The Blue Jays would not make a compelling enough offer to convince Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to sign an extension and become the franchise’s face for the next decade or so. So they’ll have to compete with some pretty big-shouldered teams next winter to keep their star, a generational talent whether team president Mark Shapiro admits it or not.
The Blue Jays’ stance regarding Vladdy Guerrero’s contract extension defies logic.
Gregor Chisholm believes the Blue Jays’ stance on Vladdy Guerrero’s contract extension defies logic.
That is, if they truly want to, despite the platitudes Shapiro and his general manager Ross Atkins delivered to the media in Florida on Tuesday, including the Star’s Gregor Chisholm.
I wrote in August, and I’ve reiterated weekly on Deep Left Field, the Star’s baseball podcast, that Guerrero needed to become a lifelong Blue Jay. That it would be financially uncomfortable, but worthwhile nonetheless. And that was before they offered a billion dollars (Canadian) to Juan Soto, who turned them down to sign with the Mets.
Edward Rogers was part of the presentation to Soto, and as much as we’d like to blame Shapiro and Atkins for this franchise-altering failure, the fact that Guerrero — the homegrown superstar, Canadian-born for the love of Cheez Whiz, who has repeatedly expressed a desire to stay in Toronto — isn’t locked up right now is entirely on Rogers’ shoulders.
There’s a “be careful what you wish for” aspect to wanting an owner to be more involved, given how many examples of meddling resulting in major problems.
From 1978 to 1996, the Yankees went without a World Series championship after George Steinbrenner dug his heels in. Under Peter Angelos, the Orioles never won a championship, with the last coming in 1983. And everyone knows what happened to the Leafs under Harold Ballard.
However, the reverse is as worrying, and the Blue Jays have that. Until this winter, Rogers had been so disconnected from the team that Shapiro effectively wielded full ownership with little to no oversight.
Rogers has been buying what Shapiro has been selling — hook, line and sinker — ever since he brought him in to replace Paul Beeston a decade ago.
Shapiro speaks Rogers’ language, something neither Beeston nor Alex Anthopoulos could do. There’s no question Shapiro has made Rogers money and, for a time, had fulfilled the promise to build the team into a championship contender.