After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays failed to agree to terms on a contract extension before his self-imposed deadline of Feb. 17, the star free-agent-to-be was blunt in his description of why the two sides could not see eye-to-eye on a pact.
"They have their numbers, I have my numbers," Guerrero said at the time.
What exactly those numbers were has become clearer now thanks to the latest reporting from The Athletic, as well as The New York Post on Tuesday.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Guerrero is seeking a contract worth $500 million. The caveat? Guerrero is looking for a contract with $500 million in present value—not $500 million before deferrals. Rosenthal's reporting comes on the heels of a report from The Post's Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman, which detailed the Blue Jays' offer to Guerrero.
Toronto's last offer to Guerrero reportedly amounted to $500 million, but the present value was dragged down into the $400 million to $450 million range, thanks to significant contract deferrals, according to Heyman and Sherman.
That checks out with what Guerrero himself said in an interview this past week with ESPN's Ernesto Jerez and Enrique Rojas.
"We're talking about many fewer millions than (New York Mets right fielder) Juan Soto, more than a hundred million less," Guerrero said. "It was the same number of years, but it didn't reach $600 (million). The last number we gave them as a counteroffer didn't reach $600 [million]."
Guerrero added that he desires the length of his contract to be 14 years.
In the last three offseasons, the free-agent market for baseball's upper echelon of players has skyrocketed. Back in December 2022, then-free agent Aaron Judge, on the heels of a historic season inked the third-largest deal in MLB history, a nine-year, $360 million contract.
Just a year later, two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani pushed the market ever higher, signing the largest contract—at the time—in North American sports, a $700 million deal with significant deferrals. Then, in December of '24, free agent slugger Juan Soto inked a record, 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets. Soto's $51 million annual salary exceeded the present value of Ohtani's deal, which checked in at $46 million per season.
Guerrero, should he get what he wants, would be earning roughly $35 million annually in a 14-year, $500 million deal.
A four-time All-Star, the '21 All-Star Game MVP and '23 Home Run Derby champion, Guerrero has posted a .288/.363/.500 slash line in six seasons in Toronto. His best season came in '21, when he led the American League with a 1.002 OPS and finished second in the MVP voting.
Guerrero, ticketed to become a free agent in November, made it clear he would like to remain a Blue Jay.
"I want to be here. I want to be a Blue Jay for the rest of my career," Guerrero on Tuesday told MLB.com through an interpreter. "But it’s free agency and it’s business. I’m going to have to listen to 29 other teams."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Report: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Wants $500 Million From Blue Jays—With Key Caveat.
