BRAVE NEW WORLD
Jose Bautista signs a minor-league deal to reunite with Anthopoulos in Atlanta, hoping to make a return as a third baseman,
Longtime Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista finally found a new home Wednesday, signing a minor-league deal with the Atlanta Braves.
The move reunites the free agent with former Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who is now at the helm in Georgia.
Bautista, who spent more than nine years with in Toronto before the club declined to pick up his mutual option last fall, inked a one-year contract for this season and has reported to the organization’s extended spring training complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Unlike his time in Toronto, where he played predominantly in right field, the 37-year-old is expected to move to third base. Bautista has played 377 games at that position over the course of his 14-year big-league career.
When told where Bautista had landed, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was all for the deal.
“I like it,” Gibbons said, surmising that Bautista could form a platoon with Atlanta’s current third baseman Ryan Flaherty.
Flaherty, 31 years old and a seven-year veteran himself, has had a strong start to the season, playing in all but one of the Braves’ 15 games heading into Wednesday and hitting a National League-leading .354.
Should Bautista make it back to the major leagues, he would return to his old stomping grounds for a two-game series against the Blue Jays on June 19 and 20.
“I’d be happy to see him,” Gibbons said. “It’d be good to see him.”
Asked if he thought Bautista would get a warmer reception than infielder Ryan Goins — who was greeted with a standing ovation when he entered the game for his new club, the Kansas City Royals, at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday afternoon — Gibbons said yes, with a laugh.
“I’m sure it’d be pretty cool for Jose, unless we’ve got no crowd that night,” Gibbons quipped.
Bautista sits second on the Blue Jays’ all-time list for home runs and runs, and third in RBIs, extra-base hits and total bases.
He’s a franchise icon but was coming off his worst season with the team, finishing with a .203 batting average and a franchise-record 170 strikeouts. The six-time all-star did hit 23 homers and drove in 65 RBI in 2017.
Bautista led the majors in home runs in 2010 and 2011, and of course, delivered the famous “bat flip” after his three-run homer helped beat Texas in the 2015 American League Division Series.
Bautista earned $18 million under a one-year deal with Toronto last season and became a free agent after the team decided to move on.