Ross Atkins: Blue Jays made ‘record setting’ offer to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

On Tuesday morning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. officially announced that he and the Blue Jays hadn’t reached an agreement on a contract extension ahead of his self-imposed deadline of Tuesday. 

Not long after Guerrero spoke, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins spoke in the same spot as Guerrero Jr. in an attempt to add his perspective as to why he and the Blue Jays front office couldn’t come to an agreement with one of the most exciting players in all of baseball.

"Obviously, very disappointed,” Atkins said. “We worked very hard. The motivation is still there. Confident that every thought, idea and dollar we had was communicated. We’ll certainly be motivated and remain motivated.”

While Atkins wouldn’t give specifics into the value of the contract offer the Blue Jays extended, he told reporters that it would have been “record-setting.” He clarified by saying that he meant “Blue Jays records” and that it would have made Guerrero one of the highest-paid players in Blue Jays history, per MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson.

The 15-year, $765 million contract that Juan Soto signed earlier this offseason currently stands as the largest contract in MLB history. After that, the largest contracts are: 

• Shohei Ohtani: 10 years, $700 million
• Aaron Judge: 9 years, $360 million
• Bryce Harper: 13 years, $330 million
• Corey Seager: 10 years, $325 million
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 12 years, $325 million

George Springer’s 6-year, $150 million contract currently stands as the biggest contract in Blue Jays history. 

A potential Guerrero contract would likely slot between Judge’s $360 million contract and the 12-year, $426.5 million contract extension that Mike Trout signed with the Angels. 

Atkins had already gone on record saying the Blue Jays front office had worked “very hard” to keep Guerrero in Toronto for his entire career. 

“We are motivated for [Guerrero] to be here and that will not change,” Atkins said. “We will continue to work hard to be successful to put him in the best possible position to be successful and focus on winning on a daily basis.” 

The lack of an extension puts even more pressure on a Toronto front office that’s reaching a crossroads. Bo Bichette is also due to be a free agent after the season. Max Scherzer is only in Toronto for one year.

Anthony Santander signed for the long-term and Springer’s still playing through his contract, but would either of them have any interest in being in Toronto long-term if the team enters a rebuild? 

Guerrero has long said that he wants to be a Blue Jay for life, but that dream took a serious hit Tuesday. But even with that, Atkins isn’t giving up hope that Guerrero spends his entire career launching baseballs into the Toronto night. 

“It always takes two and we will remain motivated and work hard to do everything we can to see if it’ll happen,” he said.