National Post (National Edition)
HOW MUCH DID BLUE JAYS WANT VLAD GUERRERO JR.? A LOT!
All avenues taken to land teen blueblood
It took the trading of two prospects, a trip to Home Hardware for mosquito wear, a three-hour drive on bumpy Dominican roads, a New Year’s Day flight, a Canadian birth certificate, a conversation in French and a one-time, break-the-budget investment for the Toronto Blue Jays to secure the services of teenage phenom Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
It was that complicated a chase for then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos, then-latin scouting director Ismael Cruz, then-club president Paul Beeston and the rest of the Blue Jays staff involved, so many of whom are no longer with the American League club.
And that’s just the beginning of a story with connections to Montreal, Toronto, two cities in the Dominican Republic, to former Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion and the tremendous background work done by Cruz, who is considered the architect of the $7.3-million (all figures Canadian) signing — $4.7 million for Guerrero, $2.6 million in Major League tax money — all finalized on July 2, 2015, the day after Guerrero was eligible to sign with a bigleague club.
“It was the first time that I know of that a team threw the whole international bonus at one guy,” said Cruz, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers. “We thought we had a good chance to get him. Then I was hearing the White Sox and maybe Texas were getting close to him and I was thinking, ‘Oh f—, this isn’t going to happen.’
“You think you’ve done all your work, but by the end of it, you’re never sure anyone is going to sign until they do. I think we had a good connection with his uncle (Wilton, the agent), and with his dad (Vladimir Guerrero). And Alex clicked with the family right from the beginning. And Wilton remembered (Paul) Beeston from other things. There was all these Canadian connections with those guys.”
It was the rare time — maybe the only time in Blue Jays history — in which the club made a major signing because of its geography.
This is how much the Blue Jays wanted Guerrero: Anthopoulos was willing to risk coming into contact with a mosquito-borne virus called Chikungunya that was causing much distress in the Dominican Republic and had hospitalized Cruz’s father. He was willing to take it on — but not without precautions.
“I was going to the Dominican and nobody on our staff wanted to go,” said Anthopoulos. “I thought, I have to go but I can’t get sick. (Scouting director) Andrew Tinnish volunteered to come with me. So I went to Home Hardware near my house ... I bought these belts, repellents, all kinds of protective equipment. Everything they had, I bought.”
Recalled Cruz: “When they got off the plane and Andrew was carrying around this kind of fan, with mesh over his head, and they’re wearing that camouflage stuff, I’m thinking, ‘Dude, come on, this isn’t Africa.’ They were all freaked out about the virus. We couldn’t stop laughing looking at them.”
It was Jan. 1, 2015 — seven months to signing day. There was much work to be done.
The day began with an airport pickup, a meeting with the soon-to-be Hall of Fame father, then a cross-country drive to meet with Guerrero’s mother and stepfather.
During the drive, Anthopoulos, Tinnish, Cruz and Guerrero were all in the vehicle. Most of the time along the road, Guerrero, like a lot of teenagers, was affixed to his cellphone.
“It’s hard to get to know a kid that young at any time, but we were trying. I wondered what he was watching or listening to,” said Anthopoulos.
“Mostly, he was watching his dad’s at-bats. We had the drive together, we had lunch at his mom’s place. The more time we spent around him, the more we liked him, the more he opened up to us. It took a while.”
“Vladdy’s not like his dad,” said Cruz. “His dad is very shy, very quiet. Vladdy’s the opposite. He’s outspoken. He doesn’t mind telling you what he thinks. He’s confident for a young man.”
The rules of baseball had changed in 2015.
The Jays wanted to work out Guerrero privately, but Major League Baseball had forbidden teams from working out unsigned players at their own facilities. Anthopoulos needed to find an independent park for Guerrero to show his stuff.
Cruz had seen lots of him. Anthopoulos had made two previous trips to the Dominican to see Guerrero. He had also seen at least 100 at-bats on video. Still, he wanted — and needed — to see more.
In search of a field, Anthopoulos touched base with Encarnacion, then the Jays’ first baseman, who lives in the Dominican in the off-season.
“I called Edwin and asked if he could help,” said Anthopoulos. “He called a buddy who owned a team in the Dominican league. He got us a ballpark. Edwin came along for the workout.
“Vladdy Jr. was there. (Richard) Urena was there. This Cuban kid the Dodgers signed (Yadier Alvarez) was there. Edwin saw Vladdy for the first time.
“I asked him: ‘Any risk in signing him?’ ”
The quiet Encarnacion turned to Anthopoulos and said: “Nope.”
“It’s good knowing someone else is seeing what you’re seeing,” said Anthopoulos.
Anthopoulos credits Cruz and Beeston for getting the Guerrero deal done. Beeston credits Anthopoulos and Cruz. Cruz credits Anthopoulos and Beeston.
Any way you consider it, it was a team effort by the front office and scouting staff.
“In all, I went to the Dominican four times to see him,” said Anthopoulos. “Ismael Cruz saw him all the time. He was the point man for us in all this. This doesn’t happen if he doesn’t do all the leg work he did. He was running the show for us on this. He did an amazing job on this.
“I give Paul Beeston a lot of credit for allowing us to do this. He could have said no. It was expensive and it cost in many different ways. We were going all in on this. We had to make a trade with the Dodgers for international money. We gave up two players for that. We had to pay a tax for this. We had to lose a year in the international market for this. Paul had to sign off on everything we did. We don’t get this deal done without his support.”
Beeston doesn’t see it that way.
“I’ve never seen two guys more convinced about a player than Alex and Ismael were. If you don’t believe in your GM and in your Latin American scouting director, you have the wrong GM and the wrong scouting director. They weren’t just enthusiastic about this. They were effusive.
“Alex started watching him when he was 14. Ismael saw him earlier than that. It’s probably what they (scouts) saw when they saw Bobby Orr for the first time. It’s that ‘I can’t believe I’m seeing this’ feeling.”
Lunch at the home of Riguelma Ramos, Guerrero’s mom, may have been a turning point in the wooing of the young hitting prospect. There was Anthopoulos, Tinnish and Cruz representing the Blue Jays, Guerrero, his mom, his step-dad, his uncle Wilton and his agent sitting together, eating and talking baseball and life.
Somewhere in the conversation, Ramos and Anthopoulos began speaking in French.
“It’s not something you hear often,” said Cruz. “It was funny sitting in a Dominican house and hearing two people speaking French. His mom lived in Canada for a while.
“Vladdy had always identified himself with Canada. He has very good memories about it. Every time you speak with him about Canada, you could see his eyes light up.”
Watching his mother in conversation with Anthopoulos in French may have been a turning point in striking a deal.
“She speaks fluent French and she was very proud that her son had a Canadian and Quebec birth certificate,” said Anthopoulos.
“She said a lot of good things happened in Canada in their lives. I think Vladdy showed the most interest in us because of the amount of time we spent with him and because his mom liked us. I think it impressed him that we were there with his family. Ismael arranged a lot of those meetings.
“His mom said, ‘We still have family (in Quebec) and ties there.’ I don’t know in the end how much that moved the needle, but I think playing for a Canadian team, his mother speaking fluent French, that his father played in Montreal, all those things mattered to him and his family and it was important to all of them.”
On July 2, 2015, the Jays announced the signing of Guerrero. Less than two months after that, Mark Shapiro was hired as president of the Jays, thus ending Beeston’s term as club president. In October, Anthopoulos resigned as general manager. The following month, Cruz left the Jays for a position with the Dodgers.
The three people most responsible for bringing Guerrero to Toronto no longer factor in with the Jays. But they are watching from afar.
As of Wednesday, Guerrero was hitting .423 with eight home runs and 45 RBIS for the double-a New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He’s the No. 1 hitting prospect outside of the major leagues.
“It’s exciting to see what he’s doing, but let’s wait for the big leagues and wait for him to become an all-star before we say much more,” said Cruz. “But right now, everything he is doing is off the charts.”
“We tried to low-key his signing,” said Anthopoulos. “We didn’t have a press conference or anything. We didn’t want to put any pressure on him. The family came up to Toronto and he took batting practice, had a small availability and that was it.
“The way things are going right now, I’m thrilled for him, I’m thrilled for the organization and I know he’s not there yet, but with the strides he’s made and how well he’s doing, a lot of people had a hand in it. It’s exciting.”
As for Beeston, who remains in an honorary position, the Guerrero signing ranks among his favourite Blue Jays achievements.
“If he can be generational,” said Beeston, “what a signing this will be.”
Tearing up the minors in almost historical fashion, Guerrero turned 19 in March.