Bo Bichette To Miss Multiple Weeks Due To Calf Strai

5:05pm: Schneider told reporters (including Cincinnati Reds Jersey ) this evening that an MRI revealed a moderate calf strain for Bichette and that he will be sidelined for multiple weeks due to the i sue. 10:57am: left yesterdays game due to a right calf strain, and it comes as no surprise that the Blue Jays have now placed the shortstop on the 10-day injured list. Infielder has been called up from Triple-A to take Bichettes spot on the active roster. Bichette broke out of the batters box after lining out to right field at the end of the sixth inning, but immediately came up limping after a few steps. Last nights injury was the latest occurrence in what has been a collection of calf injuries for Bichette over the last month, as he spent a minimal 10-day stint on the IL with another strain to his right calf in June. He also left Torontos game on July 10 with what was described as a right calf fascia strain, though with the All-Star break looming, the Jays opted to not place Bichette on the IL again, hoping that the time off would allow him to heal up. Unfortunately, Bichette now again finds himself sidelined, and likely for well beyond a 10-day minimum. Blue Jays manager John Schneider should soon update media on the outcome of Bichettes MRI, yet even if the MRI was clean, the recurring nature of this calf injury probably means the Jays will opt on the side of caution in giving Bichette plenty of time to fully overcome this i sue. This almost surely means that Bichette will still be on the injured list when the trade deadline hits on July 30, all but eliminating the po sibility that Toronto could part ways with the former All-Star. Though it isnt unheard of for teams to still make offers for injured players if an injury appears to be fairly minor in nature, two calf injuries for Bichette in a months time would likely give pause to any potential suitor. From the Jays perspective, theyre not going to accept a diminished trade package for a player who (if healthy) is one of their strongest trade chips. Even as it looks more and more apparent that Toronto , the team reportedly is still planning to contend in 2025, so their July 30 moves might be limited to pending free agents rather than longer-term core pieces. Even beyond Bichettes injuries, his trade value has been lowered by an unexpectedly disastrous 2024 season. Bichette is hitting .222/.275/.320 with four home runs over 331 plate appearances, and his 69 wRC+ is the third-lowest among all qualified hitters in baseball. Even if a low .266 BABIP and a big gap between his wOBA (.264) and his xwOBA (.306) count as some misfortune, Bichettes power numbers have absolutely cratered from his career norms. His .098 Isolated Power number is almost half the .187 ISO he posted from 2019-23, and his traditionally strong barrels and barrel rates are both well under the league average in 2024. It is also worth noting that this isnt entirely a one-year trend for Bichette. His strong 2023 season sputtered to an end thanks to a pair of IL stints in the second half, as Bichette mi sed time to patellar tendinitis in his right knee and then a right quad strain. Bichettes first IL stint began on August 1, 2023, and he hit only .254/.292/.402 over his final 130 PA of the 2023 season. With almost a full year of sample size, it is clear that Bichette simply hasnt been right since that initial bout of tendinitis last August, and it is an additional concern that all of these injuries have come to his right leg specifically. If Bichette is facing a fairly lengthy (say, a month or so) stay on the injured list anyway with his latest calf problem, it isnt out of the question that the Blue Jays might just shut him down to get him ready for 2025, since the team wont be in contention for the remainder of this year. If the Jays next two months indeed become an information-gathering se sion for 2025, one silver lining to Bichettes absence could be more playing time for at shortstop. Jimenez has hit and fielded well in his small nine-game sample size as a big leaguer, and could become a shortstop of the future if Bichette is traded at some point, or if he leaves in free agency following the 2025 season. Luke Maile Jersey