The Blue Jays have made one other contract provide to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., studies Buster Olney of ESPN. No specifics of the provide have been publicly reported however Olney says a niche stays between the 2 sides.
The need-they-won’t-they between the Jays and Guerrero has been taking part in out for years now, however with a particular concentrate on the drama this winter. Guerrero is now slated totally free company after the 2025 season, which begins Thursday for the Jays. It’s frequent for gamers to set Opening Day as a deadline in contract talks, to keep away from distractions throughout the season. Guerrero initially went a step additional and set a deadline of Feb. 18, the opening of spring coaching.
That day got here and went with out a deal getting performed, although Guerrero subsequently mentioned he would preserve the door open if the Jays needed to come back again to the desk. Reportedly, Guerrero’s asking value was a deal of not less than 14 years and value $500M. The Jays reportedly did make him a suggestion in February with a sticker value of $500M, however with deferrals that might knock the online current worth all the way down to the $400-450M vary. Guerrero is claimed to be open to deferrals typically however would nonetheless just like the NPV to get to that $500M line.
In a way, that $50-100M hole will not be giant. For a deal of that size, that’s about $3.5M to $7M yearly. In an annual baseball finances, that’s what golf equipment spend on a veteran reliever or a backup catcher. That may look like a bridgeable hole. That’s maybe very true when wanting on the broader image. Guerrero has been the face of the franchise for a few years now. The Jays have tried to signal different marquee gamers like Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto and Roki Sasaki however with out success.
The regime of president Mark Shapiro and basic supervisor Ross Atkins has seemingly left a big section of the fanbase discontent. There was plenty of common season success in recent times however the Jays have been swept in all of their most up-to-date playoff appearances. Many issues went unsuitable in 2024, which exacerbated the frustration.
Letting Guerrero stroll for a comparatively small monetary hole would seemingly be unwelcome from a public relations perspective, whereas getting a deal performed on Opening Day might theoretically present a pleasant enhance to fan morale.
The entrance workplace appears to view the state of affairs as one that may be resolved. Shapiro recently expressed confidence {that a} deal would get performed, both an extension or later in free company. That was an uncommon little bit of candor, since entrance workplace sorts often duck questions on ongoing negotiations. Atkins made considerably related feedback Wednesday, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet and Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.
Presumably, this new provide from the Jays has moved nearer to Guerrero’s asking value. Although as talked about, no particulars have been publicly reported. A deal on this vary can be pretty unprecedented, for the Jays or every other membership.
As of some months in the past, no participant had obtained a contract with an NPV at $500M or larger. Firstly of the 2024-25 offseason, the biggest deal on document was Ohtani’s ten-year, $700M pact with the Dodgers. Due to the heavy deferrals in that deal, Main League Baseball calculated the AAV as $46.06M with the MLBPA at $43.78M, which means the NPV on the deal was roughly $437-460M. Even these lowered numbers had been all information, when it comes to largest assure and largest AAV ever.
Every of these numbers is now a distant second, due to Soto’s deal. He received $765M over 15 years with no deferrals, which means his web current worth shattered Ohtani’s. The AAV on that’s $51M, which additionally went notably past Ohtani’s deferral-adjusted AAV.
A hypothetical deal price $500M over 14 years can be a $35.7M AAV. That may be properly under Soto and Ohtani however nonetheless put Guerrero within the prime 15 of all contracts by AAV, forward of gamers like Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Mookie Betts. The entire assure can be second all-time, when adjusting Ohtani’s down.
Guerrero hasn’t been fairly as elite as Ohtani or Soto however nonetheless has a robust observe document for a participant his age. Many prime prospects don’t attain the majors till their mid-20s however Guerrero simply turned 26 earlier this month, which is a large a part of his incomes energy. He already has 819 video games beneath his belt with 160 dwelling runs, a .288/.363/.500 batting line and 137 wRC+. He was even higher than that in each 2021 and 2024. Although he dipped a bit within the two seasons in between, he hit .323/.396/.544 for a 165 wRC+ final yr. He’s not an particularly robust defender at first however he has achieved so much with the bat already. If he and the Jays can’t work out a brand new deal, he might be one of many prime free brokers of subsequent yr’s class.
