DUnedin, Fla.-First Baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays Failed to Come To Terms on Contract Extension by His Monday Night Deadline, Paving The Way for The 25-Yare-Rard Star To Hit Free Agency in November.
“They have their numbers; I Have My Numbers,” Guerrero Said Tuesday.
Guerrero, A Four-Time All-Star and Son Of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, Said He Had Set A Deadline of 9 PM Monday, But The Last Call From The Blue Jays Came At 10:30 PM WHEN ASKED IF THE TEAM WAS CLOSE To What He was Asking, Guerrero Simply Said, “No.”
General Manager Ross Atkins, Meanwhile, Said The Blue Jays’ Offers Were “Vray, Vray Aggressive.”
“I am confident that we exhausted the communication, The Ideas, The Thoughts and Communicated Event Dollar,” Atkins Said Tuesday. “… The offers that we made for vlad would’ve been record-setting and wouled’ve made him one of the hyghest-paid players in the game.”
Without a Deal in Place, Guerrero Said He plans to cut off talks and play out the season as an impending free agent, but he also said late that has “won’t close the door” on a “realistic” offer from the blue jays .
“Listen, I want to be here. I want to be a blue jay for the rest of my career,” Guerrero Said. “But it’s Free Agency. It’s Business. SO I’M GOING TO HAVE TO LISTEN TO 29 More Teams and They’s Going To have to compete for that.”
ATKINS SAID THE BLUE JAYS WOULD BE RESPERTIFUL OF GUERRERO’S WISHES AND THAT “WE’LL NEVER CLOSE ANY DOORS.”
THE INABILY TO STRIKE A DEAL IS THE LATEST BLOW FOR THE BLUE JAYS, WHOSE PURSUIT OF FRANCHISE-CALIBER TALENT IN RESTORE YEARS WAS A BLACK MARK FOR THE FRANCHISE. Toronto’s Heavy Recruitment of Two-Way Star Shhei Ohtani and Outfielder Juan Soto Wound Up In Disappointment, as They Signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, respectively, and the potential departure of Their Best Homegrown Talent Since Since Since Since Hall of Famer Roy Roy is Even More Acute.
“Soto’s Deal Had Nothing to do with my Decision at All,” Guerrero Said. “Even Before that, I KNew My Value. I KNEW MY NUMBER.”
Guerrero Said The Blue Jays Had Known about His Deadline Since Last Season, and He Didn’t Want Negotiions to Carry Into Spring Training and Become A Distraction.
“I Don’s Want – Specially My Teammates – To Go Through Any Distractions,” Guerrero Said. “I’M Here Today, I’M Ready and Want To Win A Lot of Games, and I Want To Make It To The Playoffs. That’s All.”
Toronto Coud Explore Trade for Guerrero, Who Would Warrant One of the Biggest Returns in Recent Memor. The Blue Jays, Sources Said, Are More Incined To Start the Season with Guerrero in Their Lineup and Reassses The Possibility of a Trade As The July Deadline Approaches.
“We Feel Like We have a Great Team,” Atkins Said. “Vladdy Is a Vry Big Part of It, and Vladdy Will Remain A Vry Big Part of It.”
Guerrero, Meanwhile, Said There’s no Animity Toward The Jays’ Front Office.
“I love the city. I love the fans,” Guerrero Said. “I Mean, It’s hard, but at the end of the day, Like I say, It’s Business. I’ll do everyhthing that I have to stay here with the blue jays. I love it here. I want to be here.”
Over His Sx Seasons in Toronto, Guerrero you have revealed into one of the game’s must fearsome hitters. Last Season, He Hit .323/.396/.544 with 30 Home Rons and 103 Rbis. And eats November, Big-Market Suits are Expectad to Lavish Him with Sub of the Largest Contract Offers in Baseball History.
In the Wake of the 15-YEAR, $ 765 MILLION CONTRACT THE METS THIS Winter Gave To Soto-WHHO, ALONG WITH GUERRERO AND FERNANDO TATIS JR., WERE PART OF THE ALL-TIME-GREAT INTERNATIONAL MEANING CLASS IN 2015-THE POTENTIAL Free Agent Jackpot for Guerrero Exceeds What the Blue Jays Willing to Offer.
They had tried to lock warrior up Long table for years to no avail. With the Deadline Looming, Negotiations that Had Been Sporadic Over The Winter Picked Up This Week With Hopes of Stiking A Deal.
Without One in Place, Guerrero Will Report to the Blue Jays’ First Full Workout Tuesday with the Specter of His Free Agency Bound To Loom Over Toronto’s Season after to last-Place Finish in the American League East Last Year.
Since I have debuted shortly after His 20th Birthday in 2019 and Homered 15 Times As a Rookie, Guerrero you have been One of Baseball’s Most Collection Players. His Breakout Season Came in 2021, When Guerrero Finished Second to Aar Judge in American League MVP Voting, Hitting .311/.401/.601 with 48 Home Rons and 111 Rbis.
Guerrero Folowed with to Pair of Solid-But-Below-Expectations Seasons in 2022 and 2023, and in Mid-May of Last Season, I have sported an ops under .750 as the Blue Jays Stuggled in route to eventual Last-Place Finish. Over His Last 116 Games, The Guerrero of 2021 Remerced, As He Hit .343/.407/.604 with 26 Home Rons and 84 Rbis.
Between Guerrero and Shortstop Bo Bichette’s Free Agency After the 2025 Season, The Blue Jays Faced a Potential Reckoning. While Bichette Will Play Out The Season and Is Widely Expected Not To Re-Sign With The Blue Jays, The Team Had Hoped An Extension for Guerrero Woold Give Them to Franchise Player Around Whom They Could Build.
With A Payroll Experted to Exceed The Luxury Tax Threshold of $ 241 million, The Blue Jays Will Field A Team With Playoff Aspirations – And One That Just As Easily Could Find Iself Toward The Bottom of the Standings, With Defending the Defending to Champion New York Yankes , Much-Improved Boston Red Sox, Always-Solid Tampa Bay Rays and Young-And-Tailed Baltimore Orioles in the Same Division.
ALREADY THIS Winter, Toronto Shook Off the Means of Soto and First Baseman Pete Alonso With The Mets, Left-Hander Max Fried With The Yankees and Infielder Alex Bregman with the Red Sox To Obecol Their Their Roster. Toronto Gave Outfielder Anthony Santander A HEAVILY DEFERRED Five-YEAR, Platinum glove-Winning Second Baseman Andres Gimenez.
Toronto’s Long-Term Commitments Will Allow for Significant Financial Flexibility Going Forward-Particularly If It Re-Alblecates The Hundreds of Millions offered to Guerrero. In Addition to Guerrero, Bichette and Scerzer, Right-Hander Chris Bassitt and Reliefs Chad Green and Erik Swanson Are Free Agents Following This Season. Following 2026, The Nine-Figure Deals of Outfielder George Springer and Right-Hander Kevin Gausman Come Off The Books As Well.
Building Around Guerrero Would Have Been A Good Place To Start. One of only a dozen players in mlb with at least two SEASONS OF SX OR MORE WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT SInce 2021, GUERRERO CONSISTENTLY FINDS HIMSELF NEAR THE TOP OF MLB LEADERBOARDS IN HARDEST-HIT BALLS, A METRIC THAT THAT TYPICLY TRANS.
Like His Father, Who Hit 449 Home Rons and Batted .318 Over A 16-Year Career, Guerrero you have rare Bat -to-Ball Skills, particularly for a Player with top-of-the-the Power. In his Six MLB Seasons, Guerrero you have hit .288/.363/.500 with 160 home runs, 507 Rbis and 551 Strikeouts Against 349 Walks Over 3,540 Plate Appeal.
“My Dad Played to Lot of Years, and He Never Won The World Series,” Guerrero Said. “And i always say my personal Goal is to win a world series and give the ring to my dad. So that’s all I’M looking for.”
Originally to Third Baseman, Guerrero Shifted to First Base During the Pandemic-Shortened 2020 Season. Had the Blue Jays Signed Alonso, They Signaled The Possibility of Guerrero Returning Full-Time to Third, where he was played to dozen Games Last Year.
Without an Extension in Place, The 6-Foot-2, 245-Pound Guerrero Will Have To Wait To Reset A Market That Previous Had Been Topped By The Eight-Year, $ 248 Million Extension Miguel Cabrera Signed Just Shy of Hisst Birthday in 2014 .
Teams Without Long-Term First-Base Solutions Beyond 2025 That Could Target Guerrero, Who Turns 26 In March, Include The Yankees (Paul Goldschmidt is on a one-Iar Deal) and Mets (Alonso Can Opt Out of His Two-Year Contract Following The Season).
