Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is easily the Blue Jays’ top story this season. Guerrero had imposed a deadline for Toronto to extend him, which passed on February 18, 2025. Instead, he will focus all his energy on his walk-year and deal with the paperwork after the season.
It’s clear Guerrero had a price in mind to buy out his free agency, and it’s also clear the Blue Jays have made multiple offers. While both are true, neither side would consider negotiations close, despite what general manager Ross Atkins describes as a record-breaking contract for a Blue Jay, making him one of the highest-paid players in the game.
Vladdy has been in the Blue Jays organization his entire MLB career. Signed as an international free agent in 2015, there hasn’t been this much buzz around a Blue Jay since Jose Bautista, and never have they had a homegrown talent like this. There’s nothing like a Canadian being the best talent on the only Canadian team.
Blue Jay fans were excited from the start, including complaints of the front office holding him in the minors too long for an extra year of control. That year has come, and Toronto has fumbled the bag.
-Click here for Jose Bautista’s Hall of Fame article
The Toronto front office is heavily criticized, and rightfully so. It’s unclear why ownership shelters the duo of Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro. How many general managers for any sport would feel as comfortable as they do, considering it’s been nine years without a playoff win? The front office has made poor trades, such as giving Teoscar Hernández for Erik Swanson and Adam Macko. It now seems they are losing their franchise player in one way or another.
The decision for Guerrero to hit free agency may be unavoidable, but his short-term future does raise some interesting questions. Expect the answers to those questions to be based solely on the playoff hunt near the trade deadline. Toronto fans should have their tissues on standby either way.
If the Blue Jays are in a serious playoff hunt, expect Toronto to try and milk Guerrero’s walk season. If multiple teams are between the Jays and a playoff spot near the trade deadline, expect an underwhelming return on the rental.
The Toronto Blue Jays are at a crossroads in their timeline. This article hasn’t even mentioned how it’s also the walk-year for the second most prominent star of the team, Bo Bichette. With it all but guaranteed Guerrero will hit free agency, one would hope the future of the front office will be determined by how they handle him around the trade deadline.
There is always the option of him returning to Toronto after testing the free agent waters, and it seems he would, with a matching offer. Their jobs should already be in question, but the front office is seemingly getting the opportunity to finish this chapter of the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. story.
-Click here for Max Scherzer to Toronto article
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