By Ryan Bologna
Feb. 18, 2025
Clutch­Points

The Toron­to Blue Jays and star first base­man Vladimir Guer­rero Jr. were not able to agree on a con­tract exten­sion before the slug­ger’s set dead­line, and he will be hit­ting free agency next off­sea­son, leav­ing many won­der­ing if he will be trad­ed at some point either this spring or in the sum­mer before the trade deadline.

After adding Antho­ny San­tander this off­sea­son, Toron­to does seem intent on con­tend­ing in 2025. It could be the last ride, not only with Vladimir Guer­rero Jr. but Bo Bichette as well. Both are sched­uled to be free agents and if the Blue Jays fall out of the play­off race, they could essen­tial­ly con­trol the trade dead­line with two of the biggest chips that buy­ing teams would like to acquire.

With that being said, let’s get to the top trade des­ti­na­tions for Blue Jays slug­ger Vladimir Guer­rero Jr.

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are one of the top teams from a vari­ety of per­spec­tives, as not only do they have the prospect cap­i­tal to make a trade, but they are report­ed­ly one of the top suit­ors to sign Guer­rero in free agency.

The Red Sox are loaded with prospects, with Roman Antho­ny Kris­t­ian Camp­bell and Marce­lo May­er head­lin­ing their cur­rent crop. How­ev­er, they could like­ly do a deal with­out includ­ing any of those three, even after mak­ing the trade for Gar­rett Cro­chet ear­li­er this offseason.

Short­stop Franklin Arias could head­line a deal for the Red Sox from a prospect per­spec­tive, but acquir­ing Vladimir Guer­rero Jr. would like­ly mean that Tris­ton Casas’ days in Boston are done. Get­ting Casas in a trade involv­ing Guer­rero would be a way for the Blue Jays to strike a bal­ance between build­ing for the long-term and win­ning now.

The Red Sox are hop­ing to enter true con­tention soon with the sign­ing of Alex Breg­man and their young play­ers. Adding Guer­rero could make sense this sum­mer before the dead­line if the team lives up to expec­ta­tions, and it would give Guer­rero a taste of what play­ing in Boston is like before hit­ting free agency.

New York Mets

When it comes to finan­cial might, the New York Mets are arguably at the top of the list in Major League Base­ball, with the Los Ange­les Dodgers being the oth­er team in the con­ver­sa­tion. The Mets have already been list­ed as a poten­tial top suit­or for Guer­rero next off­sea­son, as Steve Cohen, David Stearns and Co. could be look­ing for young, right-hand­ed slug­ger to pair with Juan Soto.

The pres­ence of Pete Alon­so com­pli­cates things a bit in 2025, but he could sim­ply slide to des­ig­nat­ed hit­ter in the short term. In fact, the Blue Jays report­ed­ly con­sid­ered doing that this off­sea­son when they pur­sued Alonso.

Stearns is try­ing to build a sus­tain­able win­ner with the Mets, but the orga­ni­za­tion does have prospects to poten­tial­ly deal. Some­one like Bran­don Sproat or Jett Williams could head­line a deal.

When it comes to trade suit­ors for Guer­rero, the Red Sox and Mets stick out above the rest.

Seattle Mariners

The Seat­tle Mariners have been a frus­trat­ing team to fol­low over the last few years, as they have a young team that should be aug­ment­ed with tal­ent. The pitch­ing staff is stacked with tal­ent, and Julio Rodriguez car­ries an offense that oth­er­wise has strug­gled. The team could use anoth­er impact bat, but they have not spent sig­nif­i­cant mon­ey in that area.

Seat­tle in all like­li­hood would not be able to re-sign Guer­rero, but they have prospects to poten­tial­ly make a deal. If the Mariners are in con­tention to win the Amer­i­can League West, they could decide to take the leap with Guer­rero and try to make a run in 2025. Prospects like Michael Arroyo or Jon­ny Farme­lo stick out as options to include in a trade.

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are one of the up-and-com­ing teams in base­ball, and have the prospect cap­i­tal to make a deal. They were unable to land Alex Breg­man in free agency, but their pur­suit of him was aggres­sive. It is not known if the Tigers would be able to com­pete with the Mets or Red Sox finan­cial­ly, but per­haps trad­ing for Guer­rero dur­ing the sum­mer could give them a bit of an edge in the winter.

Colt Kei­th is cur­rent­ly the Tigers’ first base­man, but Guer­rero would obvi­ous­ly be a big upgrade. He would also bal­ance out a line­up that has a lot of left-hand­ed hit­ters. Some­one like Bryce Rain­er could be includ­ed in a deal, or Thay­ron Liranzo.

In a very winnable Amer­i­can League Cen­tral divi­sion, the Tigers could make a state­ment this sum­mer by acquir­ing Guer­rero if they are in contention.

New York Yankees

The Yan­kees are list­ed as one of the top poten­tial free agent des­ti­na­tions for Guer­rero, so they have to be on this list in some form. They do not have the prospect cap­i­tal that oth­er teams do, how­ev­er. That is why the Red Sox and Mets are ranked ahead of them in this article.

The sce­nario in which the Yan­kees end up acquir­ing Guer­rero in a trade would be if teams like the Mariners and Tigers do not have the appetite to make the deal for a rental they like­ly will not be able to re-sign and the Mets and Red Sox decide to wait until free agency to pur­sue him.

In a trade, the Yan­kees would almost sure­ly keep Jas­son Dominguez out of con­ver­sa­tions, as they are try­ing to con­tend in 2025 and he is slat­ed to be the start­ing left field­er. Oth­er prospects like George Lom­bard Jr., Rod­er­ick Arias or Spencer Jones could be includ­ed in the deal. How­ev­er, there are con­flict­ing views on Jones specif­i­cal­ly due to his high strike­out rate in the minors.

The Yan­kees will like­ly do their due dili­gence if Guer­rero is made avail­able in a trade, espe­cial­ly if Paul Gold­schmidt is not per­form­ing. How­ev­er, they like­ly will not be able to out bid oth­er teams’ prospect packages.