It seems like other teams want Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
On Wednesday morning, Andy Martino of Sportsnet New York reported that the New York Mets have “checked in” on Guerrero Jr. for a trade, noting that it seems unlikely, referring it to “the realm of fantasy baseball.”
Guerrero Jr. has said plenty of times before that he wants to stay in Toronto, albeit it’s been speculated that he wants to test the free agent market. In an interview with Abrideno Sports about three weeks back, he gave the Blue Jays a deadline of the first day of Spring Training to negotiate a new deal with him.
However, TSN’s Scott Mitchell reported on Wednesday that the Blue Jays have offered three separate contracts and have yet to reach the $400 million mark and that the two parties aren’t close.
If the Jays don’t trade Guerrero Jr., either during this off-season or before the trade deadline if they sell again, there’s a chance that he’ll walk in free agency with the Jays getting a measly pick. That’s not a particularly good way to start a rebuild.
But let’s hypothetically say that the Blue Jays do decide to trade Guerrero Jr. as they feel like they can’t agree on a contract. What do the Mets have to offer?
Their top-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline’s mid-season update in 2024 is right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat, who ranked as the 40th-best prospect in baseball. The Mets have four other players on the top 100 prospect list, Jett Williams who ranked 52nd, Drew Gilbert who ranked 74th, Ryan Clifford who ranked 87th, and Carson Benge who ranked 99th.
Moreover, the Mets have a handful of intriguing young players with term on their roster, like Mark Vientos, Francisco Álvarez, Brett Baty, and Luisangel Acuña. Surely, the Jays would want a young, MLB player coming back the other way to avoid a long and drawn-out rebuild.
Either way, it’s going to take a significant overpayment from the Mets to get a trade done as of now. The Blue Jays still want to contend in 2025 and are in on free agents like Rōki Sasaki and Anthony Santander, while reportedly having interest in Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso. The latter of which may have been why this report came out, as to put pressure on the former Mets’ first baseman to return to New York.
It’s still possible Guerrero Jr. will be traded in the future, maybe at the trade deadline if the Jays’ season goes all wrong again, but it doesn’t seem likely that the Mets will be trading for the superstar first baseman for the time being.