, three-year contract.

The Jays were widely considered to be one of the frontrunners for Tucker, who many experts believe was the top free agent in baseball this offseason. The team was also reportedly in contact with Bichette regarding a potential return throughout the offseason.

So what happened and what to do the Jays do now?

Here is what the experts are saying:

Mets were ‘always in the hunt for a star’

The Athletic’s Will Sammon joined MLB Network shortly after news of the Mets deal with Bichette first broke and said it is no surprise to see the former Jays slugger land in New York.

“They were always in the hunt for a star player. They were kind of on the periphery and if a star player in this market was open to a short-term concept the Mets were going to be a big player for him,” he said. “That is what we saw in the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes, obviously they missed out on him. But they were able to shift gears quickly and target Bo Bichette. This was a plyer who they actually had some meetings with from what I understand and is somebody they really like as to what he can bring not just on the field but in their clubhouse. He has that elite presence in their view and clearly they love the bat here…”

Options to replace Bichette will be limited

Blue Jays reporter Keegan Matheson told the Toronto Sports Rush podcast on Friday that the club’s options in the free agency market might now be limited, with both Bichette and Tucker off the table.

Matheson said that while the Jays did have an interest in adding an impact bat, the depth in their lineup means that it would have to be someone at the very top of the market to move the needle.

Those options, he said, are “getting very thin.”

“The middle of this market doesn’t make any sense for Toronto I don’t think. The very top does and the bottom. If they want to go out and grab a reserve utility infielder. Another outfielder. Another backup catcher, sure, whatever. But to upgrade now if you are going to take infield reps away from someone it might be (Ernie) Clement, it might be (Addison) Barger. So you are not just looking for a big leaguer. You need someone who is good, you need someone who raises the ceiling. Bichette would have done that but the middle of the market doesn’t make much sense because the Blue Jays have big leaguers, they have a high floor, they need to raise this ceiling.”

‘This is what happens in the open market’

MLB on Fox’s Ken Rosenthal made an appearance on the Foul Territory podcast on Friday afternoon where he said that he was surprised to see Bichette come to terms with the Mets but not because he was anticipating any sort of reunion in Toronto.

“I was on record saying I thought the (Philadelphia) Phillies were the favourite for Bichette. They were and then boom free agency struck. This is what happens in the open market,” he says. “We often talk among ourselves ‘OK, who is in the market for this guy? Who is going to get him?’ and to some degree it is folly because things change so quickly, teams come out of nowhere and this is kind of an example of what we have seen over the last, I don’t know how many hours it has been.”

Jays offseason a success regardless: Pillar

Former Blue Jays Kevin Pillar appeared on the Foul Territory podcast earlier on Friday before the Bichette news broke and provided some reasons for optimism for Blue Jays fans in the wake of losing out on Kyle Tucker.

“If I am a Blue Jays fan, which I am, and over the last three or four offseasons the best free agent on the market, they (the Blue Jays) have been in there and they have been oh so close to landing them I got to feel good about what they are trying to do,” he said.

Pillar added that regardless of what happens next, the Blue Jays should feel good about their offseason overall.

The Blue Jays have already handed out the second biggest contract in franchise history to pitcher Dylan Cease, and have also signed star Japanese third-baseman Kazuma Okamoto, among others.

“They were four outs way from beating the World Series champs from the previous year, they were four outs away and what did they do, they went out and got better this year,” he said.