Blue Jays Superstar Gets Honest About Feelings After Signing Massive Extension
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One of the biggest storylines entering the 2025 MLB regular season was how things would play out between the Toronto Blue Jays and their superstar first baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Entering the final year of team control before hitting the open market, there was a soft deadline to get an extension done before spring training got underway. When no deal was agreed to, the dialogue changed.
It went from how much it could cost the Blue Jays to lock him in long-term to will they even be able to keep him. Rumors began to swirl about which teams around the league could make a run at him once he hit free agency after the season.
But, all of those talks have been quieted permanently.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, the two sides announced that a massive long-term extension had been agreed upon.
Officially announced Wednesday, with a press conference planned for Monday, Apr. 14 at Rogers Centre, a 14-year, $500 million extension was agreed upon that will start in 2026.
The deal includes a historic $325 million signing bonus, which was put in place to protect the money if a work stoppage occurs in 2027, according to ESPN.
Now that he knows where he will be long-term and the contract talk is behind him, Guerrero admits he feels a ton of relief.
"If I tell you that it's not a big relief, I'd be lying to you," Guerrero said this week. "It's always been my goal to be here. And I feel like I accomplished that, and I'm very, very happy to stay here and to be a Blue Jay."
In January, the Blue Jays and their superstar corner infielder avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $28.5 million deal.
While he didn’t hold discussions with the team after his self-imposed deadline of mid-February at the start of spring training, his agent was always in contact with Toronto.
"It wasn't that hard," Guerrero said of the time that it took to get the deal done. "Like, I would say maybe, I was just trusting the process, every step with my family, my agents, my close ones. I mean, have faith, everything, the outcome was going to be good. So, I mean, trust, I was trusting everything. But thank God, it went well."
At the time of signing, the four-time All-Star now has the third largest contract in baseball history in terms of total money.
Only Juan Soto, who agreed to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets over the winter, and Shohei Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the 2024 campaign with heavy deferments, have higher total values.
The annual average of $35.71 million is currently eighth in baseball.
His long-term commitment to the Blue Jays should make it easier for them to recruit talent there in the future. Knowing there is a superstar in place already, it will be easier to pitch free agents to join him, knowing he will be there for the foreseeable future.
