The next offseason soap opera in Major League Baseball is set to star Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who will enter free agency and seek a deal that puts him close to the numbers achieved by Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto, should the Toronto Blue Jays fail to convince him to sign a contract extension.
Toronto’s last offer to Guerrero before the February 18 deadline and before negotiations stalled was around $500 million, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, which with some deferrals would be worth between $400 million and $450 million.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Vladimir Guerrero the figure that would convince Vladdy to stay in Toronto is $500 million at current value, according to sources close to the negotiations.
Toronto wants to keep Vladimir Guerrero
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was born in Canada and is known to want to stay in Toronto, so the organization should make an effort to convince him and give him a contract that, although it will not surpass Juan Soto’s $765 million 15-year deal, it would be the second largest in history, above Shohei Ohtani’s, which in 2023 was $700 million for 10 years, but with deferrals has a present value of $460 million.
The Blue Jays have had several failures to keep the stars they have tried to convince, including Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto and the latest was the Japanese jewel Roki Sasaki, so they cannot afford to let Vladimir Guerrero Jr go. He will turn 26 on Sunday and is a player who can be the backbone of a project that has the budget to have a respectable roster.
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