Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. caught the ire of fans with his comments on his US$500-million contract on Wednesday, after his team was eliminated from playoff contention.Chris Jones/Reuters
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. could have made up a million stories to explain his miserable 2026 season. Sore back; World Series letdown; timing off; beloved cat died. People would have believed anything.
Instead, Guerrero chose another way – I don’t owe you anything, but you owe me.
Asked in a Spanish-language interview to explain why he’s transformed in the space of a year from Babe Ruth to Mario Mendoza, Guerrero launched into an economics lesson.
“I want people to understand one thing. The money [Toronto] gave me wasn’t for what I’m going to do. It was for what I already did. They didn’t pay me because I’m going to hit 40 [home runs] every year. They paid me for what I already accomplished.”
He has a point. Last year, when he ripped it up in the playoffs, Guerrero was paid only US$28,500,000. It’s hardly enough to staff a decent-sized yacht. A rebalancing of the scales was plainly required.
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So far, his new contract has paid him an additional 40 mil. The Jays owe him another 460. Maybe Edward Rogers should take Guerrero to a lavish dinner, and ask if that will cover it.
It is a cherished hope of the middle class that the fantastically rich are miserable and/or deluded. Sadly, the rich, when you meet them, are often unco-operative in proving this thesis.
That is, until now. Guerrero is both those things. He spent much of the rest of that interview whining about how nobody thinks he’s any good any more (possibly because he hasn’t been any good).
Watching the video of him leaned back in a comfy couch in a hotel suite somewhere, speaking in a tone of grievance, the word that leaps to mind is schmuck. The guy is a schmuck. A talented schmuck, but a schmuck nonetheless.
I guess this is what happens when a man hits the cusp of his 30s without ever once having to worry about making rent. He becomes untethered from the lived reality of normal people. His sense of entitlement balloons. We’ve all heard about people like this, but it’s really something to see it in practice.
Guerrero said the new contract he signed with the Blue Jays was for the work he'd done, not for the work he would do in years to come.Greg Fiume/Getty Images
And still, it got better. Having heard the shock of the plebs, Guerrero decided to not correct the record. Offered a chance to clarify his comments (i.e. walk them back by blaming misinterpretation), Guerrero doubled down.
“I don’t regret myself,” Guerrero told Jays beat reporters. “I’m not lying with what I say.”
The people who should be doing some regretting are the ones who gave Guerrero his US$500-million deal. This is who they’ve handcuffed the franchise to for another 13 years – a rapidly fading slugger who thinks a US$28-million salary is an insult. I’m sure that’s going to work out great.
Until this moment, the Jays were coasting on the fumes of Game 7. They were crap this year, but they were still likeable. There were bright spots – Dylan Cease, Louis Varland, Kazuma Okamoto.
All the Jays had to do to escape this disaster year was jog into the off-season without saying anything stupid. Which is when Guerrero dropped what may be the stupidest comment in baseball history.
Does anyone at this organization ever talk to Guerrero? Not nod at him in the hallway, but actually talk to him? Has he floated this theory to them? And if he did, did they just nod and say, “Oh yeah. Totally. Forty home runs? Who thinks that?”
Clearly, either through complicity or inattention, the Jays have allowed Guerrero’s ego to run amok. Now they’re going to pay for it.
Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro should be praying for a lockout, Cathal Kelly writes, so that it can give fans more time to forget Guerrero's comments.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
The Jays are no longer the good guys you remember. From this point on, they’re the mooks who think their paying customers require a major attitude adjustment. You thought we were going to win every year? Seriously?? Then maybe we need to talk money. How much have you got?
Were I team president Mark Shapiro, I would be praying for a lockout. It will give all the fans Guerrero just insulted more time to forget.
The really dark theory? That Guerrero knew exactly how this would go over. That he said it to incite supporters and make his employers squirm. In the past, Guerrero has shown a willingness to push haphazardly at the Jays’ buttons. Could this be his revenge for some perceived slight? Or a bizarre plan to force his way out of town?
If so, it’s a clever act of reputational sabotage. Too clever, probably. But maybe I’m not giving the man enough credit.
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Eventually, Guerrero will be forced to take it back. Not all the way, but some. He was frustrated, he’ll say. He meant it, but not really. He’s had a while to think about it, and regrets the way he put it.
Maybe a short clubhouse statement during this coming weekend’s last homestand, followed by a gauzy Sportsnet interview at a date TBD. A few gentle softballs, and then a sudden, Murrow-esque turn into seriousness. A harp playing in the background as Guerrero squeezes out a tear.
Suckers always fall for this routine, and there are a lot of suckers, but I wonder if the usual PR playbook will work this time. People seem increasingly inclined to blame their problems on clueless elites.
With this one tone-deaf interview, Guerrero has catapulted himself into company with the Musks and Zuckerbergs of the world. He doesn’t have their net worth, but he shares their fundamental detachment from the real world. People who have everything always feel they are owed more. It’s how they live with themselves.
To be fair, Guerrero has done Toronto baseball fans one enormous favour – he’s told them the truth. He doesn’t feel he owes them a thing. If anything, they owe him.
Now fully apprised of what the people you root for actually think of you, you may proceed with your fandom accordingly.