The Toronto slugger said Monday he has let the Blue Jays know what it would take to keep him, and is waiting for an answer.
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The Toronto slugger finished with an impressive 40 home runs and 114 RBIs last season and has hit.270/.393/.540 with 173 homers since 2011. So, categorizing the previous contract as a “hometown discount” requires a little bit of revisionist history.
“In my world, that doesn’t exist”, Bautista said.
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. “Really, winning a ring is something I value the most”. They asked me about two weeks ago, and I told them, and that’s it. There’s no negotiation.
“I think I signed a very lucrative deal that I was compensated very fairly at the time for my production”. At 14 million a year with one year to go, he’s been a bit of a bargain by baseball salary standards. By any standard, Bautista-who has been named an All-Star for six straight seasons-has dramatically outplayed his contract.
There will be none of that sentiment in Jose Bautista’s contract extension negotiation.
“That is fictitious”, Bautista said late in the day when asked about the original figures in the leaked demand. “But I have an idea what I want to throw in certain situations, certain counts”.
That’s a question the Blue Jays will have to figure out an answer to, and they better get it right.
“If this is going to happen, they should know what it takes, and I told them the number because they asked me”, Bautista said. When the Blue Jays made an attempt to negotiate, Bautista rebuffed them. Mr. Bautista has reached the final year of a long-term contract with the Blue Jays that turned out to be very much in the team’s favour – simply because he outperformed all reasonable expectations as a late-blooming superstar who’d been tossed about from team to team without ever hinting at his potential greatness. So I immediately communicated with him and say ‘Hey, man, I’m here for you. Having been one of MLB’s premier home run hitters since the 2010 season, Bautista will have the chance to cash in on his success, something he didn’t do last time.
“I want to be that guy”. “There’s a lot of trade rumours, there’s a lot of trade discussions; we have them constantly”. “I was really excited to come here past year and show what I could do and do it with my hometown team….”
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What’s clear is that it’s clear: Bautista has, in fact, told the Atkins and his boss, president Mark Shapiro, what’s required to seal a deal. “There’s a little bit of a leg kick in there, but some of the stuff I do up top is real similar”.
