“They Didn’t Pay Me To Hit 40 Every Year. They Paid Me For What I Already Did.” - 27 Year Old Vladdy Guerrero Jr. On What To Expect The Rest Of The Way As He Ends Year One Of His 14 Year $500M Contract
Alika Jenner. Getty Images.We live in a world unfortunately filled with A.I., deepfake technology, and clever parody social media posts meant to bait the shit out of us. A ton of stuff you see on Twitter is made to trick you and create engagement. You really have to be careful with what you're reading/replying to and make sure it's truly genuine. That's why when I saw this Vladdy Guerrero Jr. quote below talking about his 14 year $500M contract I assumed it was completely fake. At the bare minimum I chalked up the quotes to a bad translation.
The full excerpt
"They didn’t pay me to hit 40 every year. They paid me for what I already did.” I want people to understand one thing. The money they gave me wasn’t for what I’m going to do. It was for what I already did. They didn’t pay me because I’m going to hit 40 every year. They paid me for what I already accomplished. People are confused about that, but I think the same way they do. Like, sometimes I even say to myself: bro, they gave you all that money and you’re out here doing nothing. I try. You know how it is with fans, when you’re good, they’re with you 100%. But when you smell like shit, like we like to say here, nobody supports you. The ones who support you are the ones who stay with you. Those are my fans. My family."
By all accounts it appears that translation is somehow accurate, and with that being the case I think it's one of the worst things a big-time athlete has ever said. I mean of course take out slurs and any of that actual bad stuff. In terms of things that won't get you in actual legal trouble, this shoots right to the top.
Vladdy is in year ONE of a FOURTEEN YEAR, $500 MILLION contract and believes that contract is paying him for what he accomplished in the past. To give you a funnier way to look at his deal, here's the breakdown.
This is not to say Toronto Blue Jay fans don't care about their team, but could you IMAGINE a Yankee or Met saying this in New York? The New York media will take any little quote and blow it out of proportion. A big time athlete like Vladdy going out of his way to drop that quote? Picture Juan Soto signing his mega deal with the Mets and telling everyone a season later that if you expect his numbers in the past to continue then good luck buddy. There would be revolts in the streets. Mamdani would be calling in the National Guard to help take back the city.
It'd be one thing to say all this after a monster season. Like alright he's tempering expectations, but there's nothing to worry about in the middle of his prime while he consistently contends for AL MVP awards. Nope, Vladdy in his age 27 season is putting the finishing touches on the worst season of his career. He didn't hit his first homer at home until 10 days ago.
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No major injuries to name that you can toss out as an excuse, just genuine bad baseball, and now we can point to a reason. He just doesn't give a fuck. He led them to the doorstep of a World Series title, just two outs away from winning it all, and said that's the best he can do, thank you for paying me for that effort. And how did the team perform this year? Well…
It's one thing in sports to win a title for a team and then get the big contract afterwards. The best GMs in sports make the hard decision to stay away from that contract, and avoiding paying for what you already did. It's very hard, but the right move. The best version of this I can think of is what the Nationals did with Stephen Strasburg. The man literally gave them everything he had in 2019 and they rewarded him with a 7 year $245M deal. The moment he signed the bottom line I think many understood he was never going to come close to living up to the deal, but it almost didn't matter because of what he helped them accomplish the season prior. Jalen Brunson is going to earn close to $300M with his next Knicks contract, but who gives a fuck now that he brought a championship to the city. He's going nowhere and will be remembered forever as the best Knick of all time. No contract could get in the way of that.
Vladdy fell short and then said the quiet part out loud. In the prime of his career and just told the fanbase they better not expect MVP numbers until that deal runs out at the end of the 2039 season. Like obviously he was never going to put up elite numbers throughout the course of that contract, but you fully expect the early years of that deal, in the heart of is prime, to give you one of the best hitters in the game.
I can't believe that quote. If I was the Blue Jays GM or owner I'd be exploring ways to sabotage Vladdy in the future and void his deal.
P.S. Btw this shit is why athletes never want to speak candidly and would much rather be boring and settle for the Aaron Judge esque quotes. It's cool to be genuine, but when you mess up like Vladdy did here you get fucking crushed.