TORONTO – Into the home stretch before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline and hot in pursuit of at least one bat, the Toronto Blue Jays must now consider another pivotal variable after Bo Bichette hurt his right knee running the bases and left Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
The club attributed the all-star shortstop’s departure to “discomfort,” a diagnosis termed just vaguely enough to keep everyone guessing about what it really means. Given Bichette’s steely determination and relentless work ethic, anything bad enough to force him from a game will be deeply troubling for a team that hours earlier welcomed Jordan Hicks to the bullpen.
Having already paid a significant price for one of the game’s hardest throwers, the Blue Jays have hunting for an offensive piece to augment a group that feels one bat light. A reunion with Teoscar Hernandez and the suddenly selling Seattle Mariners is believed to be among the options on their list while infielder Tim Anderson of the tearing down Chicago White Sox is another possibility to at least be under some consideration.
But with Bichette having walked off the field after rounding first on a single to right, stopping on his way to second and pulling up grabbing at his right knee in the third inning, a reprioritization of their needs in the final hours of trading season may well be necessary.
Anderson, who comes with a $14-million club option for next year, isn’t the only short-term option available. St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong is another option – he comes with club options of $12.5 million for 2024 and $15 million for 2025 – and intriguingly, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said during the talks about Hicks, “we did exchange bigger concepts and talked about several of their players – that’s usually the case.”
Whether that’s DeJong or other potential fits like outfielders Tyler O’Neill or Dylan Carlson wasn’t immediately clear, but it’s pretty clear the Blue Jays need to keep bolstering the roster to fully leverage the group currently in place.
Even after parting with double-A starters Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein, Atkins insisted the Blue Jays “are in a strong position” in terms of prospect capital and added that he and his staff “do see opportunities” for additional trades.
Bichette’s status is an unwelcomed addition into the mix.
WOES VS O’S CONTINUE
The first two series of the season with the Orioles haven’t gone well for the Blue Jays, who only won one of those six games. One of those things that happen in baseball or time to try something different?
“There’s been a lot of close games close games,” said manager John Schneider. “You’re always trying to adjust, you’re trying to tweak, it’s an adjustment-based game, right? So it’s what’s Kyle Gibson going to do to us? What did he do last time? How are we going to adjust, what are we going to do differently to Adley Rutschman and (Anthony) Santander and Gunnar Henderson? It’s kind of a never-ending back and forth. We’ve definitely dug into it like we do every series. But it comes down to just really taking that approach and going out and executing it, taking advantage of mistakes and trying to limit those mistakes when we’re on the mound.”
It didn’t play out that way during the opener of their third series of the season before a crowd of 31,122, Chris Bassitt giving up a two-out, two-run double to Ryan Mountcastle in the first plus a Henderson homer and Mountcastle sacrifice fly in the third before settling in to go six frames.
Gibson, meanwhile, held the Blue Jays to just a single run on Kevin Kiermaier’s fielder’s choice in the fifth, over six innings, having allowed just one run over seven frames in a 4-1 win May 19.
The Blue Jays left two runners on in each of the last three innings.
HICKS IS HERE
Hicks has faced the Blue Jays four times, allowing 11 earned runs in six innings of work. His ERA against them is 16.50, higher than against any other club, a fact he noted during his introductory chat with media.
“It’s good to be here, I’ll say that,” Hicks said with a grin. “Great group of young talent, really good team, really good individual players and inside the clubhouse, it just seems like a really connected team. So I’m glad to be here.”
Atkins described the addition of Hicks, whose sinker sits 101.5 m.p.h. and sweeper generates a 58.6 per cent whiff rate, as “just about as good of a fit to our bullpen as we could find.”
“The power’s obvious,” he added. “The groundballs, just elite, elite ability to get very weak contact, the strikeout increase, the command improvements he’s made, the athleticism, fielding his position, controlling the running game, the teammate – really just got better and better and seemingly just about as good as we can do. So the fact that we lined up, we feel very fortunate.”
Hicks posted a 7.62 ERA through his first 14 outings, including a blown save against the Blue Jays on opening day, but since has allowed only six earned runs in 28.2 innings over 26 outings, striking out 37 while walking only 10.
The turnaround coincided with a shift back across the rubber after his winter experiment went awry.
“Last year I finished on the first-base side of the rubber and it was going really well. I kind of had this off-season mission in my own head of staying on the third-base side, trying to pitch in and be more effective,” Hicks explained. “Started off that way this year, didn’t work out too well so I went back to the first base side. Since then it’s been pretty smooth. So I think that’s going to be where I pitch out of for the rest of my career, most likely, just seeing the numbers and everything. That’s been a big adjustment.”
Helping his adjustment will be a familiar face in Alek Manoah, whom he’s befriended during off-seasons in South Florida. The two have worked out and thrown together and Manoah called him “a great, great dude, super-fun and positive guy. And as a competitor, he’s a winner. He’s going to fit perfectly.”
“They just made the best bullpen in baseball a lot better,” added Manoah. “It’s going to be pretty scary.”
Danny Jansen is looking forward to learning what Hicks needs behind the plate and catching his big heat. He’s caught Nate Pearson’s triple-digit velocity before but never the 105 Hicks has topped out at.
“You’ve got to try to beat it,” he said of trying to present the pitch effectively to umpires. “It’s no different than when a guy’s throwing 100 or 99 or 98 – you’ve got to beat the spot. Same type of thing. It’s exciting to be a part of it.”
