Month: February 2025

The Toronto Blue Jays and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have failed to agree on a contract extension before his personal deadline (9 p.m. EST Monday) for the deal, clearing the path for potential free agency in 2026. Last month. the Blue Jays and Guerrero agreed to $28.5 million salary in 2025, his final year of club control. That salary will be the third-highest ever paid to an arbitration-eligible player.

The All-Star infielder said he would not negotiate after he reports to spring training in Dunedin, Fla. Blue Jays pitchers and catchers reported to spring training on Thursday, while Guerrero and the rest of the full squad reported Tuesday in Dunedin. Guerrero told reporters: “No, we did not get an agreement. They have their numbers; I have my numbers. But you know, it’s just business. Things happen. The front office and my agents met. Both parts tried, but obviously we couldn’t get an agreement,” adding that he wants to stay with the Blue Jays for the rest of his career, but will “listen to 29 more teams. I have my number, I changed it a little bit. I tried. But still, it just didn’t happen.”

Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro said the franchise and Guerrero’s representatives “couldn’t align on a common number that shared risk. On a personal level, there’s disappointment because I recognize it’s special when you have a player who was signed, developed, came to the big leagues and played his whole career with one team. I think about players like Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett and what it can mean to be a legacy player, a franchise player. That was, and is, our hope for Vladdy.”  General manager Ross Atkins said the Blue Jays said they remain motivated to sign Guerrero, but are “obviously very disappointed.”

The 25-year-old Guerrero, who made his highly anticipated MLB debut in 2019,  hit .288 with 160 homers over his first six seasons with the Blue Jays.  He led the majors with 48 homers, 123 runs scored and 363 total bases over 171 games in 2021, when he hit .311 – finishing second in the American League MVP race that season.  The four-time All-Star hit a career-high .323 with 30 home runs and 103 RBIs over 159 games in 2024,

Editorial credit: Conor P. Fitzgerald / Shuttertock.com

Free agent Justin Turner has agreed to a $6 million, one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs. Turner spent last season with the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners; the contract will be finalized pending a physical. Turner is expected to be a backup first and third baseman for the Cubs, who held their first spring training workouts last week.  According to sources via The Associated Press, Turner can earn an additional $2.5 million in bonuses/incentives.

Turner, 40, has a career .285 batting average with 198 homers over 16 seasons. He hit a career-high .340 in 2014 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and won a World Series with the Dodgers in 2020.

The two-time All-Star hit .259 with 11 home runs and 55 RBIs over 139 games last season. Through the first 91 games of last season while with the Blue Jays, he hit .256 with six homers and 31 RBIs. Toronto then traded Turner to the Mariners in July, where over his final 48 appearances of 2024 he hit .264 with five homers and 24 RBIs.

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New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters on Monday that newly-acquired pitcher Frankie Montas has sustained a high-grade latissimus dorsi strain and will miss anywhere from six-eight weeks of play time, including opening day.

According to The New York Post’s Mike Puma and Jon Heyman, Montas has not been throwing since arriving at spring training, and will be shut down for a “significant stretch”.

Mendoza said at spring training in Port St. Lucie, Fla: “He is on his way to New York right now to get a PRP [platelet-rich plasma] injection to help his back” and will need a spring-training-like “ramp up” after his six to eight week shutdown, but he doesn’t plan to reevaluate his plans for the Mets’ six-man rotation. Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Paul Blackburn are the other pitchers in the Mets’ projected rotation. Said Mendoza: “We’ve got options, we’ve got depth. It’s still too early. Here we are dealing with an injury to one of the starters. We will continue to have those conversations.”

The 31-year-old, right-handed veteran signed a two-year, $34 million deal with the Mets in December. over his first 160 career appearances, Montas went 44-46 with a 4.09 ERA. Last season, Montas went 7-11 with a 4.84 ERA over 30 starts last season, which he split between the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers.

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Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout announced that he will be switching positions this year, from centerfield to right field. Trout has been a career center fielder since his major league debut with the Angels in 2011, and has only played right field 17 times.

While speaking with reporters before the team’s first full-squad workout at the Angels’ spring training camp on Monday, Trout said: “I knew it was coming. I just wanna be on the field .. [We] kind of just threw everything on the table, as in what’s best for me body-wise [to] keep me on the field, and came to the conclusion that I’m gonna go to right field. I like it, try it out, see where it goes.”

The 33-year-old Trout has dealt with a multitude of injuries throughout the last several years. Since 2019, he’s played more than 100 games just once.  He said of his new position: “I mean, just look at my last couple year. Just trying to preserve the legs and go out there and run some balls down in right. That’s what we came to. I’m with it .. It’s gonna be fun. I’ll enjoy it. Like I told them, I’m gonna go out there and just be as comfortable as I can. If I need to get early work, just to work on some things, get more comfortable, I’ll do that.”

Trout played in nearly 90% (1,212 of 1,356) of the Angels’ games in his first nine seasons, hitting .306 with 297 home runs, 197 stolen bases and 782 RBIs over that span. However over the last four seasons, Trout appeared in just 31% of the Angels’ games due to multiple injuries. The 11-time All-Star and three-time MVP hit .276 with 76 home runs, 11 stolen bases and 156 RBIs during that stretch.

Trout remains under contract through 2030, with an annual salary of $37.1 million, through the $426.5 million pact he signed in 2019.

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