Did Life Actually Get Easier for Rays After Guerrero Jr.'s Mammoth Deal With Rivals?
The Tampa Bay Rays have had a major development occur within the American League East.
As first reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan on Sunday night, the Toronto Blue Jays and star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have agreed on a massive extension that will keep him north of the border for the next 14 years and pay him $500 million.
The deal is the third-largest in MLB history behind Juan Soto's with the New York Mets and Shohei Ohtani's with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For the Rays, while it may sting to have Guerrero Jr. in their division for likely the rest of his career, things could have been much worse.
At least he didn't sign with the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees, both of whom are much bigger threats in the AL East at the moment and would have been strong contenders to land Guerrero if he'd reached free agency next winter.
Keeping him in Toronto -- while still within the division -- assures that Guerrero Jr. will not end up with one of the powerhouses in the American League. Instead, one of the best hitters in baseball remains with a team that has finished fourth or worse in three of his first six seasons.
Managing the Blue Jays with Guerrero Jr. is going to be much easier over the long run than if he'd ended up in pinstripes or red socks.
Though Guerrero Jr. has killed Tampa Bay throughout his career with 98 hits, 17 home runs and 52 RBI in 86 games against them, it has not led to significantly more wins for Toronto.
In fact, over the first six full seasons of his career, the Blue Jays have finished with more wins in a season than the Rays have only once.
Make no mistake, Guerrero Jr. remaining with Toronto is far from ideal, but it still remains a significantly better alternative than what could have been a worst-case scenario for Tampa Bay.
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various sports across the SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.