Bautista happy in Toronto, even for less money

Jose Bautista said Saturday he took less money to re-sign with the Toronto Blue Jays but is happy even though he didn’t get a longterm contract.

The free agent slugger agreed to an $18.5 million, one-year contract Tuesday that includes mutual options for more years.

The 36-year-old Bautista said he wanted to stay because he’s been in Toronto a long time and enjoyed so much success. He said he didn’t know if it was possible that he could return but felt there was mutual interest all along.

“You get what you can get and the most important thing is being happy,” Bautista said.

“I’m happy and where I want to be.”

A longtime fan favorite, Bautista hit 22 homers with 69 RBIs last year while batting .234 in an injury-slowed season.

A year ago, Bautista was asking Toronto for a contact believed to be worth $150 million. That market didn’t materialize, and he was hurt because other teams would have lost a high draft pick had they signed him.

He did not accept Toronto’s $17.2 million, one-year qualifying offer this offseason, instead deciding to test free agency.

“It had some impact,” Bautista said of the draft pick compensation. His age and an abundance of power hitters on the market also worked against him.

“I had other opportunities and other options, but I wanted to be back here, so here I am,” he said.

Justin Verlander is set to start another opening day for the Detroit Tigers.

The rest of the rotation is a little less clear, but manager Brad Ausmus is hoping he’ll have plenty of options.

Ausmus saw no reason to hold back on announcing that Verlander would start the opener. The Detroit ace is in line to start opening day for the ninth time in 10 years, and for Ausmus, slotting Verlander at No. 1 is the easy part. The fourth-year manager revealed that when asked how many spots in the rotation might still be up for grabs.

“I’m not going to put a number on it. Verlander’s going to pitch opening day. I’ll give you that right now,” Ausmus said.