DALLAS -- Now on deck, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

After Shohei Ohtani brought the MLB Winter Meetings back to the level of prestige television a year ago and Juan Soto¡¯s 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets opened these meetings in Dallas with a bang, Vladdy is next in line.

• What's next for Blue Jays after not landing Soto?

It¡¯s a beautiful place to be for a young star who seemed to rediscover his own greatness in 2024, his midsummer surge bringing him to a 30-homer season with a .940 OPS and a sixth-place finish in American League MVP Award voting. If Guerrero can build off that season -- which is still a variable here -- he could launch his own high-profile bidding war this time next year at just 26.

¡°We have to stay disciplined to how we view things,¡± Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said Monday, less than 24 hours after Soto set the record for the biggest contract in sports history. ¡°We are committed to always being fair and being consistent. Nothing has changed in terms of our pursuit of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and we are very hopeful to extend him.¡±

These past two offseasons have shown us that these pursuits are about more than just a baseball player and more than just the numbers on a page.

In Ohtani¡¯s case, clubs were fighting over a once-in-a-lifetime talent who could also unlock incredible potential with the Japanese market. The Blue Jays viewed this as a unique business case as much as a baseball transaction, as they should have. In Soto, there was an elevated sense of pride on the line with New York vs. New York out in front of it all, while the Blue Jays and Red Sox, both trying to reestablish themselves as legitimate threats in this league, saw Soto as their opportunity to do just that with one triumphant moment.

¡°We were just really fortunate to have the support that we had,¡± Atkins said. ¡°He¡¯s a really good player and a really good person on and off the field, so we had a lot of interest. We were grateful to be a part of the process.¡±

By now, it¡¯s clear that the Blue Jays have one budget for a ¡°normal¡± offseason but can make exceptions for a player of Ohtani¡¯s or Soto¡¯s caliber. Where is that line drawn, then, and could Guerrero step over that line at any point in the year to come?

¡°Every player, every acquisition is unique. I would say that those two are incredibly unique,¡± Atkins said. ¡°Could there be other avenues where there are opportunities to be a bit more nimble or agile with our payroll? Yes. But we try to operate in the most efficient way possible with a set of parameters to start, then present opportunities as they come.¡±

Such flexibility makes it difficult to define a budget in any way. But what¡¯s obvious now is that the Blue Jays have both the motivation and the support from Rogers ownership to go well beyond financial expectations to land the right player.

The simple version? If they want a guy, they can find the money.

¡°I¡¯ve known Vlad for a long time and I want him to be here for a long time,¡± said manager John Schneider. ¡°It happens every year. Someone signs a deal and it ups the ante a little bit. I¡¯m just looking forward to Vlad having another good year, really. He¡¯s going to get taken care of. He¡¯s a really good player and we want him to be here for a long time. I don¡¯t worry about him taking his attention off of what he¡¯s doing right now. I think things will work out for him, obviously, but we want it to be here.¡±

After watching Soto land $765 million, Guerrero would need to be knocked flat on his back by any offer from the Blue Jays to bypass the opportunity at his own free agency a year from now. This is part of the risk a team takes by letting these negotiations drift further to the end of a player¡¯s club control, but that risk is shared, to an extent. A year ago, Vladdy was coming off a .789 OPS, and it was reasonable to wonder if he was simply a ¡°very good¡± hitter now, not the game-changing talent we saw as a prospect and in 2021, his near-MVP season. Similarly, Bo Bichette seemed like the rock-solid and projectable shortstop a year ago, but he is now coming off an unexpected down year.

So much can happen between now and next December. But the past year has moved in Guerrero¡¯s direction, and outside of the Mets, Scott Boras and Soto himself, few people benefited more from this weekend¡¯s big news than Vladdy.