The closest Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will ever get to playing for the Mets just finished when his Toronto Blue Jays were swept away at Citi Field in a three-game set over the weekend.
The slugging first baseman and the American League East club are in agreement on a massive 14-year, $500 million contract extension, according to multiple reports, that will cement Guerrero’s place north of the border — something the old Montreal Expos could not do with his father some 21 years ago.
Guerrero was slated to become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season, and speculation linking him to New York had been ramping up. President of baseball operations David Stearns reportedly checked in with Toronto over the winter about potentially working out a trade for the 26-year-old when extension talks between Blue Jays brass and Guerrero were dormant, and Pete Alonso’s future in New York was murky.
While Alonso returned to the Mets on a two-year, $54 million deal, he has an opt-out following this season. If he were to reassume his quest for a long-term, big-money deal after his 31st birthday with agent Scott Boras in tow, pursuing Guerrero in free agency would have been a logical option — especially because they have the financial backing of Steve Cohen to outbid anyone in baseball, as seen by their coup for Juan Soto.
Across town in the Bronx, the Yankees had received a glimmer of hope involving their star in-division rival, too. After previously stating in 2023 that he would never play for the Bronx Bombers, “not even dead,” Guerrero said last month that he would speak to every team if he were to reach free agency, “even the Yankees.”
General manager Brian Cashman is going to be back in the market for a first baseman sooner rather than later. After moving on from Anthony Rizzo in the offseason, they signed 37-year-old Paul Goldschmidt to a one-year contract.
