When spring coaching arrived and the Toronto Blue Jays had not but reached a contract extension with celebrity Vladimir Guerrero Jr., it appeared potential — if not going — that he was going to be enjoying elsewhere by the point the 2026 season rolled round. Guerrero Jr. had set a deadline for contract negotiations, he appeared adamant he was not going to barter through the season, and the entire state of affairs appeared grim for the Blue Jays.
However there’s all the time one large fact in skilled sports activities: Cash talks.
The Blue Jays proved that by not giving up of their quest to maintain their celebrity, and on Sunday night time they reportedly locked in Guerrero Jr. to a whopping 14-year, $500 million contract extension in keeping with studies from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
That is the third-largest contract in Main League Baseball historical past, coming in behind solely the latest $700 million deal signed by Shohei Ohtani with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the $765 million contract for Juan Soto with the New York Mets.
That is a completely monumental win for the Blue Jays in a whole lot of methods.
For one, it retains an MVP-level participant that they drafted and developed of their group for what ought to be the rest of his profession.
Second, it comes after the Blue Jays had missed out on a number of top-tier free brokers in recent times, together with Ohtani, Soto and most just lately and Roki Sasaki.
If they’d misplaced Guerrero Jr. after the opposite close to misses, it could have been a crushing blow for the group and fan base. It’s one factor to lose out on free brokers who by no means performed so that you can the Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Mets in an open-bidding state of affairs. However not having the ability to maintain your personal homegrown star is one thing else totally.
This not less than exhibits they will do the latter. That issues. Lots.
The 26-year-old Guerrero Jr. continues to be very a lot within the prime of his profession and may have a number of large years forward of him. He has been one of many American League’s finest hitters since arriving within the Main Leagues and has a profession OPS+ of 137 (with 100 being a league-average hitter).
He’s the Blue Jays’ prime participant, the largest draw and has completed within the prime six of the MVP voting two totally different instances, together with the 2024 season and a runner-up end through the 2021 season. Now they’ve him in place for the foreseeable future and would not have to fret about any extra contract negotiations or distractions with him, or hear opposing fan bases attempt to recruit him. He’s a Blue Jay. He’s staying a Blue Jay.
