New York Yankees Free Agent Target Appears to Have Buried Grudge

The top free agent on the market next offseason will consider every team in the Majors, including the New York Yankees.

Matthew Postins | Feb 23, 2025

Feb 22, 2025; Dunedin, Florida, USA; Toronto Blue Jays first base Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) runs out onto the field for the first inning at TD Ballpark. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

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New York Yankees

For Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., next offseason could be a financial bonanza.

To most insiders, he is the top free agent on next year’s market, capable of fetching the longest contract at the highest price of any of the expected free agents. It will be his first time as a free agent.

But he’s been through this process before — as the son of Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Vladimir Guerrero Sr.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (subscription required), the younger Guerrero is open to signing with any of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams. But few teams are as financially equipped to sign him as the New York Yankees.

Recently, CBS Sports not only ranked Guerrero as the No. 1 free agent next offseason but projected his deal could be worth 12-year, $456 million deal, which would be $38 million per year. It would make him just the seventh free-agent hitter to clear $35 million in average annual value.

The Yankees can handle that. But, 22 years ago, the Yankees were interested in signing his father. And, for years, that left a sore spot with his son.

In fact, in an story by Kaitlyn McGrath and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (subscription required) in 2023, he said he would “never” play for the Yankees.

“It’s a personal thing. It goes back with my family. That’s my decision,” he said.

Why? Per the Post, the Yankees were moving toward signing Guerrero Sr. in late 2003, which was after his last season with Montreal. By then, he had emerged as one of the game’s slugging stars, with four All-Star Game appearances and three Silver Sluggers.

But it didn’t happen. Instead, then-team owner George Steinbrenner and former Yankees pitcher Dwight Gooden lured Gary Sheffield to the Bronx.

Guerrero Sr. went on to sign a deal with the Los Angeles Angels and it fueled his only MVP season, as he claimed the American League award with a slash line of .337/.391/.598/.989 with 39 home runs and 126 RBI.

Guerrero Jr. wasn’t even in kindergarten then, but he never forgot.

He did tell the Post that he’ll consider every team, including the Yankees.

“If I go to free agency, every team — all 30 teams — are going to have the opportunity to sit down with [me], to talk to me,” Guerrero said. “I’m OK with everything. It’s in the past.”

But it doesn’t mean a deal with the Yankees is a done deal. It just means that the younger Guerrero has made peace with it.

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