While the offseason for the Blue Jays so far has been nothing short of underwhelming, a major question mark surrounding the team has been answered for the meantime, that being whether or not the Jays would re-sign star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Now while a new long term contract extension has not been placed for Guerrero, the team signed him to a one year, $28.5 million contract to avoid arbitration this season. This one year deal is the third largest single season contract for an arbitration eligible player in MLB history, only behind Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.

For all of the free agents the Jays seemed to be in on and “frontrunners” for and somehow missed including Corbin Burnes, Teoscar Hernandez, and having one of the highest offers for Juan Soto, the one true signing Jays fans need the organization to make is to lock up their own young superstar for the next decade plus. Rumous and articles have come out saying that Vladdy was unhappy with what the organization offered him in terms of an extension, and that he has already given his number for what term and dollar amount he’d sign for to the team. The reason a deal hasn’t been reached yet is still a mystery, but the fact that he’s still around for another year while the contract negotiations can be worked out is a settling thought for fans.

Also alongside Guerrero, the other players that were eligible for arbitration that received deals were Alejandro Kirk, Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement, Nick Sandlin, Alek Manoah, and Zach Pop. Having these deals been made is a step in the right direction for the team especially going into next season, but more work must be done from the front office to keep it this way. Guerrero Jr. obviously wants his number to be matched and if the team fails to pay him what he’s worth, all the time and effort in developing him along with their entire core will be for nothing. For now, Jays fans rejoice as our guys have been locked up for at least another year and be excited for the meantime as we cross our fingers and await more potential free agency moves.