How Vladimir Guerrero’s 14-year extension supercharged the Blue Jays for the long haul

DUNEDIN, Fla. — In his mind, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. thought he acted normally. But something blew his cover. Perhaps it was repeated calls minutes before a game that gave it away, or a quick smile as he hung up the phone.

“That call. Looks like you’re going to stay here,” said Andrés Giménez, the first teammate to know.

It was the beginning of a trickle through the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse last April, as news of Guerrero’s franchise-changing extension spread to his teammates. It continued for days, as more and more found out.

For some, it was an expected outcome. For many, it brought relief.

For all, it helped spark a run to the World Series and set a clear direction for the Blue Jays. It solidified a superstar in Toronto, silenced calls for a rebuild and opened a fresh competitive window, one that continues into this season, as Guerrero’s 14-year extension begins.

“After he signed a contract,” Giménez said this spring, “just everything fell into form to reach the World Series. That was one of the biggest moments last season. Everything fit after that.”

Last year, as the Blue Jays first baseman rested in a back room of Citi Field’s road clubhouse, the first call came just before 5 p.m. on April 5. He picked up, carefully listened to the voice on the other end and shoved the phone back in his pocket. It vibrated every 30 minutes after that — at his wooden locker and as he walked through the halls.

The final call arrived minutes before first pitch, as rain stopped falling on the tarped field outside. It began one of the most important conversations in Blue Jays history. Guerrero’s extension, his agent Barry Praver told him, was essentially done: $500 million, 14 years.

“Don’t say anything,” Guerrero recalled his agent saying. “Don’t be emotional.”

With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. under contract through 2039, the Blue Jays expect many more celebrations ahead. (Mark Blinch / Getty Images)

But Guerrero couldn’t keep it entirely to himself. He confirmed Giménez’s suspicions, swearing the infielder to secrecy. He whispered to José Berríos as the Jays trotted onto a drenched field for a game against the Mets.

“I got to the number I wanted,” Guerrero quietly said. “But don’t say anything to anybody.”

The Blue Jays wanted to wait until the team returned home to announce the agreement, Guerrero told Berríos. It meant a week of silence through a loud three-city road trip that included stops in both New York and Boston — two speculated free-agent destinations for Guerrero. At Citi Field, Mets fans cheered the first baseman as he jogged onto the field as if he would soon be theirs.

That uncertainty feels quite distant now. The road ovations and social media edits of Guerrero in other uniforms are long gone. The Blue Jays locked up the slugger, went to the World Series and spent $340 million, more money than any other franchise this winter. But a year ago, the Jays appeared in limbo.

Coming off a 74-win season, Toronto’s franchise pillars, Guerrero and Bo Bichette, were both months from free agency. A bad year, or even just a bad couple of months, could’ve pushed the team into a rebuild. That’s what made Guerrero’s decision, and those final few phone calls, so pivotal.

“There were some questions, even at that time, about what was the direction,” manager John Schneider said. “That really kind of started the domino effect.”

Schneider had an inkling the night before, sitting at a hotel bar in New York for dinner with hitting coach David Popkins and general manager Ross Atkins. The GM kept picking up his phone, going back and forth with Guerrero’s agent before returning to the trio’s meal. That sort of rapid dialogue doesn’t happen for no reason.

“It just seemed like it was pretty imminent,” Schneider said.

Still, Schneider was surprised the next day when Guerrero, in his full road uniform, walked into the manager’s office 20 minutes before first pitch. Usually, that close to game time, the slugger is in the batting cage or on the field stretching.

“What’s up?” Schneider asked. “You good?”

After Guerrero broke the news, the pair embraced. Schneider first managed a 17-year-old Guerrero in Bluefield, West Va., in 2016. He coached him from a pedigreed prodigy to an MVP candidate. They rose together and suffered crushing October defeats together. The extension gave them an opportunity to stay — and win — together. Schneider asked who he could tell. The coaches, Guerrero told him, could know.

“So I could kind of spread the word a little bit down the bench,” Schneider said. “Was pretty cool.”

It was a small group who knew in those first few hours, but it didn’t stay that way for long. A $500 million secret is a hard one to keep and news of Guerrero’s agreement finally broke just after midnight on April 7. Notifications buzzed phones across Canada and fans begged the Jays’ social media accounts to confirm. But reliever Jeff Hoffman, settled in his hotel room in Boston, didn’t learn until the next morning.

Toronto’s closer arrived at Fenway Park, shuffling into the food room in the road clubhouse. He looked up at the television playing MLB Network on loop. A message, in all caps, flashed across the screen: BLUE JAYS EXTEND GUERRERO.

“It was a no-brainer,” Hoffman said. “That’s the face of the franchise.”

It was the exact news Hoffman wanted, and perhaps expected, when he signed with the Jays three months earlier. He knew the Blue Jays had just finished last in the AL East, but thought it’d give them a collective chip on their shoulder. He knew Guerrero and Bichette could walk in the winter, he said, but Atkins told him ownership wasn’t shy about spending. The breaking news banner on a Fenway Park television only confirmed it.

“It freed us up a little bit,” Hoffman said. “Because with the uncertainty before, obviously, that question is always in your mind. Is he going to be here? Is he not going to be here? Having it done early like that, I feel like it gave us a little boost. We were already really excited going into last year, so I felt like it was a nice little cherry on top.”

George Springer and Kevin Gausman don’t remember exactly when they found out. It was sometime between Guerrero’s pre-game phone calls and Hoffman’s Fenway revelation. But both, at least 12 months later, claim they knew it was coming.

“Talking with Vlad,” Gausman said. “I knew he didn’t want to go anywhere else. He wants to win here.”

It was a looming question, Springer said, but one that got blown into an unnecessarily large saga. After the team and Guerrero failed to reach an agreement before spring training, Springer said, he and many long-time Jays knew the sides kept talking.

“It was just a matter of when,” Springer said. “Then it happened.”

Still, there was a difference between an assumed agreement and a finalized contract. Those final calls at Citi Field, as the Jays and Guerrero’s agent worked through the last details of his extension, including the yearly distribution of salary and a significant signing bonus, sealed the deal.

Before Guerrero signed, Berríos said, the clubhouse was anxious. The deal, Giménez said, put the team at peace. Schneider called it an exhale, for both Guerrero and his teammates.

The first baseman, 26 at the time of signing, is under contract through 2039. He has a chance to be a lifelong Blue Jay and rewrite the franchise’s record books.

“To me,” Guerrero said, “I was always going to be here. We just made it happen. It was just relief, finally.”

That relief kick-started Toronto’s climb and reestablished the franchise’s direction. Guerrero drove in 84 runs in the regular season, earning MVP votes for the fourth time and helping Toronto to a division title. With eight homers in 17 postseason games, he set franchise playoff records and took the Jays further than they’ve been since 1993. Technically, all that came in Guerrero’s final year of arbitration, though. His 14-year extension starts now.

Even with Bichette departed, the Jays have their central building block. There is no rebuilding with the prime of Guerrero to capitalize on. It’s the first time in Gausman’s 14-year career, the veteran starter said, that he has no question about his team’s commitment to contention.

“You just never know when that window will be,” Gausman said. “For us, it’s now.”

The Jays thrust that window back open last year, leaving limbo when Guerrero’s extension became official on April 9, 2025. That’s when the press release was sent, with rare words from owner Edward Rogers. It’s when Guerrero was authorized to speak publicly, and he no longer needed to quietly contain his emotions. He was, Guerrero said at the time, home.

“I’ve never seen this organization as an organization,” Guerrero told reporters in Boston. “I see it as a family.”

By then, all his teammates knew. Every Blue Jays fan was aware, and Guerrero’s friends and family had already celebrated. But he still had one call left to make.

Ahead of the 2025 season, Guerrero met with a tailor to design a suit for the All-Star Game. It was to be bubble-gum pink, with four black buttons on each sleeve and matching pants — the sort of ornate attire that draws every eye when it enters a room.

Guerrero couldn’t wait for the Midsummer Classic to show it off. He had a more important event to attend, and it was the perfect suit for a franchise-altering press conference.

“It’s ready,” the tailor replied.

Now, the Blue Jays hope he’ll someday be fitted for a ring.