Although Vladimir Guerrero Jr. once said he would never sign with the New York Yankees, it appears he has warmed up a bit to the idea of potentially wearing the pinstripes one day.
The Toronto Blue Jays slugger was asked Monday by Virus Deportivo about possibly playing for the Yankees if he was traded there.
Guerrero Jr. said he’s a worker and a professional and, “I go out on the field to play.”
“Sometimes one says things. It is not that I am trying to take back what I said about the Yankees,” Guerrero Jr. said in Spanish comments verified by Sportsnet. “This (baseball) is a business, and I’ve sat down to talk with my dad (Hall-of-Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr.) and my family, because it’s a business decision. I’ve told them that I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Like I tell you, I’m a player and if a team picks me or if they do something, it’s because they need it, obviously, and I’ll be happy to help any team,” he added. “But right now, I’m just focused on helping my team try to get out of this bad streak.”
Guerrero Jr. told Vincent Carmona Arias on his YouTube channel El Dotol Nastra during the 2022 off-season he would “never sign with the Yankees, not even dead.”
“I like to play in New York,” Guerrero Jr. said, “I like to kill the Yankees.”
He elaborated on those comments last year saying via an interpreter: “It’s a personal thing, it goes back with my family. That’s my decision and I would never change that.”
Guerrero Jr. has also done his talking on the field. After hitting a home run at Yankees Stadium on April 7, Guerrero Jr. made a shushing motion with his hand while rounding the bases.
The 25-year-old Guerrero Jr. is a three-time all-star with a .280 career batting average, 140 home runs and 440 RBIs over six seasons with Toronto.
Guerrero Jr., who was awarded a $19.9 million contract during arbitration in February, is batting .286/.368/.429 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs this season.
He is under team control for another year and can become an unrestricted free agent after the 2025 season.
The Blue Jays (35-43) are in the midst of a season-worst seven-game losing streak and are 7.5 games out of a wild-card spot. With the team fading from the playoff picture, the Blue Jays could look to rebuild and move assets ahead of the July 30 trade deadline if they’re unable to reverse course in the following weeks.
The Yankees (52-28) are first in the American League East but have been hit with injuries of late. First baseman Anthony Rizzo sustained a fracture to his right forearm on June 16 and will be sidelined eight weeks while designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday due to a strained left hamstring and is expected to miss a month of action.
New York will travel to Toronto for a four-game Canada Day weekend series beginning on Thursday.
