Bautista is set to be a free agent following the 2016 season, and is demanding a five-year deal worth $150 million from the team or he’ll sign elsewhere on the open market, according to TSN’s Rick Westhead.
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Troy Tulowitzki, left, smiles as Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista takes ground balls at shortstop on Monday in Dunedin, Fla.
“I don’t believe in any of that stuff”, Bautista said. There is no ambiguity. He’s been one of the best players in baseball and one of the reasons why is that he’s always been able to focus.
“In my world, that doesn’t exist”, he said, while wearing a “Home is Toronto” t-shirt.
“I’m not trying to sound like it was adamant and I put down the law and I drew lines in the sand”, Bautista said.
Now he’s demanding a lengthy contract that would see him paid at baseball’s top rate into his forties. “I’m excited, man. It’s going to be hard to wait for this next month, six weeks because I’m itching to get at it, being as I didn’t play all of past year”.
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.
Gibbons said he wasn’t concerned that Saunders would be distracted by the rumours.
That’s a question the Blue Jays will have to figure out an answer to, and they better get it right. “Let’s roll”, Ortiz told Price after they embraced. But he’s in his middlin’ 30′s, and there have been injuries the last couple of years.
Atkins declined to delve into any specifics.
“There’s a lot of trade rumors, there’s a lot of trade discussion”, Atkins said. We started by hearing that he gave the Jays a number which would allow them to extend him (he’s a free agent after this season). Hopefully I have that opportunity and that I can run with it. Everyone here is motivated.
While Joey Bats certainly had a strong season in 2010, arguably deserving the MVP trophy, many fans thought the deal with the high average annual payout of $14 million was too much, too soon.
The players’ union has the right to challenge the decision before an arbitrator and said it will work with Reyes to protect his rights “if further discipline is issued” or if the “suspension is not resolved in a timely fashion”.
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But Bautista isn’t most old sluggers. 250 with 40 homers and 114 RBIs last season. 244 against a steady diet of defensive shifts as the Angels missed the playoffs. Davis apparently wasn’t going to get something like his seven-year, 1 million contract from any team other than the Orioles. The Internet exploded on Tuesday when reports leaked that Bautista was demanding that ludicrous deal, but the 35-year-old slugger has denied them.
