With Blue Jays’ Vlad Guerrero Jr. locked up for life, owner Edward Rogers vows World Series will follow

He strode to the podium clad in his stylish pink suit, that finery later covered by the Blue Jays jersey he intends to wear for the rest of his playing days.

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And then Vlad Guerrero Jr. signed his baseball life away, putting pen to paper on the historic 14-year, $500-million US extension he agreed to with the Blue Jays a week earlier.

With Rogers Communications executive chair Edward Rogers — the most powerful man in Canadian professional sports — at his right, it was a big day for Guerrero, for the company that is paying him all that loot and for a fan base that has a homegrown hero’s coattails to ride.

Guerrero was born in Montreal, raised in the Dominican and has been a baseball lifer in Toronto since he was signed as a 16-year-old by former general manager, Alex Anthopoulos.

“I’ve thought about this always since I signed here, that I was going to be a Blue Jay forever,” Guerrero said in English at the Monday news conference at the Rogers Centre to officially celebrate the record deal. “I’m always going to remember this day. I don’t know how to explain how I feel right now.”

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Nobody did, really, given that nothing like it has ever happened in this city or this country before and especially since stalled negotiations two months ago made it seem certain Guerrero was headed for a long, slow walk towards free agency.

Even though the news was eight days old, making it official somehow made it seem even more real. And with two rows of family — including his wife and eight-year-old daughter in attendance — Guerrero was centre stage alongside the man who made him the second-richest player in baseball.

In the back, a bunch of his teammates whooped their approval — Jose Berrios, George Springer, Anthony Santander among them attending the news conference in a room not far from the clubhouse. It was a celebration, contrived as it may have been.

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The magnitude of the deal — as manager John Schneider noted later — caused the entire baseball world to take notice. But from a Toronto context it’s difficult to overstate the impact.

Merely having Edward Rogers in attendance and speaking publicly to the media was a franchise first and his explanation for getting the deal done was both fantastical and emphatic.

As to how the team and the company could possibly turn a profit from the biggest contract in Canadian sports history?

“The World Series championship coming back to Toronto,” would likely do the trick, Rogers said. “But we strive every year and with Vlad at the front of that, we’re closer.”

While that declaration should be somewhat inspiring to fans — who doesn’t want an owner who wants to win and spends like it? — what happens next matters most.

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Can the 2025 team turn this season into something? We shall see.

Can shortstop and long-time Vlad running mate Bo Bichette be convinced to stay on another big-money long-term deal? It’s complicated.

“He’s my brother and I hope he stays here from the bottom of my heart, but I can’t control that,” Guerrero said.

Will future free agents now see Toronto as an even more attractive destination now that the franchise cornerstone is locked up for so long? Many believe yes.

And left unsaid, when can Vlad start smashing baseballs out of the park again, as heading into Monday’s first of three games against the visiting Atlanta Braves he was still in search of his first homer of 2025.

In many ways, those are questions for another day, but in reality they’re not. This is a team that has been waffling away its promise for three-plus seasons now and with this payroll faces an urgency to win.

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Even the Guerrero deal itself took longer than it should have. There’s no denying Rogers could have saved a couple hundred million had his front office taken care of business a couple of years ago. But the man, whose late father Ted bought the team for a bargain $160 million 25 years ago, was determined to get the Guerrero extension completed.

“A deal of this size takes time,” Rogers’ said. “This was the right move for the Jays and that’s the way that we looked at it. It’s a great long-term deal that will make the Blue Jays more competitive and increase our chances to win.”

The heavy narrative throughout has been Vlad’s love for Canada. And while that may be a marketing dream, those who know him best swear it’s also genuine.

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“I think he did a great job of communicating what it meant to him playing for this country and this team,” Schneider said. “He wasn’t (BSing) when he said he wanted to stay here. He’s always been family-oriented — whether it’s actual family or his teammates — so it means a lot.

“There are different parts of this organization’s history that people grasp onto,” Schneider said. “Definitely the World Series, the Joe Carter (home run) and the (playoff runs of 2015 and 2016.) I think for the fan base to have somebody they can really relate to and that their kids can relate to, is special.”

For pitcher Berrios, the feeling is just as authentic. The more he’s come to know his teammate, the more he seems how much family and home mean to his friend and fellow Latin star.

“It’s more than a pay cheque for him,” Berrios said. “We are human and for him having the opportunity to sign here and stay here — for Vlad, it feels like home. He has always said that to me.”

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