Last month, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. set the tone for Blue Jays spring training when he announced that he had the team failed to come to an agreement on an extension before Guerrero’s self-imposed deadline.

On Thursday night, he peeled back the curtain to add some more context as to why that happened.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. seeking contract ‘much less’ than Juan Soto

In an interview with ESPN’s Enrique Rojas and Ernesto Jerez, Guerrero said that the contract that he’s seeking is less than the 15-year, $765 million contract that Juan Soto signed with the Mets in the offseason.

That’s a key piece of information. Neither side has said much about what kind of numbers were on the table outside of general manager Ross Atkins saying that the Blue Jays offered Guerrero the largest contract in team history (which just means it was more than $150 million).

That dearth of information has led to many fans filling in the blanks and assuming that Soto’s record-setting contract changed the kind of contract that Guerrero was seeking. And, according to the man himself, that isn’t the case

.”It’s much less than Soto. We’re talking about many fewer millions than Soto, more than a hundred million less,” Guerrero said. His comments to Rojas and Jerez (which were in Spanish) were translated by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. “It was the same number of years [as Soto’s contract], but it didn’t reach [$600 million]. The last number we gave them as a counteroffer didn’t reach 600,” Guerrero said.

“I know the business. I lowered the salary demands a bit, but I also lowered the number of years. … I’m looking for 14 [years]. I would like 14, 15, even 20 if they give them to me, but doing it the right way.”

While of these comments likely make the lack of an extenstion sting even more for Blue Jays fans, they also show that there’s still a chance that Toronto could ink him to a long-term deal.

The Blue Jays were finalists for Soto and Shohei Ohtani, both of whom netted contracts of $700 million. You don’t stay in the hunt that long if you’re not willing to fork over that kind of cash.

Yes, Guerrero’s not like Ohtani. No one is.

But he’s closer to Soto than you may think. They’re both young, talented hitters (Soto has a career OPS+ of 160; Guerrero’s is 137) who will become full-time DH’s sooner rather than later.

Outside of Soto and Ohtani, the largest contract in MLB history is the nine-year, $360 million contract that Aaron Judge signed with the Yankees ahead of the 2023 season.

While Guerrero has said that his team’s extension offer was less than $600 million, it was probably more than Judge’s — especially if Guerrero was willing to sign for 14 years.

“There was an exchange [of salary figures]. The meetings lasted until the last day of the deadline, but they [the Blue Jays and Guerrero’s agents] couldn’t reach an agreement on the numbers. But as I’ve always said, just because we couldn’t reach an agreement, I’m not going to change the way I work. I have to keep working,” Guerrero told ESPN.

Long-term contracts like this tend to age poorly; everyone understands that. But when you sign a player to a contract like Soto’s, Judge’s or Ohtani’s, you’re essentially overpaying for the production at the beginning of the contract.

And the Blue Jays should be willing to overpay. Guerrero’s a Canadian citizen who has said he wants to stay in

Toronto. Those factors (combined with his production) would have made a $600 million contract look like a bargain.

Now we’ve learned he’d be even more of a bargain. Now it’s time to see how Toronto’s front office responds.