Blue Jays still confident they’ll get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed: ‘We have such a clear alignment’
After striking out on a couple of high-profile free-agent pursuits, the Blue Jays aren’t ready to give up on keeping their own superstar.
While New York baseball fans are split between penciling pending free agent Vladimir Guerrero Jr. into the Yankees’ and Mets’ lineups in 2026, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has other plans.
“I think we’re going to sign him. I think we’re going to extend him,” Shapiro told reporters on Thursday during spring training. “We have such a clear alignment on the desired outcome.
“Vlad wants to play his whole career as a Toronto Blue Jay. We want him to end his career in a Blue Jays uniform and be a true legacy player for the Toronto Blue Jays. That’s a pretty good place to start.”
All that really matters, however, is the finishing point.
The Blue Jays offered Guererro a $500 million extension that included significant deferred money, The Post’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman previously reported.
That would have made Guerrero, 26, the No. 3 highest-paid player in MLB — behind the Mets’ Juan Soto and Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, both of whom entertained free-agent discussions with the Blue Jays but ultimately passed on moving north of the border.
Guerrero, who is seeking a 14-year deal, previously said that he countered at less than $600 million.
So, the sides are in the same financial ballpark — if the ballpark has at least 50 million seats.
Informed of Shapiro’s confidence in retaining him, Guerrero echoed that he is “optimistic.”
It is a slight change of tune from the self-imposed Feb. 17 deadline that he put on negotiations with the only organization that he has known.
“I’ve always felt good about the whole thing,” the four-time All-Star first baseman said. “I’m good with that. Just going to keep working very hard and be optimistic, too. Not going to shut the door on them.
“I’m going to leave that to my agents to work with that. If there’s something there, they’re going to continue to work with that. I’m just going to be on the field, focusing on my teammates, on my team, on my game.”
Shapiro called reports on the contract figures an “oversimplification” of a complex negotiation.
“I would say the only other thing that actually sells tickets in the hundreds of thousands is winning,” Shapiro said. “There are players who have magnetic personalities – like Vlad –who amplify winning and can really help, but fans don’t come to see great players on losing teams.”