So, with Bautista being 36 when his contract expires, and Encarnacion being 34, does new general manager Ross Atkins spend big bucks to sign the two veteran sluggers, does he let one of them go and keep the other, or does he say farewell to them both?
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Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista discussed his contract situation yesterday with the media at the team’s Spring Training complex in Dunedin, Florida.
Bautista batted. 250 with 40 home runs and 114 RBIs last season, his eighth with the Blue Jays. He believes he’s given the Blue Jays a hometown discount the past five years, and now Bautista wants to cash in with a new contract … whether that’s with the Blue Jays or another team out there. Encarnacion has averaged 31.5 homers per season over the same period.
“I’m not going to sit here and bargain for a couple of dollars. If this is going to happen, they should know what it takes and I told them the number because they asked me”, he told ESPN’s Britt McHenry. “They made sure I wasn’t paying any attention to the rumors and they assured me that they’re just rumors and nothing more”.
Without knowing how much Bautista is asking for, we can assume it is dramatically more than the $14 million annually he has been getting.
The main concern for Bautista’s next contract, would be if he can stay healthy as he gets older and if he will be able to produce at a $30 million/year level.
The question becomes: If the Jays aren’t willing to meet Bautista’s price now, and he’s not willing to negotiate, what will actually change between now and the end of the season?
“I think I signed a very lucrative deal that I was compensated very fairly at the time for my production”, Bautista told ESPN.
Bautista said he has “nothing but praise” for what Shapiro and Atkins have done so far, even while his own future remains uncertain. Bautista’s proposed deal would see him make just $1 million less than Cabrera is now making with the Tigers.
It’s also worth noting that a three-team trade involving Jay Bruce was reported to be materializing on the same day as Bautista’s comments.
Bautista signed his long-term deal in 2011, when he was coming off a 54-homer season that more than tripled his career high in that category.
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Since 2010, Bautista has been a. 270 hitter with 173 HR and 582 RBI while serving as the Blue Jays’ primary right fielder. By early Tuesday afternoon, he seemed to have a mature and reasonable approach to the whole matter, repeating multiple times that he expected to be a Blue Jay and looked forward to doing everything he could to help the club win a championship. Hopefully I have that opportunity and that I can run with it. Everyone here is motivated.
