Even in down year for Blue Jays, Vlad Jr. remains a merciless Yankee Killer

On a night when Aaron Judge got some well deserved retribution against Blue Jays’ ace Kevin Gausman, it was Toronto’s All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who got the last laugh, leading his team to an 8-5 win on Friday night in the Bronx.

Judge launched a 477 foot, two-run blast off Gausman to deep left-center that had an exit velocity of 117.5 mph, and then gave him a long look, which must have been for the revenge he’d just exacted after getting plunked in the ribs by a pitch at a game in Toronto on June 30th. It was the third longest home run of his career.

However, it was Guerrero who got the Blue Jays on the board in the top of the first inning Friday night with a single off his former Blue Jays teammate Marcus Stroman that scored the newly acquired Joey Loperfido. He’d come around to score a few batters later, and Toronto would never relinquish the lead.

Fans might remember that the 25-year-old son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr. has a grudge with the organization, believed to be the result of New York signing older free agent Gary Sheffield instead of his father in 2003. In a Spanish-language radio interview with host El Dotol Nastra in November 2022, the younger Guerrero said, “I like to play in New York, I like to kill the Yankees. I would never sign with the Yankees, not even dead.”

He’s taken the energy onto the field, slugging .614 in 41 games at Yankee Stadium which is the highest slugging percentage of any visiting player in history. He’s also hit 14 home runs and has 26 RBI in the Bronx, with a .970 OPS. For his career overall against the Yankees, in 88 games and 331 at bats, he’s hit 20 home runs with 65 RBI, with a .293/.359/.550 slash line for an OPS of .909.

Undoubtedly, the four time All-Star has been on a heater, with 11 home runs and 30 RBI to go with a .395./446/.789 slash line and 1.235 OPS in his last 30 games through Saturday’s loss. For the season, he has 22 homers, 72 RBI and a .929 OPS. So not exactly Judge-like, but still pretty, pretty good.

He also backed up his Yankees’ grudge with a 4-for-11 series in April last year, with a double and a home run that helped Toronto win two of three games in New York. He was roundly booed, but those Bronx cheers just seem to give him energy.

And who can forget the New York Post’s back cover on April 14, 2022 when they played a riff on Pedro Martinez’s “Who’s your daddy?” taunt from 2004? That followed a three-homer night for Guerrero in a 6-4 Blue Jays win, which included two monster shots off Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole over the first three innings at the Stadium.

After the Blue Jays were sellers at the trade deadline, all eyes in Toronto have turned to how their front office will surround Guerrero and Bo Bichette with enough talent to compete in 2025, the final year of team control for both of their young stars. They’ll need to improve the talent level of this club dramatically via free agent signings and trades given Baltimore’s rapid rise with their young core, Boston’s much improved roster, and the fact that the Yankees and Rays are perennially competitive in the AL East.

Guerrero could test the free agent market following next season if the Blue Jays remain unable to extend him, when the Yankees could be in the market for a first baseman. He certainly seems to enjoy hitting at Yankee Stadium, and whether or not that’s because of his beef with the Yankees organization - or a genuine comfort hitting in that environment - is anybody’s guess.

Guerrero is a close friend of Juan Soto - they grew up together in the Dominican Republic, and both hail from the same international signing class of July 2, 2015. Assuming the Yankees are able to resign the free agent Soto after this season, could he convince his fellow countryman to let bygones be bygones and sign his own free agent deal in New York? Given his strong words, that seems unlikely, and hopefully Toronto’s ownership can pay the man his due before that even becomes a possibility.