Mark Shapiro might've just cost the Blue Jays the chance to extend Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for no good reason

Just about everything that could've gone wrong for the 2024 Toronto Blue Jays did, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s ridiculous season serving as one of the very few exceptions. After a couple of down years and a rough start to the 2024 campaign, Guerrero performed like one of the best players in baseball for the majority of the year, proving that he still has his MVP-caliber ceiling.

The 25-year-old slashed .323/.396/.544 with 30 home runs and 103 RBI in 159 games. He was an All-Star, finished just one hit shy of the 200 mark, and ripped 44 doubles. The team around him stunk, especially offensively, but Guerrero still managed to put together the second-best season of his career. His 166 OPS+ was just one point shy of his mark from the 2021 campaign — the year in which he finished as the MVP runner-up to the two-way version of Shohei Ohtani.

Guerrero's offensive onslaught caused the media to ask Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro whether he is a generational player. Shapiro's answer could give Guerrero another reason to consider bolting Toronto when he can.

Mark Shapiro's ridiculous answer could be what ends Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s Blue Jays tenure

Rather than speak highly of not only the best player on the team but one of the best players in the game, all Shapiro said was that he's a great offensive talent. He said that Guerrero could become a generational player, but he stopped short of saying that he is one right now. Why exactly did he do that?

Honesty is the best policy, but not all the time. Even if Shapiro does not believe Guerrero is a generational player, why couldn't he simply say that he is? Saying that he is would make Guerrero happy, and give Blue Jays fans something to ponder and get excited about. Stopping short of saying that he's a generational player might make Guerrero do a double-take and try to wonder what the Jays organization thinks of him.

The Blue Jays were willing to go all-out to sign a generational player, Shohei Ohtani, this past offseason. Despite Guerrero seeming to love Toronto and the Blue Jays, the Jays have yet to extend him. Perhaps the reason for that now can be seen as Shapiro and Co. not valuing him like a generational talent.

Guerrero, a 25-year-old superstar, has no reason but to search for the most money he can possibly get. To extend him now, the Jays would have to offer him a fortune. The fact that he has not extended suggests that Toronto is unwilling to offer him the kind of contract that they would to a player they consider to be generational. Guerrero won't get Ohtani money or close to it, but he's going to get a ton of money from an organization in search of a game-changing hitter.

It's hard to see what Shapiro's end goal is by refusing to pump up his own player. Is he trying to lower Guerrero's price? Perhaps, but it feels like all these remarks will do is incentivize Guerrero to think about playing elsewhere if the team president doesn't think of himself as a generational player.

If the Blue Jays won't trade Guerrero, they must extend him to avoid risking losing him for just a measly draft pick. There's every chance that this quote will be an avoidable reason Guerrero has to see what other options look like in free agency, which would be a disastrous outcome for Toronto.