MLB Hot Stove Morning Brew: A Windy City team targeting Bo Bichette in a trade, Josh Donaldson open to returning to former club, Mets hire former Jays skipper

Nov 23, 2023

The Blue Jays have reportedly entertained the idea of trading star shortstop Bo Bichette.

According to Matt Cozzi of Locked on Cubs podcast, “I’m hearing the Cubs have talked to the Blue Jays about Bo Bichette, who would play 3B for the Cubs.”

MLB Network insider Jon Morosi mentioned that the Cubs inquired on the availability of Bichette last offseason. Chicago does have Dansby Swanson at shortstop, if they acquired Bichette, he would play third base.

“Bo Bichette has two years left before free agency,” said Morosi on MLB Network. “The reason why this makes a lot of sense is the Cubs have tremendous depth of prospects to trade. If the Cubs aren’t going to find away to bring back Cody Bellinger and you want to find a way to convince Shohei Ohtani or other free agents pitchers that this is the best place to play and win a championship… they’ll have to make an upgrade if they want to get back to being as good as a year ago.

“Bichette is practical for the Cubs, if they’re comfortable with him playing third base,” added Morosi.

The 25-year-old Bichette would cost the Cubs significant prospect capital in order to acquire him in a trade with the Blue Jays. He currently has two years left on his three-year, $33.6 million deal he signed to avoid arbitration prior to the 2023 season.

Over the final two years of his deal, Bichette gets a nice raise from the $3.93 million he made in 2023. In 2024, Bichette will receive a a smidge over $12 million and will make over $17.5 million in 2025.

If Bichette were to slide over to third base for the Cubs, they would have a strong infield with Swanson at shortstop and Nico Hoerner at second base.

Morosi mentioned that fellow Canadian Cubs’ prospect Owen Caissie could headline a package of young players to head back to Toronto in a trade.

Cassie was the highest Canadian outfielder ever drafted, he went 45th overall to the Padres in 2020 and later ended up in the Cubs system when he was part of the Yu Darvish trade.

The 6-foot-3 outfielder offers a “well-above-average raw power, which he creates with bat speed and leverage in his left-handed stroke,” per MLB Pipeline. “He produces astounding exit velocities for his age and is doing a better job of pulling and lifting more pitches this summer. He works deep counts but his approach comes with a good deal of strikeouts that will be an acceptable tradeoff for his pop.”

Josh Donaldson back to Toronto?

Josh Donaldson is a few weeks away from celebrating his 38th birthday and the free agent wants to play again in 2024. The former American League MVP is open to returning north of the border and playing for the Toronto Blue Jays again.

The three-time All-Star struggled last season, hitting below .200 for both the Yankees and Brewers. He was able to hammer 13 homers in 165 at-bats but calf injuries plagued the veteran.

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Donaldson to The Score that he’s “definitely up for playing one more year, but I think after this upcoming season, that would be my last season no matter what. I would like to play one more year and go out on a good note and then that’d be it.”

When asked whether he would like to play in The 6 again, the two-time Silver Slugger winner said, “Yeah, definitely looking forward to seeing if they reach out. That would definitely be something that I would be interested in doing.”

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Donaldson mashed while he was with the Blue Jays, becoming only the second player in team history to win a MVP award, George Bell being the other player. He ranks second amongst all Blue Jays in slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, Adjusted OPS+ and at-bats per home run and fifth in on-base percentage.

“That’s just where I’ve always felt like it was home for me. My fiancée, she’s from Toronto. Our kids are half-Canadian. Her family is all up there, which would be great for them to be able to be around all year long. For me, that would be the tip of the iceberg, which would be great and we’ll see what happens.”

Mets to hire former Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons as bench coach

The Mets will add former Blue Jays manager John Gibbons to their staff as their next bench coach, per The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal.

Gibbons comes to the Mets with a strong resume and experience to help new manager Carlos Mendoza. The 61-year-old owns a career 793-789 record over two stints as manager for the Blue Jays.

The veteran skipper has a reputation of being highly respected in the game for holding his players accountable. While with the Jays, he had a few dust up with players such as Shea Hillenbrand, Ted Lilly and Josh Donaldson.

Blue Jays open to trading young right-handed pitcher (report)

The Toronto Blue Jays maybe “open to moving” right-handed starter Alek Manoah, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

It’s not known as to how “open” the Blue Jays are to the idea of trading Manoah, especially with his value at an all-time low. If Toronto moved on for the righty, they would also be giving up on four years of team control.

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