Former Blue Jay Suggests Strained Relationship Between Bichette, Coaching Staff
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In the aftermath of Bo Bichette putting an end to his seven-year tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays by signing a three-year, $126 million contract with the New York Mets, new details are slowly emerging about what may have led to the split.
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On the "6ix Inning Stretch" podcast, Whit Merrifield, a former teammate of Bichette's with the Blue Jays, disclosed to co-host Lindsay Dunn that the relationship between the star shortstop and the coaching staff wasn't always warm and fuzzy.
Merrifield: Bichette Didn't Have Great Relationship with Blue Jays Coaches
"I know for a fact Bo loves Toronto, loves the Jays, loves the city, loves the fans there," said Merrifield. "I also know that there was some stuff along the way that happened with Bo and the coaching staff."
While Merrifield wouldn't delve into specific details on the rift between Bichette and the Blue Jays coaches, the now-retired three-time All-Star and nine-year veteran did note that he wasn't surprised that Bichette chose to sign elsewhere in free agency.
"I wasn't really surprised he didn't go back to Toronto. I really would have been more surprised if he would have been back in Toronto just from some of the stuff that happened along the way," opined Merrifield. "It's not that I think that they ended on bad terms, but I just think it was probably best for both parties that he ended up somewhere else."
Interestingly, these claims seemingly fly in the face of the widely-held reputation held by the squad last season for remarkable chemistry and a closely-knit clubhouse. While Merrifield did spend a season and a half forming a double play combination with Bichette in the Blue Jays' middle infield, he departed Toronto after the 2023 season, raising questions about how closely connected he was to the inner-workings of the 2025 club.
For his part, Bichette seemed to only have positive things to say about his time with the Blue Jays during his introductory press conference with the Mets.
“I’ll only have fond memories of my time with the Blue Jays,” Bichette said. “I’ll only have fond memories of the fans, they supported me so much. I will also remember my first at-bat in the World Series; they had my back, and they believed in me after not playing for that long. They were supporting me through that. I was open to [a return], and like I said, we had conversations throughout the offseason and it just didn’t pan out.”
Obviously, this could be a case of a player saying all the right things for gathered media. If, however, Merrifield's claims are true and the relationship between Bichette and manager John Schneider and company was, indeed, icy, then it's a credit to Bichette, the coaching staff and the rest of the team to not let it derail a highly successful season.
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.