By Jared Diamond

The Toronto Blue Jays have all the hallmarks of a baseball powerhouse.

They reside in one of North America's largest cities. They're based in a country with no other major-league team, meaning they can sell merchandise and attract fans from coast to coast. Their owner, Rogers Communications executive chairman Edward Rogers, might be the wealthiest person in the game not named Steve Cohen.

But despite all of that, the Blue Jays have long struggled to capitalize on their economic position. Which is what made this week's news such a seismic development from Nova Scotia to the Yukon. After months of stalled talks, the Blue Jays signed franchise cornerstone Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a 14-year extension worth $500 million.

The deal is clearly significant because of its size. It's the second-largest guarantee in baseball history, trailing only the $765 million pact Juan Soto inked with the New York Mets in December. (MLB calculates the present value of Shohei Ohtani's $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers to be around $460 million after accounting for the heavy salary deferrals involved.)

Perhaps even more meaningful than the dollars is what it represents to Toronto's fans. The son of a Montreal Expos legend, the 26-year-old Guerrero was born in Canada and has been hailed as the prodigal son of baseball there ever since he joined the Blue Jays organization a decade ago. Guerrero was set to become a free agent this winter and though he had long insisted he didn't want to leave, the Blue Jays' failure to lock him up before opening day raised serious questions about their willingness to act like a big-market behemoth.

Now they have turned Guerrero into a Blue Jay for life -- and finally flexed their financial muscle in a way that befits their stature.

It isn't that the Blue Jays have been cheap, exactly. They entered 2025 with the fifth-highest payroll in MLB and have spent lavishly on players over the past few years. It's just that lately, the Blue Jays have been defined less by the free agents they have signed than those that got away.

The Blue Jays emerged as surprise finalists in the free-agent sweepstakes for Ohtani and Soto. Both spurned Toronto for more traditional destinations, giving the organization a reputation of being the perennial bridesmaid that will never truly compete for top talent in spite of their resources.

In an interview last month from his office at the team's training facility in Dunedin, Fla., Blue Jays chief executive Mark Shapiro called that label a "false narrative." As evidence, he pointed to the nearly $550 million they have committed to just five players since 2021.

"I'd rather be with an organization that's in on everyone and maybe misses out, than an organization that's not at all," said veteran pitcher Kevin Gausman, who signed a $110 million contract with the Blue Jays before the 2022 season.

Rogers Communications purchased the Blue Jays a quarter-century ago. For much of that time, the company treated the team more like a line item in its vast collection of businesses. The result was a payroll that was typically in the bottom half of MLB, if not the bottom third.

That approach has started to shift toward a model closer to other baseball high-rollers, which are less concerned with annual operating profit. The change has coincided with Edward Rogers's growing interest in the sports business -- Rogers Communications last year agreed to buy a majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NHL's Maple Leafs and NBA's Raptors, among other teams.

After losing out on Ohtani and Soto, all the Blue Jays needed was a foundational player willing to accept their money. Guerrero, a homegrown superstar who hit .323 with 30 home runs last season, is the perfect candidate. Before Guerrero, the largest contract the Blue Jays had ever awarded was $150 million to outfielder George Springer in 2021.

"They are businesspeople," said Shapiro, referring to Rogers and Rogers Communications CEO Tony Staffieri. "They respond to a strong business case that supports the investment."

The Blue Jays still face some systemic challenges. Chief among them is the exchange rate: The Blue Jays earn 70% of their revenues in Canadian dollars while 70% of expenses are in U.S. dollars, Shapiro said, essentially creating a tax no other team has to deal with.

Yet with Guerrero on board, the Blue Jays have announced that they intend to do what's necessary to return to the World Series for the first time since their consecutive championships in 1992 and 1993.

"We see this for many reasons as a very attractive destination," Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. "You just have to sustain winning to keep it up."

Write to Jared Diamond at jared.diamond@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 11, 2025 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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