MLB Trade Rumors: Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette ‘Asks Were Ridiculous’
Featured Columnist IVMay 21, 2024
R.J. Johnston/Toronto Star via Getty Images
The Toronto Blue Jays reportedly set “ridiculous” asking prices in trade talks for first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and shortstop Bo Bichette.
“I don’t think they’re opposed to it,” an executive told Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. “They’ve talked to teams about it. The asks were ridiculous, but I think they’re going to try to retool a lot, and using those guys to get pieces may be the way to do it.”
The Blue Jays are currently in last place in the AL East at 21-25 and have the third-worst run differential in the AL (-40).
Guerrero is eligible for free agency after the 2025 season. He won his arbitration case over the winter and is raking in $19.9 million, an all-time Blue Jays record for an arbitration case.
Bichette avoided arbitration by signing a three-year, $33.6 million contract and won’t hit free agency until 2026.
While Toronto still has time to determine how it wants to handle the immediate future, Guerrero and Bichette are nine-figure players who would cause a massive increase in the Blue Jays’ payroll. Toronto currently ranks ninth in MLB with a $225.8 million total payroll.
No player on the Jays makes more than $24.2 million. Guerrero and Bichette are a virtual certainty to eclipse that number and could sent the Toronto payroll skyrocketing toward the $300 million mark.
It’s unlikely ownership is willing to pony up that type of cash for a roster that’s been swept in the Wild Card Round the last two seasons and hasn’t won a playoff series since 2016.
