Burning the midnight oil, All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. agreed to a massive 14-year, $500 million contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday night.
Guerrero, a four-time All-Star and son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, had made it crystal clear stating he would not negotiate during the season after the parties failed to come to an agreement before he reported to spring training. But the sides continued to have dialogue and sealed a deal that is the third largest in Major League Baseball history
Sources told multiple outlets, ESPN, MLB.com and The Athletic about the agreement Sunday night. The pact, which features no deferrals and a no-trade clause, is the third largest in MLB history, trailing only Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets and Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Guerrero, 26 years old, is set to make an average of $35.7 million per season. He was on his way to becoming a free agent after this season but is now set to be under contract through 2039.
The no-deferral deal keeps the homegrown star north of the border in Toronto for the rest of his career and comes as the 5-5 Blue Jays are in the middle of a road trip that takes them to Fenway Park to meet the Boston Red Sox on Monday.
Embed from Getty ImagesLike his father before him, who left the park hitting 449 home runs and batted .318 over a 16-year career, Guerrero has uncanny bat-to-ball skills, particularly for a player with elite power to all fields. In his six MLB seasons, Guerrero has hit .288/.363/.499 with 160 home runs, 510 RBIs and 559 strikeouts against 353 walks.
With a payroll expected to exceed the luxury tax threshold of $241 million, the Blue Jays ended the season’s first week atop the American League East standings. Toronto dropped to 5-3 on Friday after a loss to the Mets, in which Guerrero hit a pair of singles, raising his season slash line to .267/.343/.367.
Guerrero hit a career-best .323 with 30 long balls and 103 RBIs over 159 games in 2024. He hit .311 with an MLB-high 48 home runs and 111 RBIs over 161 appearances in 2021. Guerrero hit .256 with three doubles and four RBIs through his first 10 appearances of this season.
Building around the talents of Guerrero is a good place to start. One of only twelve players in MLB with at least two seasons of six or more wins above replacement since 2021, Guerrero consistently is near the top of MLB leaderboards in hardest-hit balls, a metric that typically results and translates to great success.
