Vladimir Guerrero Jr. waiting on Toronto Blue Jays for extension offer | TSN.ca
Despite a tense arbitration battle, Guerrero Jr. has consistently said there are no hard feelings towards his club and wants to remain in Toronto. But the Blue Jays have yet to put forward an extension offer.
“I have no grudge against the Blue Jays, despite the tense negotiations I had with the team during salary arbitration,” Guerrero Jr. told ESPN’s Enrique Rojas on Thursday. “It’s just business. I would like to be a Blue Jay for the rest of my career, but the team has not made me an offer yet."
The Blue Jays' hesitancy comes as no surprise to ESPN’s Buster Olney, who says on TSN1050 on Friday that Guerrero’s inconsistency throughout his career and the position he plays makes the team wary.
“If you look at the various positions, there’s a higher value placed on shortstops, centre fielders, and pitchers, while first base is lagging behind,” said Olney. “It’s been more than a decade since a first baseman got a $200 million-plus contract.”
“Vladdy has had some ups and downs, not only early in his career, but he had a down year last year. There [also] has been questioning of his conditioning.”
Olney used Los Angeles star first baseman Freddie Freeman as a comparison for Guerrero. Freeman, 34, is considered to be one of the best first-basemen in the game and signed a six-year, $162 million deal in March of 2022.
If the Blue Jays were to use Freeman’s contract as the framework for Guerrero Jr. next deal, the two sides could find themselves far apart.
“I suspect if the Blue Jays were to negotiate this contract right now, they’d probably be far from where Vladdy would want to be,” said Olney. “I think this is going to be another example where the team is going to feel like they want more information and don’t want to commit long-term in that particular position.”
