Vladimir Guerrero Jr holds all the cards now and he knows it.
The Toronto Blue Jays have a history of lowballing their star players and it has never worked out in the long run.
The mess with extending Vladimir Guerrero Jr may have started last February in his last arbitration meeting with Ross Atkins.
If you remember the process, it wasn't exactly an amicable one when the Blue Jays offer of $18.05 million was below what Guerrero Jr's worth was, thus sending them to the arbitration table.
Once the arbitration meeting was over, Guerrero was awarded $19.9 million which may seem like a lot, however in terms of keeping the face of the franchise happy and looking back now it's peanuts for the Rogers Corp.
That may have left a little bit of a bad taste in Guerrero's mouth last spring.
So here we are, a calendar flipped to a new year and less than two weeks away from the next arbitration deadline and the next possible meeting.
Guerrero has since made it clear he isn't shy about going all the way to free agency, doing so publicly to boot.
In that revealing Spanish-language interview on the Abriendo Sports Podcast, Guerrero dropped a bombshell that could affect the immediate future of the team for years to come.
The reports suggest that the Jays have offered $340 million and Guerrero's response has loosely been:
Not only that , but he gave Ross Atkins a deadline of the first day of spring training to negotiate an extension worthy of his services.
So once again Ross Atkins strategy is to lowball the face of the franchise? I don't understand this strategy?
Is it because he undervalues Guerrero?
Why does it have to be left to the final hours to give this obvious superstar what he deserves?
Forcing Guerrero's hand in every negotiation till it's too late isn't going to bode well with future negotiations with other players on this team.
And why they have let it get to the point where the most likely scenario seems to be allowing him to walk into free agency in 11 months is baffling.
Guerrero clearly grasps leverage.
He clearly understands timing.
And he's clearly aware that given the financial occurrence in the free agent world these days there is little incentive to sign an extension with Toronto now.
Guerrero holds all the cards now and you better believe he isn't going to settle for a middle of the road extension at this point.
Ross Atkins misplaying his cards in the Guerrero situation over the past two years has the potential to ruin our chances of not just this season, but the future of this club going forward.
Buckle up Blue Jays fans, It's only the beginning thanks to a series of misplays by the brain trust of this team.
