Despite the Blue Jays’ last-place finish in 2024, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s stellar individual season earned him a $500M contract—but a year later, both he and the team have collapsed. And his recent comments have caused more controversy around his contract.
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In a recent interview with reporter Batista, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a very controversial statement about the $500 million contract he signed, and after some backlash, he has gone back on his word.
After getting a lot of backlash, he said, “I feel from my heart that my fans, my teammates, they need an apology from me, and that’s what I’m here for… I’m going to continue to keep working hard to make my contract a great one.”
In an earlier interview, Guerrero said that the $500 million contract that the Blue Jays had given him was for what he had already done with the franchise. He said that even though he was given a massive contract, he should not be expected to perform every season, and that did not sit well with the fans.
And that was because of how the season had progressed for Guerrero and especially for the Blue Jays. The comment landed poorly because the Jays had reached the World Series in 2025 but collapsed in 2026, finishing at the bottom of the division, exactly when fans expected Guerrero to deliver. But when they gave him the contract, the fans were fully backing him.
He led the Blue Jays offensively that year with 30 homers and a .323 average, and the rest of the team was still far behind him. And even after signing the contract, the 2025 season was good, with 23 homers and an average of .292.
In 2026, his production cratered: 9 HRs, .263 avg. Back pain and injuries derailed his season. And with recurring back pain and other small injuries, he simply couldn’t get his foot into the season.
That decline in numbers already had a spotlight on Guerrero, especially with the massive contract hanging over his head. And Guerrero himself admitted that the contract does get to his mind when he fails at the plate. But the fans backed him through that tough stretch.
But he flipped the script and said, “The fans, I know how they are. When you are doing great, they are 100% behind you, but when you are not at your best, not everybody is behind you; almost nobody supports you.”
And after that, the fans have completely turned against him, with one fan even saying, “Too little, too late.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. faces massive backlash after his apology
Even though Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is trying to make the best of this situation, the damage seems to be done.
One fan wrote, “Too little, too late! Hard to clean this up now… When you get paid 500M, fans expect top performance.” And another fan supported him, saying, “He didn’t apologize yesterday. Management told him to say the right thing today. Unacceptable.” And they’re right. Guerrero Jr. initially stated that he doesn’t regret what he said and is not worried about the fan comments. And now, he is trying to go back on his statement, and the fans feel that this is more of a PR stunt than a genuine apology.
Fans also called him out, saying, “Can’t put the genie back in the bottle, Vlad,” and “He does not regret s**t.” Worst of all, Guerrero made these comments after the Blue Jays had already been eliminated from postseason contention.
A rival fan wrote, “He fleeced you. True colors shown,” after the whole drama. There were doubts when he got the contract offer at the start of the 2025 season but 2025 shut the doubters down. But this season’s failure has reignited those doubts, and this comment just poured fuel on the fire.
And to make things worse, the Blue Jays have joined a short list of teams that made it to the World Series the previous year and finished at the bottom of the Division the next. While the team was sinking, the fans had to listen to their franchise cornerstone go on about how his bad season was something that the fans should not care too much about.