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.
These figures represent the range the Blue Jays were willing to discuss and, thus, details where matters stood before Guerrero’s camp halted negotiations, as promised, before the Jays’ first full-squad workout Feb. 18.
The Jays were offering to make Guerrero the game’s third-highest paid player, behind Mets superstar Juan Soto’s record $765 million, non-deferred deal that could reach $805 million and Dodgers two-way international superstar Shohei Ohtani’s heavily deferred $700 million deal, which is valued in current dollars at between $440 million and $470 million.
Guerrero, who would hit free agency young (he turns 26 Sunday), reaffirmed to The Post last month that the Jays’ offer was not close to what he was seeking. He later told Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes that he offered to sign with Toronto for less than $600 million, which would still put the sides $100 million-plus apart in terms of actual value, assuming Guerrero’s request was somewhat close to that $600 million number. Guerrero would like to do a very long deal like Soto, but has acknowledged that Soto’s unmatched consistency fairly puts the new Met’s value higher.