It was a matter of procedure that the Toronto Blue Jays extended Bo Bichette a one-year qualifying offer worth $22 million.
The shortstop rejected that offer on Tuesday, as expected. He will enter fully into free agency, where he could wind up with a contract in the ballpark of $200 million in total value.
Bichette was one of nine stars to decline the qualifying offer, along with Dylan Cease, Edwin Diaz, Zac Gallen, Michael King, Kyle Schwarber, Ranger Suarez, Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez.
The four to accept were Trent Grisham, Brandon Woodruff, Gleyber Torres and Shota Imanaga.
Bichette had a huge 2025 that sets him up for a big payday.
ESPN's Jeff Passan made the case in an article Tuesday morning for why Bichette will get paid so handsomely.
"Bichette made himself upward of nine figures with an excellent 2025, in which he hit.311/.357/.483 with 18 home runs and 94 RBIs," Passan writes. "A knee injury kept him out for most of the postseason, but he returned for the World Series and hit.348/.444/.478 with a mammoth Game 7 home run."
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The Blue Jays would love to bring Bichette back. He came through the minors with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who got that massive $500 million contract in April. It'd be great for Toronto to keep the duo together.
But plenty of other teams will be reaching out to Bichette, some to have him play shortstop and others to have him move elsewhere in the infield. Regardless, Bichette's bat should play for a long time.
His free agency saga is just getting underway.
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