Blue Jays GM gets honest about efforts to keep Vladimir Guerrero Jr. beyond this year

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is in the last year of his contract. After exhausting all his years of arbitration, the All-Star first baseman will hit the open market after the upcoming season. He figures to be one of the biggest names available.

The Toronto Blue Jays have not yet been able to field a strong team around him. They have made the playoffs a few times in his career but haven't advanced very far.

Now, the time has come to extend him or risk his exit. Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins knows this and has been working on an extension to no avail so far.

“We have worked exceptionally hard to find a way to keep him here for an extended period beyond this year. And we'll continue to do that,” Atkins said.

According to MLB insider Shi Davidi, Atkins said they'd be "very respectful" if Guerrero wanted to stop extension talks during the season or even when he arrives for Spring Training in a few days. The GM noted that they'd "never close the door" on a possible extension.

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Vladimir Guerrero, the Blue Jays are on a ticking clock

The days left between now and when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. arrives at the Blue Jays camp, thus effectively ending the extension talks for now, are dwindling. One MLB insider said that the Blue Jays are not in a good spot because of that.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doesn't have an extension yet (Imagn)

Buster Olney said via TSN:

"(Guerrero is) on record as saying that he needs to have a deal done by Feb. 18, and in one respect, that's good if you're the Blue Jays because it feels like Guerrero Jr. doesn't want to have a situation where he's talking about it every day. The bottom line is it's a less-than-ideal situation when you're talking about 120 hours or so and we're going to know for sure whether the Blue Jays signed him to a long-term deal."

Manager John Schneider, GM Ross Atkins, and more have said they want to extend him, but it hasn't happened yet. Even if they don't, they can still re-sign him after the season, but the price may increase because of the competition.