As the headliner at a hastily called late-afternoon media session outside the home clubhouse, at Rogers Centre, prior to the Blue Jays 6-5 win over the Reds on a meaningless final weekend, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. offered a public apology, of sorts, to fans after he said he had already done so, inside, to his teammates. This Road to Damascus moment came after a conversation with his Hall-of-Fame father, Vlad Sr.
Here’s the incident on Wednesday that started this controversial Vlad episode that will become a minor footnote in his major-league career, if, as he promises, through hard work and obvious talent, Vlad is able to turn it around and get back to the peripheral Cooperstown trajectory to which many had predicted he was headed.
The 27-year-old Jays superstar as part of a recent Spanish-language interview in a hotel room in Baltimore, early this week, claimed to journalist, Veronica Batista, that his belief was he was being paid half-a-billion dollars for baseball feats that he had accomplished in the past, not what he is promising to do in the future. What?
He also insisted on Friday in his bilingual mea culpa, via team translator Hector Lebron, that he didn’t mean the dismissive things he said about Blue Jays Nation, one of the most forgiving fan-bases in North American pro sports. Face it, Vlad has led a sheltered life when it comes to fan vitriol in cities like New York, Philly and Boston.
After Friday’s soul cleansing media availability, Guerrero Jr. disappeared back into the clubhouse. Some three hours later, Vlad went out to begin a new chapter, helping key a four-run seventh inning with a nobody-out, two-men on, exit velo single of 63.9 m.p.h. exploding his bat into kindling for an RBI through the right side.
The boos and cheers in his earlier two at-bats could best be described as “smatterings”. At one point came the familiar chant of “Vladdy, Vladdy, Vladdy.” It did not spread. Despite online outrage, the world seems ready to move on.
Also in the pre-game, within manager John Schneider’s daily media briefing, following a meaningless series of injury updates -- that mean absolutely nothing to anyone at this point -- Guerrero’s friend, boss and protector offered explanations for how Vlad got himself into this totally unnecessary jackpot, pitting his personal and fan frustration each against the other … as well as the head-scratching gaffe about being paid for what he had already done with no promises for the future.
“You can’t control how some fans are going to respond or how some people are going to write about it,” Schneider said. “What matters most to all of us are the people in the building (players and coaches). So, for him, or anyone really, it’s not the first time (a problem interview) happened, it won’t be the last time. Whether a guy is high profile or not, you have to handle it with the people you’re going to be with every day.”
Schneider said he had spoken to Vlad, personally, in Baltimore when the interview was released on social media and again on Friday in the clubhouse.
“What you see on the field is a fun-loving guy and a really good player,” Schneider shrugged. “But, yeah, I think he can be misunderstood sometimes. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever seen and he definitely puts in the work to post every day. I think some things can kind of get lost in translation, for lack of a better way to say it.”
That’s a hard argument for Schneider to make when the interview was in Spanish, Vlad’s first language and the initial online translation was not denied by the player as being accurate. Then, even with the advantage of team translator Tito Lebron by his side, Vlad seemed to double down on the veracity of his quotes, confirming in both languages, twice. He started with an emergency avail between the games of Wednesday’s twinbill and then, not walking back too far from those statements, when given the opportunity, Friday. He said he was sorry, not misquoted.
“Misunderstood? Maybe, a little bit at times because he can be an easy target, because of the contract, because of everything,” Schneider said. “But I think what matters to him, most, is what people in (the clubhouse) think. It’s pretty apparent, especially today, that he wants the fans that support him and that are going to continue to support him over a long period of time, to kind of understand what he’s trying to say.”
Which leads to his outrageous belief he is being paid his not-so-small fortune primarily for things he has done in the past. Sure, he can argue that his numbers in his first five-plus seasons are what encouraged the Jays to pay him as the face of the franchise for the next 14 years, but Vlad was quoted as saying they can’t expect him to hit 40 HR every year. This may actually be true for a player that came up as an unparalleled linedrive bat, not even a minor-league home run king, but they are also words that you don’t say publicly in a dismissive way to fans.
“That attitude has never been there,” Schneider defended. “He understands, players get paid for what they’ve done and for what they’re projected to do. I think in a perfect world, he probably would have said that initially, but this is a totally separate instance than some other people that have said some things, that signed some contracts. It’s not like, ‘Okay, I’m having a down year, so tough shit Blue Jays, you’ve already paid me.’ It’s never been that.”
It can be noted Schneider has a long-standing personal bond with Guerrero, having been with him in uniform pretty much every season of his 10-year stint as a pro ballplayer with the Jays’ organization.
“He prides himself on playing every day and prepares that way,” Schneider added. “I gave him a couple of days before an off day. Tried to take care of him a little bit, but we get to that point and I’ve said it all year, where we need production out of him to get to where we want to get to. You want him in there as much as you can. I don’t think he feels pressure to post every day. That’s just who he’s always been. He expects to play. It was nice to hear the honest side where he says ‘Yeah, I feel pressure to perform because of the contract.’ People forget about that. You just assume that everyone’s going to be fine with it, but there’s real stuff that comes with it.”
Even with the one-run victory over the Reds, Friday, the Jays are guaranteed to finish below .500 the year after an energizing trip to World Series Game 7. Searching for any glimmer of Vlad’s importance in the Jays’ overall scheme of things? In terms of how far the team have come with Vlad as the poster-boy, note this was the first meaningless game the Jays played at home since Sept. 29, 2024, some 726 days ago. That final game of a lost ‘24 season was a loss to the Marlins in front of 31,688 fans.
Compare that to Friday, with nothing to play for once again, there was an announced crowd of 42,535 at Rogers Centre. It can be extrapolated by the most optimistic of observers that this 34.2% increase in attendance ‘24 to ‘26 shows the lasting value to the Jays’ brand since Guerrero Jr. signed his contract last April.
The bottom line is, yes, he had a disastrous year, no, he shouldn’t have said what he said, but at 27-years-old, Guerrero Jr. still the 19th youngest player on the Jays 48-man roster, some two months younger than Davis Schneider. But he needs to be the best player on the Jays and one of the Top 10 position players in baseball.