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The Toronto Blue Jays are getting ready to break camp for an important 2025 regular season. Both Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Bo Bichette will be free agents at the end of the season. They already tried to re-sign Guerrero but contract negotiations fell through before spring training. Reports from Guerrero's camp said the final offer was less than $600 million and now we know what the Blue Jays offered. Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post have the numbers.
“The Toronto Blue Jays offered superstar first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a deal for about $500 million before negotiations were halted last month — although significant deferrals put an estimate of the actual net present value of the offer between $400 million and $450 million, league sources familiar with the negotiation tell The Post.”
Then Guerrero's camp responded through The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. “The number Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wants is $500 million. Not $500 million before deferrals, but $500 million in present value, according to sources briefed on the first baseman’s contract negotiations with the Toronto Blue Jays.”
Deferrals have been around baseball for a long time, shoutout Bobby Bonilla, but have become a talking point recently. Shohei Ohtani took a $700 million deal that has a present-day value of less than $450 million. His plan to leave money for the Dodgers to compete now has certainly worked.
Calculating present value is impossible without the length and salary of the contract. The league uses 4.43% as the annual interest rate to calculate the present value of the deferments. So to have $100,000,000 in present value, deferments would have to add up to $100,000,00 plus another $4,430,000 per year of the deferment. If Guerrero and his camp get this extra money from the Blue Jays, free agency could be avoided.
The Blue Jays should be interested in keeping their superstar but if they can't, prepare for another monster free-agency chase.
