Three words from Vlad Guerrero Jr. are all Blue Jays need to move on from Ross Atkins

The deadline all of Canada had been dreading came and went, and when the dust settled, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still hadn't signed a long-term contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto knew from the moment the offseason began what the stakes were, and how much time they had to try and convince their homegrown superstar to forgo free agency and commit to them for at least the rest of his prime. And yet, when push came to shove, the team still couldn't get it done.

There are plenty of reasons for what can only be seen as a profound organizational failure, letting the last tether to the Alex Anthopoulos era — a generational talent born in Canada who'd spent his entire career with the franchise — walk out the door. Money is the biggest one, to state the obvious; meeting with the media ahead of the team's first full-squad workout of spring training on Tuesday morning, Guerrero Jr. made clear that he had a number in mind, and that Toronto didn't come close to matching it.

But Vladdy almost made clear that money wasn't the only reason he was reticent to sign on the dotted line and remain with the Blue Jays. And that should have the team and its fans itching to move on from the current Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins regime.

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. puts the final nail in Ross Atkins' coffin with the Blue Jays

Guerrero Jr. was calm and seemingly in good spirits during his press conference on Tuesday, emphasizing that he was committed to taking Toronto to the playoffs this season and that he didn't want his own contract status to become a distraction for his teammates. But when asked about his upcoming free agency, Vlad was open about what he was looking for, and delivered a damning indictment of the last few years under Atkins as GM.

Ouch. To be clear, it wouldn't matter how many games the Blue Jays had won over the past few years if ownership (or Shapiro and Atkins, depending on whom you'd like to blame here) remained unwilling to spend the sort of money it would take to match Vladdy's asking price. Obviously he's not about to match the $765 million that his friend Juan Soto got from the New York Mets this winter, but the Soto sweepstakes certainly opened his eyes to the value of an All-Star slugger still just entering his prime, and he can understandably expect something north of $400 million on the open market next winter. All along, it seemed like Toronto never wanted to go that high, and maybe that was the end of the conversation right there.

But it's still hard to read that comment above and not look back at all the missteps that Shapiro and Atkins have made over the past few years as they tried and failed to build a true contender around Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. There just isn't a ton of reason for Vladdy to put his trust in this front office at this point, and while both Shapiro and Atkins are entering the final years of their contracts, who knows whether their replacements will be any better? The most important player in the organization has made clear exactly what he thinks about its current decision-makers, and it should prompt some real soul-searching over the next few months.f