Toronto Blue Jays infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is approaching his self-imposed February 18 deadline to finalize a contract extension. With Spring Training team workouts beginning next week, Guerrero has indicated that if a deal isn’t reached by the deadline, he will halt negotiations until after the season.
Guerrero, who finished sixth in MVP voting last season, earned an American League All-Star selection and claimed his second career Silver Slugger award. He posted a .940 OPS across 159 games and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $28.5 million contract for 2025, with free agency looming in 2026.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, contract talks between Guerrero and the Blue Jays are starting at around $400 million. When discussing the negotiations, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins emphasized the team’s commitment to keeping Guerrero long-term, saying, “We work extremely hard on keeping Vlad here for a long time. That desire is strong, and we will continue to do that.”
Atkins added that he couldn’t share many details about the negotiations, noting, “I don’t want to get too far into the weeds because anything I share decreases the likelihood of us getting something done, which is our goal.”
Guerrero has proven himself as one of baseball’s top young hitters, with a 137 OPS+ over 819 career games, and also won a Gold Glove award at first base in 2022.
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