Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s new comments are nightmare fuel for Blue Jays fans

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s free agency is destined to be one of the top stories in MLB this year considering he’s a masterful hitter in his mid 20’s who has been the face of one of the biggest teams in baseball. 

And, if Guerrero Jr.’s comments this weekend were any indication, the potential storylines around his free agency will feature plenty of heartbreak for Blue Jays fans.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. opens door on potentially signing with Yankees in free agency 

At face value, Guerrero being linked to the Yankees in free agency shouldn’t be surprising. The Yankees are continually in on the top free agents on the market, and Guerrero’s price tag likely starts in the $400 million range, which is a numbers that only a couple teams in baseball can pay — the Yankees among them. 

But Guerrero publicly entertaining their offers is something that’s part of a newer trend. 

In 2022, Guerrero said he wouldn’t play for the Yankees “even when he was dead.” A year later, he explained why that was.

“It’s a personal thing. It goes back with my family,” Guerrero said in 2023 during one of Toronto’s trips to Yankee Stadium. “That’s my decision, and I will never change that.”

Now it appears that he might be changing. 

It started last summer when Guerrero told Virus Deportivo that he’d be open to the possibility of playing for the Yankees. 

He doubled down on that interest last week by telling the New York Post’s Jon Heyman (subscription required) that he’d consider the Yankees the same way he would any team in free agency.

“If I go to free agency, every team — all 30 teams — are going to have the opportunity to sit down with [me], to talk to me,” Guerrero told Heyman through an interpreter. “I’m OK with everything. It’s in the past.” 

Guerrero also expanded on what caused his initial disdain for the Yankees. Not only did the team bungle its potential signing of his dad, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., but the Yankees also once told Guerrero he couldn’t be in the dugout when he was a kid. 

“When I was a child with my dad, and like all [players’] kids I was in front of the dugout, and somebody from the Yankees told my dad that ‘You gotta take your kid [inside]. You can’t be on the field,’” Guerrero said “I felt bad. And it stood with me.” 

That said, Blue Jays fans can take some solace in some of Guerrero’s comments, specifically about his love for Toronto. 

“I would love to be here. I want to play my whole career here,” Guerrero said. “Canada is like my second home. I really want to stay here. But it’s a business at the end of the day.” 

What would it take for that to happen? According to Heyman, a number north of $500 million. We’ll just have to wait and see if Ross Atkins and co. are willing to go that high. 

“You’ve got to turn the page,” Guerrero said.