Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is set for a major pay raise in his final year of arbitration.
In a set of projected arbitration salaries released annually by MLB Trade Rumors, the Toronto Blue Jays first baseman was tabbed to have the highest salary of all arbitration-eligible players this off-season at $29.6 million.
Guerrero and the Blue Jays went to an arbitration hearing in February, where the four-time All-Star won his case for a $19.9 million salary for 2023. Toronto had filed at $18.05 million.
New York Yankees star Juan Soto holds the record for the largest arbitration contract in MLB history when he signed for $31.5 million last off-season.
Guerrero is coming off a 2024 campaign where he slashed .323/.396/.544 with 30 home runs and 103 RBIs over 159 games for the Blue Jays.
The 25-year-old will become free-agent eligible following the 2025 season.
MLB’s arbitration deadline is usually in mid-January. If teams and arbitration-eligible players haven’t agreed to a contract by the deadline, they will exchange figures and a hearing is scheduled for early February. Negotiations can continue past the exchanging of numbers, but the Blue Jays are among the teams that “file and trial,” meaning they won’t negotiate after trading figures with a player.
MLB Trade Rumors adds a disclaimer to their projections, saying that they “are not to be used as a scorecard for the agent and team on an individual player level. A player doing better or worse than our projection isn’t indicative of anything. Our arbitration projections are created as a tool for our readers to get a general idea of a team’s payroll situation.”
Toronto has 10 players eligible for arbitration. Here is a look at what their projected salaries are:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: $29.6 million
Erik Swanson: $3.2 million
Jordan Romano: $7.75 million
Genesis Cabrera: $2.5 million
Dillon Tate: $1.9 million
Daulton Varsho: $7.7 million
Alejandro Kirk: $4.1 million
Alek Manoah: $2.4 million
Zach Pop: $1 million
Ernie Clement: $1.7 million