A saga that produced numerous twists of promise and turns of pessimism over the past calendar year has finally culminated in a titanic pact between a homegrown superstar and a franchise that simply could not afford to lose him: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a 14-year, $500 million extension, pending a physical. After exhaustive speculation about whether the Toronto chapter of his career would soon come to an end, Guerrero will be the undisputed face of the franchise for the foreseeable future and perhaps one day will be considered the greatest to ever wear a Blue Jays uniform.
That the celebrated slugger has found his forever home in Toronto is both an entirely sensible outcome and one that seemed squarely in jeopardy as negotiations dragged on. Amid a deeply disappointing campaign last summer, the Blue Jays strongly rebuffed all outside interest in Guerrero as a trade candidate, seemingly setting the stage for more serious extension talks in the offseason. But as the winter months passed and Toronto’s hot stove activity centered on other pursuits — some successful, some not — time appeared to be running out. Guerrero himself set the first day of spring training as a deadline of sorts for extension talks, putting pressure on Toronto to expedite the process or risk him starting the season with the intention of playing out the remainder of his contract and reaching free agency.
Evidently, talks behind the scenes progressed well beyond Guerrero’s February deadline, a further indication of both sides’ interest in hammering out a deal. Toward the end of spring training, rather than side-stepping the issue and avoiding making promises amid a high-stakes negotiation, Blue Jays president & CEO Mark Shapiro declared his confidence that an agreement would be reached, a bold display of transparency and trust that his organization would find common ground with Guerrero.
Ultimately, Shapiro was right. All it cost was the second-largest contract by present-day value in MLB history, trailing only the 15-year, $765 million deal Juan Soto signed with the Mets in December. Like Soto’s deal,
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