MLB Trade Rumors: Latest on Blue Jays amid Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette Buzz

Toronto Blue Jays will listen to offers for players signed with the team past the 2024 season, MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported amid trade rumors surrounding Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s expiring contract.

According to Morosi, "a strong contingent of scouts" will attend Friday night's game between the Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers.

Morosi's report comes after MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported that team sources say the Blue Jays want to keep Guerrero past the trade deadline.

The news could direct attention to Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette, who has also been the subject of trade rumors and is currently signed with the team through 2025.

The report also marks a change in the Blue Jays' position as reported on July 10 by Feinsand.

Feinsand wrote then that "the Blue Jays have told other clubs that they are willing to move players with expiring contracts, but those with control beyond 2024 are not being traded."

This update comes as the Blue Jays head into Friday night's game 9.5 games back of an AL Wild Card spot, with five teams between them a trip to the 2024 postseason.

General manager Ross Atkins said three weeks prior that the Jays had put themselves "into a tough spot" heading into the trade deadline.

"Right now our focus is on the 2024 team, and with every decision you make... you have to be thinking about the future, as well," Atkins said in June (h/t MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.) "As you've seen over the last four years, we've poured a lot into the current team from a financial standpoint, a trade standpoint and a resource standpoint. We'll continue to do that until it doesn't make sense to do so any more."

Since that statement from Atkins, the Blue Jays have gone 7-9 and are no closer to securing a postseason berth. The team came out of the All-Star break as one of six clubs more than seven and a half games back from a Wild Card spot.

That puts the Jays on track to reverse course and become sellers at the deadline, leading Feinsand to report last week that he believes "there's a chance" the team deals relief pitcher Chad Green. Green, like Bichette, is signed through the 2025 season.

Feinsand noted that the team is "not going to just give Green away, as the Jays hope to bounce back and contend again in 2025."

The same applies to Bichette, who is batting a career-low .222 with an OPS of .596 through 78 games. If the Blue Jays decide to attempt to trade Bichette prior to his final year under team control, they will need to avoid selling low by finding a team ready to make a lucrative bet on a bounce-back campaign from the two-time All-Star.