The Toronto Blue Jays have been one of the most active teams in free agency this offseason.

The Blue Jays, fresh off their first American League pennant since 1993, made multiple additions to their starting rotation and bullpen. Toronto also took a flier on corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto, who the team signed to a four-year, $60 million contract.

Despite the additions, the Blue Jays also missed on several of its top targets, including outfielder Kyle Tucker, who signed a four-year, $240 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But one of the most impactful losses for Toronto was the departure of veteran shortstop Bo Bichette, who has spent the entirety of his major league career to the Blue Jays to this point.

Bichette signed a three-year, $126 million contract with the New York Mets this offseason. He played with the Blue Jays from his major league debut in 2019 through 2025.

Bichette was one of the faces of Toronto over that span alongside first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who made his major league debut the same year as Bichette.

It was a disappointing ending to Bichette's tenure with the Blue Jays. But one of Bichette's former teammates, Whit Merrifield, wasn't shocked that the two sides weren't able to pull off a reunion.

"I know for a fact Bo loves Toronto," Merrifield said on the 6ix Inning Stretch podcast. "Loves the Jays, loves the city, loves the fans there. I also know there was some stuff along the way that happened with Bo and the coaching staff. Like any relationship, there's gonna be times along the road that you're gonna have disagreements. And it's a very common thing when you're around people for a long time, there's things you disagree on. There was some stuff that went on with Bo and the Jays as far as the front office and coaching staff that, I think, maybe tainted that relationship a little bit. I don't know how negotiations went, I don't know how involved Toronto was in bringing Bo back. I know they probably tried a little bit for the city's sake. But I think it was probably inevitable, a little bit, that they ended up parting ways. ... I would've been more surprised if he would've been back in Toronto."

Last season with Toronto, Bichette slashed .311/.357/.483 with an .840 OPS in 139 games and hit 44 doubles, a triple and 18 home runs with 94 RBIs.

For his career, Bichette has a slash line of .294/.337/.469 with an .806 OPS to go with 190 doubles, eight triples, 111 homers and 437 RBIs.

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