BOSTON -- This is his home now. This is Vladimir Guerrero Jr.¡¯s house, and we all sit at his table.
Vladdy has made the city of Toronto and the Blue Jays fans feel chosen. Yes, $500 million could shine a golden glow on any town, but after years spent talking about his love for the city and the people who pay to watch him play this game each night, he¡¯s proven that he meant it all along.
As Guerrero spoke Wednesday in Boston, just hours after his record contract extension was announced, he kept deflecting the conversation away from the big, tangled words that clutter baseball. This is about something simpler to him, something he¡¯s been chasing all along.
¡°I¡¯ve never seen this organization as an organization. I see it as a family,¡± Guerrero said through a club interpreter. ¡°It¡¯s been 10, 11 years of me being here. This is family for me. The team, the city, the fans, this is family. To tell you the truth, I wasn¡¯t looking to go elsewhere and meet new people.¡±
To say that family is important to Guerrero feels too obvious, but that part of Guerrero¡¯s life has always held a deeper meaning to him. He dreams of winning a World Series ring and handing it to his father, who never won one of his own in his Hall of Fame career. Then, Vladdy has always said, he can go win another ring for himself.
Guerrero was so proud this spring to talk about how he¡¯s grown confident in his English by speaking it at home with his daughter. It¡¯s been some of those conversations, not in expensive boardrooms but at home on the couch, relaxing with his family, that Guerrero had some of his most meaningful moments in this process.
¡°That¡¯s one of the hardest ones, right there, when your daughter comes to you and asks you, ¡®Daddy, are we going to stay in Toronto?¡¯¡± Guerrero said. ¡°When you know that your family really wants to stay in Toronto, that was the hard one. All along, they wanted to stay in Toronto.¡±
Those close to Guerrero describe a young man with a deep, genuine level of care for the people around him. Manager John Schneider has seen this since Guerrero was a teenager, and he¡¯s watched as Guerrero has quietly taken care of people in the Blue Jays¡¯ clubhouse, from players to staff. He¡¯s seen what Guerrero does for his family, for his friends and for his friends¡¯ kids.
¡°He always has a very open-arms mentality. It¡¯s gone from good to great. He¡¯s such a good guy,¡± Schneider said. ¡°Whenever he¡¯s in a place, he gets very, very invested in it.¡±
Those arms are around the Blue Jays now. This is a fan base that hasn¡¯t always felt chosen, one that has too often been left to feel like the second choice, whether that¡¯s been real or the product of lazy narratives. Players who come to Toronto midway through their career fall in love with the city and its fans. Players who begin their careers here feel the same, but so often have left. Guerrero can be the one who lasts forever, the player we tell stories about, the player young kids ask to watch bat one more time before they go to bed.
This love bounces off some players. It just doesn¡¯t stick to them like it should, but it¡¯s all over Guerrero.
¡°From people chasing our bus in Double-A to what he had to deal with when he debuted here in 2019, he always makes time for people,¡± Schneider said. ¡°He loves the game so much and he understands how important he is to fans.¡±
These past few days in Boston, at the end of this long, stressful process, are days that Blue Jays fans will remember. This contract is one we¡¯ll reference forever. It¡¯s as excited as Blue Jays fans have been in ages, and they¡¯ve long deserved something to be excited about. In a video posted by the Blue Jays on X, Guerrero tells fans that he has a message for them, then leans in like he¡¯s about to share a secret that¡¯s only for you.
¡°I¡¯m not leaving,¡± he said.
Besides, he¡¯s never wanted to. This is where his family is. It¡¯s where his team is. It¡¯s where you are.
¡°We still have more memories to make, memories that we make together for years to come,¡± Guerrero said in another video. ¡°This was always my home. I am home.¡±