AL East Notes: Bichette, Yoshida, Cortes

The Blue Jays had some largely “exploratory” trade talks involving Bo Bichette early last offseason, TSN’s Scott Mitchell writes.  This isn’t exactly new news, as multiple reports last November indicated that the shortstop’s name indeed come up in trade discussions, though those talks were portrayed as other teams checking on Bichette’s availability.  Mitchell, however, specifies that “the Jays did indeed shop Bichette.”

As always, there’s plenty of gray area when parsing hot-stove terminology, as the distinction between actively trying to move Bichette and listening on Bichette trade offers could be pretty thin.  Executives routinely discuss scores of players in trade talks with other clubs, just as a matter of due diligence in gauging interest.  For instance, if Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins had learned that a rival club had a particular interest in Bichette and had a player or players that the Jays liked, Atkins might have been more inclined to “shop” Bichette in that particular direction in order to swing a favorable trade for Toronto.  In any case, as Mitchell observes, revisiting any trade talks involving Bichette this winter could be difficult because the shortstop is coming off an injury-plagued down year, so the Blue Jays aren’t likely to land a premium return even if they did look to move Bichette.

More from around the AL East….

• “Some clear discord” developed between the Red Sox and Masataka Yoshida last April, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo writes, when Yoshida was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain.  Yoshida chose to seek out second and third opinions on his sprain, which apparently didn’t sit well with the team, who felt the initial assessment (that Yoshida wouldn’t need surgery) was enough.  Yoshida ended up not needing surgery, and spent a little more than six weeks on the IL before returning in mid-June.  Between this situation and Yoshida’s displeasure at being a DH-only player who mostly faced only right-handed pitching, Cotillo wonders if both sides would benefit from a trade this winter.  Such a move is easier said than done, of course, as Yoshida is owed $54MM over the 2025-27 seasons, and has been good (112 wRC+ in 1001 plate appearances) but not great over his two Major League seasons.  Yoshida was also playing through a shoulder problem for much of 2024, which could represent another red flag for any interested trade suitors.
• Nestor Cortes is slated to throw…