OverDrive - Matheson on Guerrero Jr.'s contract standpoint, Shapiro's comments on the deal and the effect on the franchise

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Blue Jays, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s contract outlook in Toronto, Mark Shapiro's comments on his next steps in the team, the impact on the roster and more.

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Made in Canada, played in Canada. On the free iHeartRadio app and at iHeartRadio.ca. It's gonna get loud. Here he is from MLB.com. Porch beers. Porch beers. He does shorts to media availability. Has to man.

You said that's not allowed. I said that in hockey rings. Baseball, I think are different rules. Let's ask him. There he is Keegan Matheson. What is the rule? What's the deal when it comes to wearing shorts showing up for like media calls and scrums and stuff like that? I wish fellas. It's all pants down here and as a bigger man I think the uh what are those? Those Lululemon ABC pants were the most important thing that have ever happened to me in my life. I'm a large legged man.

But once I start the year like this, fellas, you know, I'm pretty pale, but your arms, your face get tanned, and then my legs are to a point where you just can't turn it back. They look like two out of bound sticks. It's terrible. So I can't do it. I end up being pants all year and it's uh... it's tough but anything really in the name of professionalism it's my number one

concern they can what about this on what if you were in a lulu lemon store and they will presented to you the men's like tights spandex version for man only, much like the women wear,

but they said this is very comfortable, you'll like this in spring training. Would you rock it? Just a spandex. I'm open to it. No you're not, dude. I am a very good seller. Number one, fellas, I'll sell it fast.

Yes. As long as it's breathable, I will become the face of these full-figured man lulu pants. I know one of them's listening. I'm going to get that email tonight. This is going to be an exciting new era for me. I might get a few more no's on the interview requests, but I'm open to all opportunities. Okay.

Well, we appreciate the honesty and that is a professional. That's a professional in general. I respect that because it's like 40 degrees in Florida. Yeah, you got to wear pants, man. You got to be a professional. I guess, were you prepared for Mark Shapiro to speak today? Where did this kind of come from? Because I've been calling him out.

I think others down in Dunedin, like with all these leaks and all the contract stuff and Vlad is doing interviews. I think it was long overdue. I think Shapiro had to address it. Was this always the planner or did he actually finally react to all the noise hanging around Vladdy grow Jr. Now this was the plan. We normally do this as a writers meeting this time of camp. And I was joking today, it's usually

my annual check in of how many writers are left in the world and it's a smaller table every year. But there were four or five of us sat down with Mark today for about an hour. We normally do it about this time at camp. Was expecting it to happen. What I was not expecting was how direct he was about Vlad, right off the top. And you guys have seen the quotes. I know folks listening have where he said, I think we're going to sign him.

I think we're going to extend him. And he gave the reasons and the context beyond that. But listen guys, you know this as well. Mark Shapiro does not just shoot off the cuff. He's not out here riffing with whatever comes to mind. When he speaks, it is thought out and it's meaningful. And he didn't hold back today. He was very direct about this.

And frankly, fellas, I liked that because we've had a lot of noise going back to when he and Ross Atkins spoke nearly, God it was a full month ago. I don't know what's happened in my life since then, but a full month ago on February 18th when we heard from them. And that was a lot of words and we didn't really have much to take away from it. Today you've got him being pretty direct saying, yeah, we think we're going to extend the guy. Even if it takes a while, even if it takes free agency, he was pretty

straight with it. And it was fascinating to hear that right off the top. He did not hold back. What do you think about Vladdy continuing to come out and say, I'm going to speak to everyone, including the Yankees? It kind of bugs me Keeg. I mean Yeah, like I said it yesterday It seems panicky from him where he keeps continuing to go back to the well like dude We get it You said once you any other player in any negotiation that I remember in any sport that said you got to the start of training

Camp Phil Kessel was a great example because but he got the deal signed the day of the first season. They never said a peep. It was almost like, you guys want to screw around, I'll play ball that way. But he just like, I don't know. Are they going to tell him to be quiet? Is he going to be quiet? Or what do you think his game plan is going to be? This helps nobody. Nobody wins from this. This doesn't benefit anybody. And yesterday, guys, because actually a couple of days ago, I'd been having conversations with some people around the Blue Jays saying, you know what, it's been annoying. It's been distracting when he said it wouldn't be. But listen, I'll give Vladdy some leeway. And let's see if he's learned from this messy midsection

of camp. Let's give him a chance here to stop that and move forward doing what he said he would do, which is not making it a distraction. Then I'm sitting here yesterday, boom, there comes another interview of him saying, these are my numbers. Yes, I'll play for the Yankees. Found out today that was a couple of weeks old. So that's recorded from back when he was in the middle of a messier part of spring training. I hope that's behind him and everybody because I keep running up against this point fellas where I'm saying okay I'm talking about this story I'm writing about it again but nothing has actually changed. People are just yapping more and it's not helping anybody. So I'm hopeful that from this point on that stops because it's not

benefiting Vladys side, it's not benefiting the Blue Jays side. I think at this point clearly more of it's coming from Vladys side of this. That doesn't mean Vlad directly but Vladys side has people a lot of the reports coming out. At the same time I also think guys that that video is a perfect representation of what's gonna happen in every single city. We've talked about this. It's exactly what's gonna happen. That was from a 42 minute interview

and the click we all saw was seven seconds. Will you play for everybody? Yeah, the Yankees? Yeah. That's gonna happen in Boston. It's gonna happen in the New York Mets. It's gonna happen in Texas. It's going to happen in the New York Mets. It's going to happen in Texas. It's going to happen everywhere and It's easy for Vlad to keep getting in those situations when he'll say yes to an interview and

Suddenly you're being asked that question and you're saying yes again so That's okay. If he's putting up MVP numbers There's a certain element that you're just going to have to tolerate I think along the way But let's say guys if this is mid-june and the Blue Jays have lost ten in a row and one of those comes out it's a mess it's a distraction so he's got to be careful with those well going forward like real yes that gets dangerous with Keegan Matheson and you bring up an interesting point here in

terms of you know into June and how the team's playing and I'm curious your interpretation of this because again Mark into June and how the team's playing. And I'm curious your interpretation of this. Cause again, Mark Shapiro spoke with the media today, spoke with the writers down there, Keegan was in the room. And when asked about Vladdy and his future, he said, quote, I think we're going to sign him. I think we're going to extend him. The reason I feel that way is because we have such a clear

alignment on the desired outcome. In other words, they want to sign them, Vladdy wants to stay. But what if this team is on pace for 68 wins? And he hasn't been signed By July 15th and we're getting that could also be president speak and nonsense, too Well, I guess that I guess that's what I'm asking like it is smart Do you did you interpret this as Mark Shapiro saying we're not trading him not gonna happen so don't ask us this question again because we are committed to getting this done or is and is he saying like his belief is if it goes

to next year and free agency and you referenced that as well you just told us that you've written about it that maybe they have to wait until he gets out to the market to see what the numbers are going to be is the is Shapiro saying he believes Ty will go to the Blue Jays so Vladys Camp will come back to them honestly and say, this is what we can get somewhere else. Do you want to match it? And furthermore, Shapiro knows ownership will give him that blank check.

So if it's 650 million, Mark's telling us this morning, the owner is saying, go and give him 650 million. How do you tie all of that together? The way I've been looking at it guys is because we talked about this six months a year ago and for a long time I've thought the likely outcome here is that he goes to free agency and if they can sign him back like Aaron Judge is the easy example that's how this will work if it ever works because then the market gets to play a role But the question I keep asking is

What's like clear here that his number goes up or it goes down with how he plays this season? What would he have to do to make this number go up like hit 70 home runs? He would have to have an all-time like a legitimately all-time MLB season I think it only goes down to Egan. Exactly. Now if that is what the Blue Jays are betting on, you're always taking a risk if you're betting on something, but if that's what the Blue Jays are betting on at this point, their play can be okay. Let's play out the season. When we get to the market in December, the rest of baseball is going to tell you that our number is closer to reality. Exactly. That's the Blue Jays' likeliest play here, and I think it has been for a really long time. And you risk some hurt feelings and all of that, but I think that, like you said, Hayes, that the Blue Jays do have some of those tiebreakers that Canada's team usually does

not have. So as long as you can match a number, I think they'll be okay. But I don't think it's a situation where they look at trading him now whatsoever. But like you mentioned, if this is July, that's awkward, because he might be your next shot at getting that next big thing. They don't have that right now. And that can get real bad, real awkward, real quick. Well, if that's the case, what this could be also is Mark Shapiro and he has a tendency of doing this, letting everyone know he's smarter than you.

And basically what Mark's telling Vlad is, you don't know the market in Major League Baseball, I do. I know it. And you're gonna play yourself right into the market where I think you are. I'm telling, we're gonna sign you Because you're gonna come calling back and saying can I please have that 450 million and then you're gonna say actually it's 400 And well, and then I guess he can play whichever but that might be what mark is actually doing here with a smile on

Saying this guy Vlad. He thinks he knows baseball. I've been in the league for 30 years. I know base Well, see that's what I wanted to ask Keegan. There's another part of what he said where he basically said there's only one player who sells tickets. Is that kind of what he said? Like a marketing player that offsets the price. Yeah, and I think he was talking about Otani, and then he went on to say, I mean, Keegan, you were in there, that other players can be great players, but if they're on losing

teams it doesn't really matter. What did you make of that part of what he said i like that one that was i asked him that question about if there is marketing or external revenue considerations for vladdy like if you sign vladdy can you mentally think you're going to make another five ten million bucks a year generally speaking and he said where's the quote I've got it right in front of me. There's only been one player in Major League Baseball who had a marketing case that significantly and meaningfully offset the value of his contract. One player only won. And in every other case,

what sells tickets in the hundreds of thousands is winning. He's talking about Shohei Otani, obviously the Japanese. He's saying that, yeah, we love Vladdy. Yes, he makes it a lot of fun to win, but you got to win. This cannot turn into another Roy Halliday or Carlos Delgado where you have a great player, a Hall of Famer or a near Hall of Famer that no one really cares about watching because you suck. That's the danger zone. You can't waste a star and the Blue

Jays need to, from their side of this, be able to build a team that they think they're going to win with Vlad. Wow. Now Shohei Otani, you could go wild on that, but they've got to win if they're going to have Vlad there. And that's what he was getting to. He made it real clear when he said, one player only one. So he was making it very clear that they view the laddie as a baseball player and when i say that's it i don't mean that dismissively but there's not a bigger broader big brain marketing case to be made here this is a

baseball negotiation keegan where does boba shet lie in all this it seems like he's i don't know if he'd like sitting in the weeds but i haven't heard his name or it's just undercover is he loving it or it's just undercover is he loving it or what's his story he might be loving it because if he was the number one guy getting asked about this i think it would drive little little nuts the last time i spoke to bo about his contract was a couple weeks ago early in

camp said he hadn't heard anything that had been an offer had offer, hadn't been negotiations. And the Blue Jays, certainly with how they do business, I think it would be very hard for them to agree in a number with Bo right now. I don't think that's happening before the season because he's coming off a bad year. I believe in the Bo Bichette who was his first four years of his career. But if you're the Blue Jays and you don't want to get too risky with that, you're pointing at last season and saying, let's wait and see. But guys, I really think that in a couple of weeks, everybody is suddenly talking about Bo.

They should be already because this is still the number two player on the team and he could be staring at making 200, 300 mil himself. But if he gets off to a hot start, like I already know that conversation is coming should they extend bow instead of laddie? I know that that's gonna come up in mid-april in mid-may and for now he is under the radar Living a pretty blessed life where he does not have to answer my questions about that every day But it's gonna come man because once he starts hot and he has looked incredible like Man, because once he starts hot and he has looked incredible, like incredible this spring, if he starts hot, man, that is going to pick up really fast.

Yeah. Yeah. As it should, man. Like they both arrived at the same time and they need Bichette. And like you said, he's having a great spring. Looks good. He's cut his hair. He's dialed in.

Everything's coming together for Beau Bichette. right Keegan great catching up with you man we appreciate you doing this you got it fellas take care there's Keegan Matheson of MLB.com exclusively wearing pants to work iHeartRadio is taking you backstage with Kane Brown in Quebec City. Y'all get ready. Girl, let's go put some miles on. Meet him, interview him, an iHeartRadio experience you'll never forget. Turn up the night like that radio. With flights, hotel, and $500 included.

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