On Wednesday, the Toronto Blue Jays were eliminated from playoff contention, officially ending their defense of the 2025 American League pennant.

At 77-82, the Blue Jays not only won't make the playoffs, they won't even finish above .500. The Seattle Mariners, who the Jays beat in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) last year, also won't finish above .500, creating some unique shared history for both teams.

However, the playoff elimination became almost secondary to the gossip-story of the day involving Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 

In an interview with Spanish-language media that was released on Wednesday, Guerrero talked about his $500 million contract, which kicked in this season. The full comments, in Spanish, with translation, are included in the hyperlink before this sentence.

But essentially, Guerrero lamented the fact that he's had a difficult season, and he's said that he's worked hard to play well. He said that fans are with you when you're going well and against you when you're struggling, and most notably, he said that the team paid him for his past accomplishments, not his future ones.

The conversation sparked a lot of other conversation about Guerrero, and Guerrero stood on his comments after Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. And with 24 hours to sit on everything, here's where I stand on the whole thing:

The Blue Jays have been one of the biggest disappointments in baseball this season. Guerrero has been one of the most disappointing players in baseball this season. The only thing that Guerrero should be doing is taking accountability.

It's clear to people who follow the team that Guerrero is working hard. It's evident that he didn't just "take the money and run," but fans don't see that stuff every day. Those in the clubhouse see the accountability and the work, but the fans don't. What needs to be done publicly is taking ownership of the bad year and talking about ways to fix it. 

Guerrero did do some of that, to his credit, but it needed to be a constant theme throughout. Fans are frustrated. The last thing they want to hear is a perceived lack of accountability. And when Guerrero doubled down on Wednesday, that just makes things worse, even though he again did show some accountability. 

A little, but not entirely.

I do believe there's an element of "I'm being rewarded for my past performance," when you get the $500 million deal that Guerrero got. However, where he's wrong, is that there's also a lot of trust being given about the future.

Think about Guerrero's contract like an engagement ring.

If you're being given an engagement ring, you're undoubtedly being rewarded for what you provided that person in the dating/courtship stage.

However, that ring is also being given with the expectation that you will continue to do those things into a long marriage. The expectation is that the relationship will continue to be great in the way it previously was, but also in new and exciting ways. There is an inherent trust in that ring.

There is an inherent trust in Guerrero's contract. A trust that these comments start to chip away at.

Well, with the Blue Jays out of the playoff mix, Guerrero will recede into the offseason and be able to get away from these comments. The labor situation will take over the offseason talk, so we won't hear from him for a while, which will create further distance.

By the time we get baseball again in 2027, people will be so happy to have it back, that these comments likely won't be at the top of mind anymore. So, I actually think that they will disappear from the news cycle pretty quickly.

Then, it will be up to Guerrero to play well enough in 2027 to keep them forgotten. To his point, all is forgiven when you're playing well.