Blue Jays Hold Onto Guerrero Jr. With $500 Million Deal

Canada’s team has locked up its superstar for the next decade and a half.

The Toronto Blue Jays are committing half a billion dollars to make sure they’re homegrown slugger doesn’t wear another uniform for the rest of his career.

The Montreal-born first-baseman, who has been in the Blue Jays organization since he was a baby-faced 16-year-old, will become the highest-paid athlete in the history of Canadian sports. In terms of present value money, the deal makes Guerrero Jr. the second-highest-paid player in MLB history behind only Juan Soto.

Whether or not Vladdy is deserving of this kind of money is up for debate, but for the Jays, it doesn’t matter. They needed this deal. They needed to prove that they could keep world-class talent in their organization and that they’re committed to winning beyond 2025.

For a franchise that has come up short year after year in its pursuit of superstar players (Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Max Fried, Corbin Burnes, Roki Sasaki…. the list goes on) this deal sends a message that they’re not only willing to spend, but that players want to be in Toronto long term.

If these last two offseasons have taught us anything, it’s that even with the money, it's not easy to get top-tier talent to sign in Toronto. It's not a baseball city, the weather’s cold, the taxes are high, and the farm system is one of the worst in baseball.

The Jays don’t have many killer prospects to turn to and most of their core guys are playing on soon-to-expire contracts. Having a player like this to build around and show free agents that they’re willing to spend big to win makes a huge difference.

The best way to right that ship? Locking up your perennial, homegrown 25-year-old All-Star who finished sixth in the MVP voting last year. Don’t get me wrong, one player does not make a baseball team. Far from it. But a Blue Jays team without Vladdy as part of its future would have been bleak.

The market has definitely been inflated by Juan Soto’s $765 million deal with the Mets but it doesn’t matter. Even if he needs a wheelchair to get to the ballpark in the dying days of his contract, the Jays made the right call cutting him a $500 million cheque.

One thing is clear: This front office wants Vladdy to go down as the greatest Blue Jay of all time, and they’ve given him the contract to make it happen. In 25 years when Guerrero’s number is being raised into the rafters of the Rogers Centre — maybe even alongside a World Series banner — Jays fans will be grateful that, despite the hefty price tag, their team kept their guy in blue.