Blue Jays Discussion: 2024-25 Off-season: The free agent watch begins (and sometimes old baseball radio broadcasts)

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Cabrera has consistency, but Vladdy's two best seasons are better than any season Cabrera had by 25. Cabrera's offensive peak was 27-33.

25 is still very young for a baseball player.

And i think consistency is key here, if Vlad had that, the Jays would have had better offers on the table early on. Because he went from ok, overweight player with no position to MVP candidate to very good player to ok and to great again. Hardly a player you want to commit close to half a billion dollars to.

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Another key difference is Miggy contributed to a WS in his first 6 years and got MVP votes in every one of those years. In addition, he was 3B/OF in his rookie year followed by 2 seasons as an OF and then 2 full seasons as a 3B before moving back and forth between 3B and 1B before becoming an exclusive 1B in his 30s.

Only thing Vlad has over him is the gold glove.
 


Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Explains Why No Deal Was Reached With Blue Jays

SPORTSNET

Watch the full media availability by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. the morning after he was not able to reach a contract extension with the Blue Jays, after Monday night's self-imposed deadline.
 
Finding another Vladdy at his age is going to take a long time. A very very long time. Maybe we never do again.

I wouldn’t go to 700 million but 500+ yeah I would for sure
 
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Gunnar Henderson is gonna bankrupt Baltimore
Baltimore always makes it sound like every player they have coming up to free agency is going to bankrupt them. That’s why I’m not as high on them as a lot of others. When it comes to paying all these young kids they’re not going to. They’ll be contenders for a few years but let’s skip ahead 3 years you think they’re going to put air in the payroll balloon?? I don’t think so
 
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The only way Rogers fires Shatkins is if people stay away from Rogers Centre. If attendance plummets to a bottom 5 team and fans need to be vocal on all social media platforms they are staying away until those 2 losers are fired.

Rogers only cares about money and they need to feel the pain.

Problem is the Jays are a national team so fans flock there in the summer for vacation and go see a game. You get fans from Victoria to St-John's in the summer. It's not like a team in Oakland where not a national but city team.

Guerrero and Bichette are gone so maybe that is the straw that keeps people away and hurt Rogers in the pocket book
 

Blue Jays didn't do enough to keep Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

We don’t know what the numbers of the Blue Jays’ offers were. We don’t know what Guerrero’s asking price was. But what we do know is that after watching Juan Soto sign for $765 million in free agency this offseason, Guerrero Jr. surely saw and realized he will get a massive payday if he waits. And now, instead of just the Blue Jays bidding for his services, he’ll have 29 other potential suitors as well.

What will Guerrero Jr. command in free agency? He won’t touch Soto’s $765 million. But he’d perhaps be the most accomplished player to reach free agency not named Soto or Shohei Ohtani. He will be 26 as a free agent, and it’s why his eventual contract has a real chance of eclipsing $500 million.

What will his market look like? The Boston Red Sox have been heavily linked to the superstar slugger, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that Guerrero Jr. has told friends that he’d be open to playing in Boston. The New York Yankees, fresh after losing Soto and having a long-term need at first base, will surely place a phone call. The New York Mets cannot be ruled out either, especially with Pete Alonso looming as an obvious candidate to opt-out after the 2025 season.

An open door in Toronto won't mean much for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.


But yes, while Guerrero Jr. is set to become a free agent after this season, the door remains open for him to return to Toronto. The team refused to talk specifics about the negotiations, but Atkins told reporters that they extended a record-setting offer for the Blue Jays that would have also made Guerrero Jr. “one of the highest paid players” in baseball.

If the Blue Jays are out of the postseason race come the trade deadline, then the organization will have a franchise-altering decision to make: trade Guerrero Jr. and recoup some value or keep Guerrero Jr. and keep the slim possibility of him re-signing in Toronto alive.

They’ve long resisted the idea of trading Guerrero Jr., especially at last year's trade deadline when his value was immense. So it stands to believe that a trade would be unlikely and they’d attempt to hold onto him.

But it never had to reach this point. The Blue Jays could have been far more aggressive in the past in keeping Guerrero Jr. and signed him to what would have turned out to be a very team-friendly contract. Instead, it feels like Guerrero Jr. is headed into what very well could be his last season in Toronto.


The chase for one of the most coveted free agents in baseball history is under way.
 
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The money the Jays would have paid Vladdy <<<<< The money the jays would make in ticket sales, jersey sales, tv revenue, etc

Vlad isnt WORTH $500 if thats the number but also, its not out of my pocket. As a fan the risk is worth the reward. This isnt MLB the Show where I even need to worry about how the money works out. Its sports entertainment. And Vlad would at least make fans tune in physically and mentally. It is what it is, and at the end of the day... until he's traded or signed elsewhere there is a chance.
 
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Both hate losing Vladimir and don't want to pay him 550M, pretty enormous dick bagging by shatkins. Something quite interesting has to happen soon before interest levels really drop big-time.

I can't imagine still being a fan of this team in two years if either are still here, with three hundred more boring baseball games gone by.
 
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Something tells me Ortiz didnt guess this number. Close friends with Vladdy's dad.

I hate the cheater Ortiz but he is likely in the ballpark moneywise. Dude went through one glove, a thousand pounds of lumber and bags of needles and roids. Got plugged in the back in his home country for some reason and yet Big Sloppy reasonated with a lot of hillbillys. But he ain't wrong now despite being a HOF fraud.

The move now has to be 550. 13 years. He refuses you trade him in March. You can't have this shit hanging over the team all year.
 
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A little surprised that there are those who would rather see the team trade or walk away from Vladdy as opposed to giving him the type of contract he is now seeking.

The time to have signed him to a "team friendly" deal in the $300 to $400 million dollar range was the last 18 to 24 months (down season be damned), and well before seeing what Soto now got.

If a 26-year old Vladdy were to hit free agency next winter, damn straight I'd be all for the Jays offering up a decade-plus in years and half a billion dollars. There will be teams waiting and willing to give him that if and when he hits free agency. Absolutely no reason at this point why the Jays can't be one of them.
 

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