The Toronto Blue Jays sent shockwaves throughout the baseball world Sunday night when news broke that they had agreed to an extension with first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The extension, first reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, is for an eye-popping 14 years at an equally eye-popping $500 million.
BREAKING: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in agreement with Blue Jays on 14-year, $500M extension, pending physical, sources tell @TheAthletic. Story to come.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 7, 2025
Guerrero, the son of Hall of Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, has played for the Blue Jays for six years.
He signed with the Blue Jays in 2015 as an international free agent. After working through the team’s minor league system, he made his MLB debut on April 26, 2019. Guerrero finished his rookie campaign with a respectable .272 batting average to go along with 14 home runs and 69 RBI. He finished sixth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
The 2020 COVID-19 season was odd for Guerrero, as it was for most Blue Jays. Due to international travel restrictions, the team had to play its home games in Buffalo, and he hit nine home runs in the 60-game season that saw Toronto go 32-28.
In 2021, Guerrero had his breakout campaign. He hit an MLB-best 48 home runs and drove in 111 runs en route to his first All-Star appearance, his first Silver Slugger Award, and a second-place finish in AL MVP voting behind Shohei Ohtani.
From there, Guerrero has remained one of the American League’s best players. He has been named to the All-Star team in the past three seasons and added a Gold Glove and another Silver Slugger to his trophy case.
One of the most impressive things about Guerrero is how infrequently he misses games. He’s appeared in all but 11 of Toronto’s games in the past four seasons, likely partly why the Blue Jays felt comfortable giving him the third-largest contract in MLB history.
After missing out on big free agents such as Shohei Ohtani in the past couple of years, Toronto finally has a superstar locked up long-term.
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