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2:04

is April 7th, the birthday

2:07

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2:57

I'm Mike Wilner. Thank you so

2:59

much for joining us on what

3:02

is a huge day for the

3:04

Toronto Blue Jays the 48th birthday

3:07

of the franchise. They played their

3:09

first ever game on April 7th

3:11

1977 and they celebrate by

3:14

signing Vladimir Guerrero

3:16

Jr. To the second

3:18

largest contract in baseball

3:20

history. weren't started

3:22

to creep out just

3:25

after midnight Eastern time

3:27

on Sunday night, Monday

3:29

morning. The Blue Jays and

3:31

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

3:33

agreeing to a 14-year

3:36

$500 million contract that

3:38

essentially buys out the rest

3:41

of Laddie's career. The

3:43

contract begins next

3:45

season next season

3:47

next season next

3:49

season. in 2026 just after

3:52

his 27th birthday and it

3:54

will run through until he

3:56

is 40 the average annual

3:59

value of $35.7 million a

4:01

year is 8th right now

4:03

in the big leagues, the

4:06

total dollars, $500 million with

4:08

no deferrals, second only to

4:10

Juan Soto's $765 million deal

4:13

signed with the New York

4:15

Mets earlier this winter. There's

4:17

a lot to unpack here,

4:19

but ultimately this is a

4:22

huge sigh of relief. for

4:24

the Blue Jays and their

4:26

fans. They got this done.

4:29

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is going

4:31

to be a lifetime Blue

4:33

Jay. There will be a

4:36

statue of him outside wherever

4:38

the Blue Jays are playing

4:40

in 15 years. And if

4:42

he continues on his current

4:45

trajectory, there's gonna be a

4:47

plaque in the Hall of

4:49

Fame in Cooperstown with Vladimir

4:52

Guerrero Jr's name on it.

4:54

Guerrero, again, just turned 26,

4:56

and that's something that a

4:58

lot of people tend to

5:01

ignore when you're talking about

5:03

his career to this point

5:05

and the magnitude of this

5:08

deal. Aaron Judge is the

5:10

best hitter in the majors

5:12

at the moment, probably. It's

5:14

certainly make the argument. Vladi

5:17

had 125 home runs in

5:19

the major leagues before Judge

5:21

hit his first. Aaron Judge

5:24

was a rookie of the

5:26

year of the year in

5:28

2017. At the age of

5:30

25, he's in April birthday,

5:33

he turned 25 that April.

5:35

Vladi turned 18 that March

5:37

and was in the major

5:40

leagues in 2019. That's a

5:42

20-year-old. He hasn't hit his

5:44

peak yet. If you throw

5:46

out the pandemic season in

5:49

which Guerrero happened to play

5:51

all 60 games. and had

5:53

an opious plus of 115.

5:56

15% better than the average

5:58

major leagueer as a 21

6:00

year old. But if you

6:02

throw out that pandemic season,

6:05

Vlad has played five full

6:07

years in the major leagues.

6:09

Two of them were incredible.

6:12

The other two, just very

6:14

good. And his rookie season,

6:16

he was 20 years old

6:18

in the major leagues and

6:21

had an OPS plus of

6:23

106. He was an above

6:25

average major league hitter as

6:28

a 20 year old. The

6:31

things that he's done are

6:33

astonishing. And the things that

6:35

he will continue to do

6:37

certainly appear as though they

6:39

will continue to be astonishing.

6:41

I'm not gonna sit here

6:43

and say he can only

6:45

get better. He may never

6:47

top 2021 when he hit

6:49

48 home runs to tie

6:52

for the Major League lead

6:54

with Sal Perez when he

6:56

had an OPS above a

6:58

thousand. Led the majors in

7:00

total bases. Hit over 300

7:02

with an on base over

7:04

400 and a slugging percentage

7:06

over 600. He may never

7:08

do that again But that's

7:10

okay What he should do

7:12

is be a consistent Top

7:15

two middle of the order

7:17

threat One of the best

7:19

hitters in the game one

7:21

of the best first baseman

7:23

in the game Slugging

7:25

first baseman don't grow on

7:28

trees anymore like they used

7:30

to. And while this is

7:32

a heck of a commitment

7:35

to a first baseman, more

7:37

than double what Miguel Cabrera

7:39

got on his big deal

7:42

that was worth $248 million,

7:44

Cabrera signed that deal at

7:46

31. Vladi is 26. Again,

7:49

that means so much here.

7:51

You're getting his entire peak.

7:53

And you're probably getting... 10

7:56

really good years. The last

7:58

couple probably is a DH.

8:00

But when you sign a

8:03

31-year-old to a 10-year deal,

8:05

you're probably only getting four

8:07

or five outstanding seasons. You

8:09

sign a 26-year-old to a

8:12

14-year deal, and yeah, maybe

8:14

the last few years of

8:16

this contract are going to

8:19

hurt? Probably, but that's okay.

8:21

This is what you have

8:23

to do to play with

8:26

the big boys. To get...

8:28

Mark Shapiro called him in

8:30

the spring a legacy player.

8:33

Wouldn't call him a generational

8:35

player in September. That's a

8:37

whole other thing. But he's

8:40

right. Because Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

8:42

is going to become the

8:44

face of the Blue Jays

8:47

for the first century of

8:49

this team. I don't think

8:51

he's going to surpass in

8:54

legend the Joe Carters and

8:56

Roy Hallidays and maybe not

8:58

even Carlos Delgado. But he's

9:01

going to be a career

9:03

Blue Jay. When his playing

9:05

days are done, he'll be

9:08

number one in almost every

9:10

offensive category in Blue Jays

9:12

history. Maybe not triples, not

9:14

stolen bases. But everything else.

9:17

And now we don't have

9:19

to spend the entire summer

9:21

thinking about what's going to

9:24

happen when Glad leaves for

9:26

nothing at the end of

9:28

the season. A lot to

9:31

unpack. How did this get

9:33

done? Who got it done?

9:35

I had someone say to

9:38

me on Blue Sky that

9:40

this was a rare win

9:42

for Ross Atkins. I don't

9:45

know how many other people

9:47

are thinking that, but my

9:49

reply to him was, this

9:52

had less than nothing to

9:54

do with Ross Atkins. This

9:56

is so far above his

9:59

pay grade. This

10:01

had nothing to do with

10:04

Ross Atkins. And I don't

10:06

know how much it had

10:08

to do with Mark Shapiro,

10:10

because ultimately, I believe that

10:13

if Shapiro really wanted this

10:15

to happen, he could have

10:17

made his case to ownership

10:19

over this winter. Maybe even

10:22

before Juan Soto signed and

10:24

it wouldn't have cost $500

10:26

million. But certainly afterwards. I

10:29

wonder if this was Edward

10:31

Rogers. Picking up the phone

10:33

and saying, let's do this.

10:35

They knew. You heard from

10:37

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. If you

10:39

listen to our opening day

10:41

extravaganza show, you heard right

10:43

from his mouth. If the

10:45

Blue Jays come to him

10:47

with his number, he would

10:49

have signed that day. They

10:51

finally did on April 7th.

10:53

Maybe the six, who knows,

10:55

when they officially agreed to

10:57

terms. If it happened. a

10:59

half hour before the news

11:02

came out. So did someone

11:04

get to Edward and say,

11:06

look, we got to do

11:08

this? I don't think he

11:10

would have been spooked by

11:12

first week crowds of 20,000

11:14

at Rogers Center. I certainly

11:16

don't think it had anything

11:18

to do with the Blue

11:20

Jays going to New York

11:22

this weekend and getting swept,

11:24

but ultimately something got them

11:26

there. When we sat down

11:28

and talked to Mark Shapiro,

11:30

when he met the media

11:32

towards the end of spring

11:34

training and talked about how

11:36

confident he was that this

11:38

was going to get done,

11:40

he said the sticking point

11:42

was what it is in

11:44

every negotiation and that's sharing

11:46

risk. The Blue Jays and

11:48

Vladi in Shapiro's eyes had

11:50

to get to a spot

11:53

where they were comfortable in

11:55

the shared risk. of this

11:57

deal. Because they weren't then.

11:59

Vladi still isn't. Because he

12:01

wasn't moving off his number.

12:03

Something got the Blue Jays

12:05

to come up to that

12:07

number and get the deal

12:09

done. And look, this is

12:11

terrific. This is how the

12:13

big kids play. This is

12:15

what you do, especially when

12:17

you've thrown more money at

12:19

Shoahoe Tani. And even more

12:21

money at Wan Soto over

12:23

the past two off seasons,

12:25

while you've had Vlad sitting

12:27

there with his hand up

12:29

saying, hey, I love it

12:31

here. I want to stay.

12:33

Where's my bag? And we've

12:35

gone over it many times

12:37

on this program in the

12:39

past. How, if the Blue

12:41

Jays had gone to Vladi,

12:44

the day after Fernando Tetis

12:46

Jr. signed his mega deal

12:48

and offered him probably $25

12:50

million less, you could get

12:52

away with it, because Tetis

12:54

was a shortstop at the

12:56

time, and Vladi was a

12:58

first baseman. Then the

13:00

deal probably gets done. It

13:02

was signed, it kicked in

13:04

in the 2021 season, when

13:06

Fernando Tetis, who is two

13:08

months older than Vladi, was

13:10

22 years old. Absolutely they

13:12

could have done it then,

13:14

wouldn't have had to have

13:17

him until he was 40,

13:19

and would have saved a

13:21

couple hundred million dollars. But

13:23

the Jays weren't convinced. They

13:25

weren't convinced this November. Could

13:27

have been convinced this November?

13:29

More in the spring. I

13:31

know it's still spring, but

13:33

in spring training. But they

13:35

did it now. Eventually the

13:37

story will come out. We'll

13:39

find out probably from Vlad

13:41

at some point soon how

13:44

this got done when it

13:46

got done. And his answer

13:48

may just be, hey, they

13:50

finally got to my number.

13:52

And I think that's the

13:54

truth. They finally got to

13:56

his number. Could they have

13:58

had a better... season if

14:00

they had done it sooner?

14:02

Probably. I can't imagine it's

14:04

easy to negotiate with free

14:06

agents when they look at

14:08

the future of this team

14:11

and have to wonder whether

14:13

your franchise player is going

14:15

to be there. But what

14:17

matters more than anything is

14:19

that they got there. Vladi's

14:21

not going to walk for

14:23

nothing. And even if you

14:25

roll your eyes at the

14:27

money. And you know,

14:29

you should. Half a billion

14:32

dollars is a lot of

14:34

money. Twice as much money

14:36

as has ever been given

14:38

to a first baseman in

14:40

the history of this game.

14:43

Paying a guy an average

14:45

of 37.5 million dollars a

14:47

year until he's 40 is

14:49

a massive commitment that again

14:51

is not going to work

14:54

out well at the end,

14:56

but that's okay. It's got

14:58

a chance to work out

15:00

really, really well for the

15:02

first decade. And... It gives

15:05

us a lifetime superstar Blue

15:07

Jay. We haven't had one

15:09

of those before. The closest

15:11

was Dave Steve. Dave Steve

15:13

was almost a lifetime Blue

15:15

Jay, but he played a

15:18

little bit for the Chicago

15:20

White Sox. Carlos Delgado left

15:22

as a free agent because...

15:25

At the time, Rogers wasn't

15:27

willing to pay up. He

15:29

was making 40% of the

15:31

team's payroll. He left. Joe

15:33

Carter left. Roberto Alomar left.

15:35

Roy Halliday forced to trade

15:37

to the Phillies. And rightly

15:39

so. Tony Fernandez left four

15:41

times, but always came back.

15:43

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a

15:45

forever Blue Jay. And honestly,

15:47

I can't believe. that it

15:50

happened now. I have been

15:52

on the record many times,

15:54

especially since that conversation with

15:56

Mark Shapiro and since the

15:58

conversation with John Schneider that

16:00

you heard if you listen

16:02

to the opening day extravaganza,

16:04

that the Blue Jay strategy

16:06

was going to be to

16:08

let Guerrero go to free

16:10

agency, hope that he didn't

16:12

find what he was looking

16:14

for out there and come

16:16

crawling back to them to

16:18

take their offer. And again.

16:20

The J's were offering $500

16:23

million with deferrals earlier. They

16:25

were probably offering $450 million

16:27

or so. And it's a

16:29

difference of $5 million a

16:31

year. It was very difficult

16:33

to imagine that they were

16:35

going to let this blow

16:37

up over $5 million a

16:39

year. More money than... I'm

16:41

going to make it my

16:43

lifetime, more money than pretty

16:45

much everybody listening to this

16:47

is as well, but a

16:49

pittance for a major league

16:51

baseball team, especially one owned

16:54

by Rogers. So however it

16:56

got done, whoever pushed Edward

16:58

to green light, giving Vlad

17:00

his money, a hearty muzzle-tove

17:02

to them and theirs. This

17:04

was absolutely the right move

17:06

for the Toronto Blue Jays.

17:08

and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is

17:10

going to be here until

17:12

he's 40. Take a quick

17:14

break and be right back

17:16

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17:18

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17:20

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It is a special bonus

19:20

episode of Deep Left Field

19:22

as the Blue Jays in

19:24

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. agreed to

19:26

a 14 year 500 million

19:28

dollar contract extension that begins

19:30

with the 2026 season. I

19:32

always ask you to subscribe

19:34

to this podcast and if

19:37

you do then you wouldn't

19:39

had to. Go looking for

19:41

this, it would have been

19:43

in your inbox on Monday

19:45

morning. So please subscribe. Give

19:47

us a five-star rating on

19:49

Apple Podcast, send us a

19:51

review, we'll read it. on

19:53

the program. Shoot us an

19:55

email at Deep Left Field

19:57

at the star dot C.A.

19:59

When the news of the

20:01

Guerrero signing broke around 1230

20:03

in the morning, Monday morning,

20:05

Sunday night, I told the

20:07

people who follow me on

20:10

Blue Sky at Wilderness. Send

20:12

me a few questions or

20:14

comments and I'll read them

20:16

on this special bonus episode

20:18

and the first one came

20:20

from Discount Lama. Always love

20:22

to hear from a llama.

20:24

And he said it's finally

20:26

this guy will be a

20:28

jay for life that is

20:30

actually going to be here

20:32

for his whole career. I'll

20:34

feel pretty safe getting some

20:36

Vladi jerseys now. Absolutely, you

20:38

should feel pretty safe. We

20:41

haven't heard if there's a

20:43

no trade clause in the

20:45

contract. We haven't heard if

20:47

there's any opt-outs in the

20:49

contract. But speaking of Laddy,

20:51

he wasn't really interested in

20:53

opt-outs. He has said he

20:55

wants to play in Toronto

20:57

to play in Toronto for

20:59

his whole career. He is

21:01

going to. You should feel

21:03

very comfortable buying a Vladimir

21:05

shirt. Jeremy said, I know

21:07

it's just dollars and cents,

21:09

but you do have to

21:11

wonder if this week was

21:14

a particularly convincing one for

21:16

the argument that Canada might

21:18

not have as many economic

21:20

disincentives as you might think.

21:22

Jeremy, it's interesting. You should

21:24

talk about the collapse of

21:26

the economy in the United

21:28

States this week with Donald

21:30

Trump's liberation day and the

21:32

tariffs. But I don't know

21:34

that that matters because Major

21:36

League Baseball is an American

21:38

enterprise. And yes, the Jays

21:40

play here in Canada, but

21:42

the business of the league

21:44

is American and it's tied

21:47

to the American economy far

21:49

more than it's tied to

21:51

the Canadian economy. And again,

21:53

for me, this wasn't Vlad

21:55

had his number. So

21:57

wasn't a matter of him

21:59

saying okay also? signed for

22:01

500 because it seems like

22:03

500 was what he wanted

22:06

all along. Bennett says, I

22:08

really only started following the

22:10

team in the last eight

22:12

months or so. Well, welcome

22:14

aboard. Bennett, I hope you're

22:16

listening to the program. This

22:18

extension's been hanging over the

22:20

team the whole time, been

22:23

a lot of doom and

22:25

gloom, but today is a

22:27

big win for the team

22:29

and excited to see where

22:31

they can go from here.

22:33

Absolutely. We'll see. I mean,

22:35

everyone. is going to start

22:37

talking about Bo Bichet now.

22:40

And in fact, Ryan followed

22:42

by saying long overdue, but

22:44

glad the Jay's finally got

22:46

realistic about Vladi's market value.

22:48

And maybe that's what it

22:50

was. Now they have to

22:52

extend Bichet. Discount llama says

22:54

Bo-nose extensions. Tammy said, no

22:56

way will ever know, but

22:59

it has the vibe of

23:01

ownership calling Shapiro and saying,

23:03

screw it, just get a

23:05

signature while we still can.

23:07

And I really do think

23:09

that's what happened. This went

23:11

way, way, way beyond Mark

23:13

Shapiro's valuations of what Vladimir

23:16

Guerrero Jr. is worth. And

23:18

Shapiro himself said, and I

23:20

keep going back to that

23:22

conversation because we talked about

23:24

it a little bit, that

23:26

whoever makes the call on

23:28

Vladimir's extension the baseball operations

23:30

of the team when Vlad

23:32

signs this extension is not

23:35

going to be around when

23:37

this extension is over or

23:39

hopefully anywhere close to it.

23:41

This came from ownership and

23:43

again as I said earlier

23:45

something changed in the last

23:47

week week and a half

23:49

with Edward Rogers and his

23:52

inner circle that they decided

23:54

No, we're not going to

23:56

wait. We're not going to

23:58

take the chance of... Vladimir

24:00

Guerrero Jr. leaves this team

24:02

as a free agent. That's

24:04

not happening. We've got a

24:06

number now. We're close. We're

24:09

gonna get there. And they

24:11

did. Then we had a

24:13

couple of questions in a

24:15

row that says, what's next?

24:17

One from Bennett, one from

24:19

Dave. And to that, I

24:21

know I already mentioned Bo,

24:23

but I would say, enjoy

24:25

this. It doesn't

24:27

always have to be about

24:30

what else is going to

24:32

happen. April 7th, 1977, Great

24:34

Day in Blue Jays History,

24:37

April 7th, 2025, Great Day

24:39

in Blue Jays History. They're

24:41

playing at the Big Kids

24:44

table. They've got their superstar.

24:46

Enjoy. But, absolutely, the next

24:48

thing is Bo Bichet. Bo

24:51

has said on the record

24:53

many times that he wants

24:55

to play with Vladimir Guerrero

24:58

Jr. for his entire career,

25:00

that they want to win

25:02

championships together. If the Blue

25:05

Jays win the World Series

25:07

this year, please don't start

25:09

holding your breath now. If

25:12

the Blue Jays win the

25:14

World Series this year, maybe

25:16

then Bo and Vlad won

25:18

a championship and Bo will

25:21

go. But he does want

25:23

to stay. The question is...

25:25

How much can the Blue

25:28

Jays commit to two players?

25:30

Because Beshet, while not a

25:32

$500 million player, if he

25:35

goes out and has a

25:37

typical Bopeshet year in 2025,

25:39

could easily, especially at his

25:42

age, he's a year older

25:44

than Vlad, pull in $200,

25:46

$250 million, maybe even 300

25:49

on the market. So... If

25:52

you're paying Vlad 37

25:54

a year and you're

25:56

paying Bow 22 a

25:59

year. Let's say

26:01

you got 60 million dollars

26:03

locked up in two players

26:05

for the next decade if

26:08

not decade and a half

26:10

Doesn't leave you a ton

26:12

of wiggle room. I mean

26:15

it still leaves you more

26:17

payroll than the pirates or

26:19

Tampa Bay or the A's

26:21

or Kansas City or Detroit

26:24

or a lot of teams

26:26

You could do it and

26:28

if you had the right

26:30

people running baseball operations With

26:33

a farm system that's churning

26:35

out talent Spending money wisely

26:37

could be done. This doesn't

26:40

take away from all the

26:42

mistakes that Blue Jays front

26:44

office has been making lately.

26:46

But I think that if

26:49

Bo Bichet stays with the

26:51

Blue Jays, it's because he

26:53

has to really want to.

26:56

And he has to be

26:58

flexible and do a lot

27:00

more risk sharing than Vladimir

27:02

Guerrero Jr. does. But we

27:05

know that next year, next

27:07

year. The Blue Jays will

27:09

have a starting rotation that

27:12

has Jose Barrios and Kevin

27:14

Gosman and Bowdoin Francis and

27:16

probably Alec Manoa. They'll have

27:18

Jeff Hoffman and Yimi Garcia

27:21

and Chad Green at the

27:23

back of the bullpen. They'll

27:25

have Adres Jimenez Jimenez. Will

27:28

Wagner. Alan Rodin, Anthony Santander,

27:30

Dalton Varsheau, and maybe Bo

27:32

Bichette. It's a good start.

27:34

And honestly, I think even

27:37

though we're talking about Bo

27:39

Bichette, I think Dalton Varsheau

27:41

is the next Blue Jay

27:44

to sign an extension. And

27:46

I would not be surprised

27:48

if Dalton Varsheau got an

27:50

extension before the all-star break

27:53

from this team. Getting Vladi

27:55

done was huge. and

27:58

necessary. not just

28:00

for the message that it sends

28:03

that the Blue Jays are serious,

28:05

that they're not willing to let

28:07

this home-grown superstar who wants to

28:09

be here, who doesn't need to

28:12

be convinced to play in Canada,

28:14

getting him done. That's a great

28:16

message. But it gets you the

28:19

guy who's gonna wind up being

28:21

the best hitter in the history

28:23

of this franchise. It's a good

28:25

day. Again, big congratulations to Edward

28:28

Rogers for stepping up. For

28:30

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for being a

28:32

man of his word and saying

28:35

if they come to me with

28:37

my number I will sign The

28:39

Blue Jays are kicking off a

28:41

four-game series in Boston as they

28:44

continue a tough road trip on

28:46

which they have lost the first

28:48

three games But at least for

28:51

a day or two, it's going

28:53

to be all about Vladimir Deep

28:55

Left Field, thanks so much for

28:57

being with us. Thank you to

29:00

our tremendous executive producer, JP Foso,

29:02

our audio engineers, Sean Patton, and

29:04

Crawford Blair, all of whom unexpectedly

29:06

had to work and get this

29:09

thing into your ears. The editor-in-chief

29:11

of the Toronto Stars, Nicole McIntyre,

29:13

and again, the best way for

29:15

you to support this podcast is

29:18

to go to the star.com, go

29:20

to the Deep Left Field page

29:22

and subscribe to the Toronto Star

29:24

off that page and will cost

29:27

you one dollar. for six months.

29:29

The biggest thank you of all,

29:31

of course, goes to you. The

29:33

listeners, whether it's your first time

29:36

listening, your 248th, or anywhere in

29:38

between, we will be back Thursday

29:40

with our regularly scheduled weekly episode

29:42

and hopefully the Blue Jays will

29:45

have won a game on this

29:47

road trip by then. If not,

29:49

they've already picked up their biggest

29:51

win of the season. Vladimir Guerrero

29:54

Jr. is sticking around. My name

29:56

is Mike Wilner. Thank you so

29:58

much for listening and we'll see

30:00

you here next week in deep

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