DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. plans to become a free agent after the season following the passing of his deadline Tuesday to reach a long-term agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays.
“The last couple days, the front office, my lawyers, my agents, they met, both (sides) tried but obviously we couldn’t get an agreement,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron at Blue Jays camp. “We never got to the point where I felt like I wanted to do the deal.”
A four-time All-Star at age 25, Guerrero said during the offseason he would cut off negotiations when he reported for spring training.
“I don’t want, especially my teammates, to go through any distractions about that,” Guerrero said. “I’m here today and I’m ready. I want to win a lot of games and I want to make it to the playoffs. That’s all that’s in my head right now.”
Guerrero has a $28.5 million, one-year contract and will be perhaps the top free agent on the market one year year after Juan Soto signed a record $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets.
Guerrero hit .323 last season with a .940 OPS, 30 homers and 103 RBIs.
“We worked very hard and the motivation is still there,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “I’m confident that every thought, idea we had — every dollar that we had — was communicated. But we’re obviously disappointed to not have gotten that done. … It doesn’t change our desire. We will certainly be motivated and remain motivated.”
Guerrero came up through the Toronto system, made his big league debut in 2019 and has a .288 average, .863 OPS, 160 homers and 507 RBs.
Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro, team chairman Edward Rogers and Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Tony Staffieri were involved in the negotiations,
“There really aren’t degrees of getting it done or not getting it done,” Shapiro said. “It’s either a done deal or not a done deal. The bottom line result is we’re disappointed we couldn’t get a deal done.”
Guerrero’s father, Vladimir Guerrero, is a Hall of Famer and nine-time All-Star who was voted the 2004 AL MVP.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
