The latest statement from the speaker, Blue Jays, is that he made a bad comment.
After missing the playoffs, Bo Bichette understands the Blue Jays need to disprove their naysayers.
DUNEDIN, Florida The Toronto Blue Jays came to spring training with the intention of dominating the upcoming campaign. Not only have win-loss objectives taken center stage, but also the way they want to carry themselves as professionals all year long.
“We are constructing standards, expectations, and a culture of construction. Bo Bichette stated, “I think it’s been good so far, and it won’t happen overnight.” However, we have a very significant objective in mind. Additionally, everyone appears upbeat about us implementing the necessary improvements.
However, Bichette has been a part of the team during the close-call 2021 season, the 2022 playoff letdown, and the general lackluster performance of the previous season, which culminated in heartbreak during the postseason. He is aware that the Blue Jays have been predicted by the industry to win the World Series in the past but haven’t lived up to that expectation. He is aware that they haven’t lived up to their own expectations, especially considering that the offense didn’t perform at the necessary level of consistency in the previous season.
There are doubts about the Blue Jays now that they have experienced a string of disappointments. Furthermore, Bichette is well aware that talking a big game is no longer sufficient.
The Blue Jays shortstop stated, “I don’t think we’ve earned the right as a team to just be taken at our word.” “We must go and demonstrate for everyone.” That is the primary concern.
Nevertheless, there’s always a buzz throughout spring training, especially on a day like Wednesday when starting pitchers Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi conducted live batting practice at the Blue Jays player development complex. According to Bichette, the group’s excitement for a new season is evident, maybe even more so than in years past.
“I’m very happy for all of us,” he exclaimed. Observing how each person arrived. Everyone seemed prepared to do better, even the men who were under observation and the guys who weren’t.
But unlike previous camps, this one is unique in that there are serious doubts about the Blue Jays team’s potential outside of their little Dunedin bubble.
After missing out on top targets like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto after a lackluster summer, the Blue Jays decided to add players who would raise the floor rather than the ceiling of the squad. General manager Ross Atkins’s subsequent remarks underlined the team’s firm conviction that increased on-field performance, particularly offensively, can be attained through streamlining internal procedures.
Nonetheless, it is undeniable that interest in the 2024 squad has been limited. Anecdotally, this lackluster mood may be extracted from surveys conducted by The Athletic, where the predominant theme in the results was a decline in confidence and excitement. However, there is also hard data in the form of projection systems, which show that the Blue Jays are likewise favored less now than they were previously.Based on PECOTA forecasts from Baseball Prospectus, Toronto is expected to win 88 games and have a 67.5 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason.The Blue Jays are projected by FanGraphs to win 83 games and have a 47.8% chance of making the postseason. The Blue Jays’ standing as a contender is seriously questioned from the outside looking in.
In comparison to past years, Bichette remarked, “It’s the first time we’re being doubted” regarding the atmosphere before camp.”attempting to prove someone incorrect is obviously not the same as attempting to prove them right. There is a difference in thinking. We’ll see what we can accomplish this year, in my opinion.
Does this nagging doubt motivate you?
Your goal needs to be to establish your own correctness. Making an effort to improve as a player is what you should be doing. Although it matters, outside shouldn’t matter, according to Bichette. If any of us claimed we didn’t see any of it or that it didn’t inspire us in some way, we would all be lying. I believe there are folks there who are proud of what they do and want to demonstrate it to others.
According to Blue Jays manager John Schneider, the emphasis within camp has been, “How are we going to win?” despite outside noise.
Schneider stated, “It’s just not talking about anything else but winning.”
However, the 162-game season is exhausting and lasts for six long months. Saying something during spring training, well before games start, is one thing; carrying it through during the dog days of August, however, is quite another. This is the point at which the players, as well as the coaching staff, must take mutual accountability. How does that appear?
Schneider stated, “It’s just doing what we say we’re going to do and doing it when things are good and when things are bad.” “This game is incredibly difficult, but you’ll learn from it because a lot of guys have been here the year before, and the year before that, I believe. It really comes down to following the fundamentals you discuss and figuring out how you’re going to prepare each and every day, in my opinion.
Just like the Blue Jays want to continue playing at a high level as a team, Bichette wants to perform at his highest level on a personal level. The 25-year-old Bichette was the dependable core of the lineup during a 2023 season marred by patchy play from the offense. Bichette was batting.321/.352/.494 in 106 games before knee and quad problems in August limited him. He appeared ready to challenge for the American League batting crown.
For the entire season, Bichette stated, “I want to be the kind of player that I was at the beginning.” “Being healthy is the first step, but in order to elevate my game, I also need to have that steady presence every day without any periods of weakness or anything of the sort. That’s the course of action I wish to follow, but it doesn’t begin with the field’s outcomes. This year, I really want to focus on how you treat yourself on a daily basis and how things started earlier.
In order to completely reset after the previous season, Bichette took a longer than usual sabbatical from baseball activities. However, he kept up his training in other ways, including swimming, pilates, and Muay Thai, the latter of which he said was advised to him.
“Obviously, I wasn’t watching the UFC, but even so, I had a great time with it.” Regarding the martial arts form, he added, “It was really cool.”
Similar to other colleagues, Bichette expressed satisfaction with his current physical state and stated that he is “in a good place to play every day.” Bichette claimed he approached his offseason training holistically, even though he focused especially on his right leg, as he missed 25 games due to right patellar tendinitis and a right quad strain late in the season.
“Baseball and health are the same.” Naturally, you want to focus on the areas in which you struggle when trying to improve your health, but you also need to remember to take care of the rest of your body, he said. For me, the knee was crucial, but basically, it was simply working out all the issues that come up during a whole season. putting myself in the best possible position so that, ideally, I can play at my best in every game of the season and finish at the top of my game.
In addition to his conditioning regimen, Bichette used the offseason to figure out what hitting fundamentals are crucial to him so he can correct course if something goes wrong at the plate.
“I truly believe I accomplished that,” he uttered. That ought to be really beneficial to me. However, that constancy begins the moment you get up and ends the moment you go to bed.
What sort of rest am I having? What food am I consuming? Everything like that. That demonstrates constancy and discipline.
Bichette also wants to see that from the entire team.
“I simply believe that we didn’t provide consistency (last year) from an offensive aspect. We simply need to improve in all those areas—competitiveness, preparation, and daily focus, for example,” stated Bichette. “We just need to improve,”