Vladimir Guerrero Jr. seeks $500 million extension with Blue Jays — but with a caveat

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wants the second-richest contract in MLB history, at least in terms of present-day value.

The Toronto Blue Jays star first baseman wants a $500 million deal in present value after any deferrals are accounted for, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported for The Athletic. 

Before Guerrero's self-imposed Feb. 17 deadline to get an extension done, the Blue Jays made Guerrero an offer worth around $500 million, but included significant deferrals, the New York Post reported. It's unclear how much money the Blue Jays' offer included in deferrals, but it likely would've brought the preset value of the contract to somewhere between $400 million and $450 million, the New York Post added in its report.

Deferred money has become more prevalent in the largest contracts signed in MLB over the last handful of seasons as a mechanism to help teams avoid larger luxury tax penalties. Shohei Ohtani deferred a whopping 97.1% of his $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he signed with the team in 2023. While that contract is the second-largest deal in MLB history in terms of total value, the present value of the pact is roughly $460.8 million, per Spotrac.

Juan Soto's record-setting $765 million deal with the New York Mets doesn't include any deferred money, though. However, that contract is 15 years long, making the average annual value of Soto's deal $51 million. That deal only trails Ohtani's in terms of average annual value. 

The 26-year-old Guerrero could feasibly stand to approach the amount of money Soto makes on an annual basis depending on the length of his next deal. But he told ESPN earlier in March that he's seeking a pact that's nearly as long as Soto's if not longer. 

"It's much less than Soto.