The fact that the Toronto Blue Jays‘ pennant defence will take place without a key player is resonating with at least one of his former teammates.
Star shortstop Bo Bichette, who hit a go-ahead three-run home run in Game 7 of the World Series, reportedly signed with the New York Mets last week, leaving Toronto after seven seasons with the club.
Fellow infielder Ernie Clement — a post-season hero himself, with 30 hits in 77 plate appearance — said life without Bichette will be an adjustment.
“I’m really happy for him. He deserves every penny he gets. He’s a heckuva player, awesome dude, he’s become a really a good friend of mine. It sucks seeing him go,” Clement said on the JD Bunkis Podcast on Tuesday. “It’s gonna be really weird not having Bo Bichette in the Blue Jays locker room.”
Clement, who was among a group of 2025 Blue Jays who recently travelled to Bichette’s wedding, said he has kept in touch with multiple teammates from the AL-champion club through their fantasy football league, which Bichette won.
(Pitcher Kevin Gausman finished last, with his punishment still to be determined, per Clement).
Clement added that Bichette was locked into helping the Blue Jays win the World Series before reaching free agency.
“He knew that he had some decisions to make after the season, and he was so engulfed in trying to win the World Series that it finally hit him,” Clement said.
Meanwhile, without Bichette, and with the likes of Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt still available in free agency, Clement said the 2025 Blue Jays’ lauded chemistry will be “impossible to replicate.”
The other knockdown effect of Bichette’s departure will occur in the infield, where Andres Gimenez will likely move to shortstop while free-agent signing Kazuma Okamoto appears headed to third base.
Clement, then, seems slated to man second base, just one season after receiving a Gold Glove nomination at third.
He said he’s willing to play wherever he’s needed.
“Wherever I’m playing, I go trust my instincts and any ball hit my way, I take a lot of pride in making sure it doesn’t get to the outfield,” Clement said. “I don’t do a lot of thinking over there. … Short, third, second, I’m ready to roll. Whatever they need me to do, I’m good.”
The goal, Clement said, is simple.
“We’re all pretty hungry to get back to the World Series and start winning ball games again,” he said.
Since that crushing Game 7 loss, Clement has spent his season in the public eye around his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., and in Toronto, attending sports events and playing plenty of golf on the side.
He even got some shinny in, he said.
“I think maybe I got one more skate, then I’m rocking and rolling and it’s all baseball,” Clement said.
That baseball will begin March 3 at the World Baseball Classic, where Clement was recently named to Team USA.
The Blue Jays’ home opener follows not long after, on March 27.
In between, Clement said he plans to do what worked for him ahead of the post-season last year.
“Those five, six days off, or whatever it was before we played the Yankees … I had been dealing with a broken hand,” he said. “I came into the playoffs just super healthy and ready to go.”
from Sportsnet.ca
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