The Blue Jays cannot make the same mistake as the Yankees

The Toronto Blue Jays are a team loaded with star talent. They have two pitchers that can be considered aces in Jose Berrios and Kevin Gausman. They have a rising star in Alek Manoah and also have nice veterans in Hyun-Jin Ryu and Yusei Kikuchi. The rotation is stacked but isn’t even the best part of this Jays’ team.

The Blue Jays have the best and deepest lineup in all of baseball. It’s so good they traded away Randal Grichuk simply because they didn’t have an everyday spot for him. Grichuk hit 22 home runs last season and has at least 22 in five of the last six seasons. The only one he didn’t was in the shortened 2020 season.

The Jays did lose Marcus Semien but gained Matt Chapman. The star third baseman hits towards the bottom of the Jays’ order with guys like George Springer, Bo Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. slotting in front of him.

The Jays have Springer locked up for a while, but have to pay the others. The most important player they have to pay is Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The Blue Jays cannot afford to make the same mistake with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that the Yankees made with Aaron Judge.

Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees did not agree on a lengthy contract extension. Judge is scheduled to be a free agent after the season and says he will not negotiate an extension during the season. It now appears that Judge is guaranteed to become a free agent and will have the opportunity to sign with any team this offseason.

The Blue Jays have a player in Guerrero Jr. who is just as good, if not better than Judge right now. The 23-year-old phenom just slashed .311/.401/.601 with 48 home runs and 111 RBI and led the league in home runs, runs, OPS, OPS+, and total bases. He was an All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award, and finished second in the AL MVP voting. He would have won if Shohei Ohtani wasn’t a two-way superstar.

With all of the young talent the Jays have, Guerrero Jr. is the face of the franchise. He has been since the day of his much-anticipated debut against the Athletics back in 2019.

Guerrero Jr. is in his first arbitration year this season and has three more years of team control following this season. The Blue Jays have to get him signed long-term before he hits free agency. He is going to be entering his prime and with his marketability and skill, he will get insane money if all 30 teams can negotiate with him.

Vladdy has proven that he is who we all thought he would be and he deserves to be compensated for it. It doesn’t have to be right now, but it has to be before free agency. That is an absolute must.