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Juan Soto reset the market out of the Blue Jays' price range to re-sign their best hitter.
That was the takeaway from Tuesday's report in the New York Post that the Jays offered star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. about $500 million before deferrals, and about $400-450 million after deferrals, according to Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman.
Atkins says the #BlueJays made Vladimir Guerrero Jr. offers that would have been “record setting”…
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) February 18, 2025
Asked what records… he clarified:
“Blue Jays records. And would have been one of the highest-paid players in the game.”
The report claims the deal would have made Guerrero the third-highest paid player in baseball history, behind Soto and Shohei Ohtani. That affirms Guerrero's comments earlier in spring training that the Blue Jays were willing to offer him the largest contract in team history.
Guerrero and the Blue Jays failed to reach agreement on a contract extension before the start of spring training, a deadline Guerrero set for the team. Now, the 25-year-old is set to enter free agency when the 2025 season ends.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Guerrero sought $500 million in present-day value.
More news: Blue Jays Scratch Future Hall of Famer From Fourth Spring Start With Injury
Soto's record-setting $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets did not contain any deferred money. Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in Dec. 2023 contained so much deferred money, its present-day value was calculated at $437,830,563 by the MLB Players Association ($460.8 million by MLB).
"I know the business," Guerrero told ESPN. "I lowered the salary demands a bit, but I also lowered the number of years. ... I'm looking for 14 [years]. I would like 14, 15, even 20 if they give them to me, but doing it the right way."
Ross Atkins on not managing to extend Guerrero: "Obviously very disappointed. We worked very hard. The motivation is still there. Confident that every thought, idea we had, every dollar that we had was communicated. But we're obviously disappointed to not have gotten that done."
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) February 18, 2025
A career .288/.363/.500 hitter, Guerrero is coming off a season in which he hit 30 home runs and drove in 103 while cutting his strikeout rate and appearing in 159 games for Toronto.
The Jays entered the offseason highly motivated to not let Guerrero reach free agency when he's able to solicit bids from all 30 teams — a tactic players commonly use to drive up their earning potential. By signing him to a long-term contract extension, the Jays would have an obvious franchise cornerstone to build around for years to come.
"We worked very hard," Toronto general manager Ross Atkins said, via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. "The motivation is still there. Confident that every thought, idea we had, every dollar that we had was communicated. But we're obviously disappointed to not have gotten that done."
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About the writer
J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers ... Read more