“I know what I can do,” Guerrero said in an interview the Toronto Sun through interpreter Tito Lebron. “I know what type of player I am and I know that if I prepare myself the way I have to, I can put up good numbers … great numbers.

“It’s simple: If you want to be the best player, you have to think you are the best player. That’s the way I always think.”

Talk is talk, of course, and we’ve heard strains of it before from Guerrero. But there is a growing sense around the team that one of Toronto’s most popular sports stars recognizes that 2024 is in many ways a put-up-or-shut-up season for him.

“This has been my best off-season in several years, but it’s not going to be my best off-season,” said Guerrero, who was in the lineup on Wednesday for his second Grapefruit League game as the Jays faced the Tampa Bay Rays. “My plan is to every year continue to get better physically. A lot better.”

And here’s where we make the leap to a hard-to-quantify assumption that Guerrero has matured to the point of pursuing his profession with some urgency. Frustrated not just with the way his production lagged last season, but also with how he felt physically, it’s as if he recognizes an opportunity squandered.

“Baseball teaches you a lot, especially when you don’t prepare yourself for a season the way you should,” Guerrero said. “Baseball will let you know that.

“I think I (better understand) that. That’s why I worked very, very hard this year. You definitely have to be prepared for a season like this.”