DUNEDIN, Fla. — The drama at Toronto Blue Jays camp during and after the unsuccessful extension talks with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is familiar to the New York Yankees. Three years ago, their attempt to lock up Aaron Judge fell short just ahead of opening day and the superstar outfielder’s potential departure after the 2022 season was a risk they carried throughout his 62-homer, American League MVP campaign.
“I remember when we were leaving camp at Steinbrenner Field, getting on the buses to head up north and it was kind of one last ditch (effort) and they didn’t come to an agreement,” manager Aaron Boone recalled Saturday before the Blue Jays beat his Yankees 6-4 in their spring opener at TD Ballpark. “Just knowing Aaron, I never thought it would become an issue. And obviously it didn’t — he went out and won the MVP and had the season he did. But there was never even behind the scenes weirdness, nothing like that.”
Judge, of course, eventually returned to the Yankees for $360 million over nine years after a market-changing free agency, in which he turned down a $400-million offer from the San Diego Padres and an aggressive pursuit by the San Francisco Giants.
During those end-of-spring talks, Judge had walked away from a $213.5-million, seven-year extension offer, the bet on himself earning an additional 69 per cent thanks to a historic performance that helped carry the Yankees to an AL East title and a trip to the ALCS.
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Like Judge, Guerrero also turned down a substantial sum of money ahead of the Monday night deadline he set for the completion of an extension — declaring Tuesday morning that “they had their numbers, I have my numbers” — the early cut-off established as a way to keep the matter from hanging over his teammates throughout the spring.
The way Judge carried himself throughout that 2022 season, batting .311/.425/.686 with 131 RBIs, 133 runs and 111 walks to go with his 62 homers, all while keeping the uncertainty around him from becoming a circus in New York’s frenzied media market, offers a model for Guerrero and the Blue Jays in navigating the uncertainty ahead.
“Confidence in his ability, for one, and the faith that it’s going to work out how it was supposed to work out,” Boone said of the traits that helped Judge handle the situation as well as he did. “But the confidence in his ability to go do his thing and also the makeup and humility to not let this be an issue, understanding his role as the leader of our team — he wasn’t going to allow that to be a distraction and it really wasn’t.”
Guerrero certainly hit the ground running Saturday, making a diving stab to his right on an Oswaldo Cabrera grounder in the first before relaying to starter Easton Lucas for the out, and then following that up in the bottom half against Carlos Rodon by slashing a single to right field at 105.5 m.p.h., cashing in Andres Gimenez.
His off-season work was focused on building upon his strong 2024, when he batted .323/.396/.544 with 30 homers, 103 RBIs and 72 walks, and he’s aiming for roughly 50 at-bats this spring to get him ready for opening day. While early results are never a bad thing, Guerrero’s aim is to lock down his timing during the final week of the spring.
All of that is designed to underpin a season now carrying remarkably high stakes for Guerrero — who said, “I know my value and I want to stick with it,” Tuesday after talks fizzled.
He sounded prepared to deal with what the coming months will entail, too.
“I’m not thinking about free agency. I won’t be thinking about free agency at all during the season,” he said. “I’m going to concentrate on winning some games, putting up some numbers, helping my teammates, trying to go all the way to the playoffs.”
While he notably left the Blue Jays a pathway to re-engage on his terms, saying “I won’t close the door if there’s a realistic offer,” a driven Guerrero also works well for a club facing the potential collapse of its competitive window in the fall, but one with an opportunity to factor in the AL playoff picture, first.
Boone believes the Blue Jays “rounded out their club pretty well” after an off-season initially marked by the unsuccessful pursuits of Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes and Roki Sasaki, a year after their high-profile run at Shohei Ohtani.
“That was I feel like the story, being in on Ohtani obviously and then finishing second or whatever it was on a number of guys, but I feel like they finished the off-season with a bang,” Boone said of the Blue Jays’ new-year adds of Jeff Hoffman, Max Scherzer and middle-of-the-order slugger Anthony Santander. “The last several years, the times when the Blue Jays have been at their best offensively, they’ve also missed out on that lefty a little bit, so it made some really dangerous situations a little easier to navigate at the back-end of games. Santander gives them real balance. Obviously we know what Bo (Bichette) is capable of, coming off a tough year. Santander was a big pickup.”
As a result, the Yankees “expect them to be formidable” in a deep American League East, said Boone. FanGraphs’ playoff odds projects the Yankees to lead the division at 87 wins, with Boston second at 85 followed by Baltimore at 83, Toronto at 82 and Tampa Bay at 81, so some objective data suggests there isn’t a huge spread between the clubs.
“We talk about the East every year in the division and I don’t know if I probably say this every spring, but I really do feel like it’s going to be a tough division this year,” said Boone. “I could see every team winning it. I really feel that way about where these teams are if they have the right things break their way. Same with us. It’ll be fun.”
Especially fun for the Blue Jays if it ultimately leads to a long-term pact with Guerrero, the way the 2022 season did for Judge and the Yankees.
