Bautista’s returning to Toronto — as a Brave
TORONTO — On Monday, June 18, if you happen to be wandering around the Yorkville area of Toronto and see a guy that looks like Jose Bautista, it likely will be Jose Bautista.
The Atlanta Braves have a scheduled two-game interleague baseball series set for June 19-20 at the Rogers Centre, with an off-day preceding it, and odds are that Bautista, currently playing himself into game shape in the minors, having signed a freeagent contract this past week, will be with the major-league Braves well before that.
The former Jays’ all-star signed with the Braves and his former Blue Jays boss, GM Alex Anthopoulos, last Tuesday for a contract that would pay him $1-million (pro-rated) if he is in the major leagues. He is expected to platoon at third base when he inevitably joins the Braves sometime on the upcoming road trip. Anthopoulos insists manager Brian Snitker can use Bautista however he wants, either at third base, first base (where Freddie Freeman is currently on the DL) or in the outfield where he played primarily with the Jays.
Bautista is on a fast track. He worked out at Braves camp in Orlando on Thursday, then played an extended spring training game, coincidentally, at the Mattick Training Centre in Dunedin against the Jays on Friday. He was at third base for two games for the Braves’ Class-A affiliate in the FSL on the weekend and has reported to the Triple-A Gwinnett team for a doubleheader in Rochester Monday.
The 37-year-old hit .286 (2-for-7) for class A Florida on the weekend, with two walks and a double and was set to play third and DH in the International League twin bill on Monday.
SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo says Joey Bats turned down an offer from the Indians that would have paid him more, but his relationship with Anthopoulos, plus a chance for a more significant role with the young Braves made up his mind. It’s not about money.
Whenever it is that Bautista steps to the plate in a Braves uniform at Rogers Centre, Jays fans should make sure to give him a standing ovation far greater than the inexplicable one accorded Ryan Goins with the Royals last week. Bautista is the most important Blue Jays player since Carlos Delgado.
Why? After hammering 54 and 43 homers in 2010-11, emerging as a perennial MVP candidate, Bautista signed a long-term deal that was a gamble for both the player and the club, given his age and sudden emergence as a star. Over a half dozen years, Jose served as the conscience of Anthopoulos when it came to the commitment to put a winning team on the field while they were both in their prime in Toronto. When the GM — at the insistence of ownership — did nothing to help the team at the 2014 trade deadline, Bautista led the player protest against his inaction.
The next year, Anthopoulos rolled the dice at the deadline, acquiring the needed ingredients to win the AL East and advance to the ALCS where they lost to the eventual champion Royals. It was those bold moves and that relationship between the GM and his star player that created this new generation of Jays fans that have been packing Rogers Centre for the last three summers.
Praise the Lourdes, a homegrown shortstop: When rookie Lourdes Gurriel Jr. started Sunday’s game at shortstop for Toronto, he became just the 16th shortstop in 42 years signed and developed by the Blue Jays to play at least one game at that position in his first MLB season.
The first homegrown shortstop in franchise history was Fred Manrique in 1981.