Blue Jays, Guerrero fail to reach extension prior to self-imposed deadline
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The Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. did not reach a contract extension by the deadline set by the star first baseman.
“They had their numbers. I had my numbers," Guerrero told reportersTuesday morning prior to the team's first official full squad workout at spring training in Dunedin, Fla.
“I’m here. We didn’t get an agreement. Now, they’re going to have to compete with 29 other teams," he said.
Guerrero added that he and the team were not close during negotiations.
General manager Ross Atkins met with reporters on Tuesday and offered a slightly different interpretation of the process.
“It just depends on how you define ‘close.' That’s too big of a word to talk specifically about and I’m not comfortable talking about numbers,” Atkins said.
Team president Mark Shapiro was less abstract.
“There’s no such thing as close or not close. There’s done or not done," he said.
“We were emotional. We did value the player deeply, and even went past our value because we cared so deeply about him and wanted to have him here," Shapiro said.
Atkins added that he was disappointed with how things have gone.
“I’m obviously very disappointed. We worked very hard. The motivation is still there," Atkins said, adding the offers made to Guerrero would have set team records and made him one of the highest-paid players in baseball.
The 25-year-old said earlier in the off-season he would not negotiate an extension past his first workout of spring training. Guerrero, along with shortstop Bo Bichette, is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the season. He is due $28.5 million this year and reiterated his desire to not talk contract during the season on Tuesday.
“There are no hard feelings. I understand this is business, but you have to turn the page and move on," Guerrero said, but did say he still wants to remain with the Jays.
“I will do anything, everything I can to stay here because I want to be here."
"I'm confident that we exhausted the communication, the ideas, the thoughts and communicated every dollar and felt that Barry and Vlad got to the point that they were comfortable as well. It just wasn't close enough," Atkins said.
Guerrero is coming off one of his best seasons in 2024, hitting a career-best .323 with a .544 slugging percentage. He also had 30 home runs, 2013 RBI and a .940 OPS in 159 games. It was his best season since finishing runner up to Shohei Ohtani in MVP voting in 2021.
The son of Hall-of-Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, Vladdy signed with the Jays as a 16-year-old international free agent in the summer of 2015 and quickly turned heads as he made his way up the farm system. He made his big league debut in April of 2019 as the most anticipated prospect in team history and is heading into his seventh season with the organization.
The Blue Jays play their first spring game on Saturday against the New York Yankees and open the regular season on March 27 in Toronto against the Baltimore Orioles.