JOSE WANTS TO STAY A JAY
Bautista seeks a new deal
Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista would like to be a Blue Jay for life. It appears to be up to the team’s new front office to make the next move.
Bautista, entering the final year of his contract, is coming off one of his best seasons and helped the Blue Jays end their long playoff drought. He made it clear in a phone interview Thursday that he would like to finish his career with Toronto.
“It would be an honour if I had the opportunity to do so,” Bautista said from Tampa, Fla.
Now the question is when — or if — general manager Ross Atkins and/ or team president Mark Shapiro will be willing to spend the big dollars needed to get him signed to another multi- year extension.
“I have to have something to consider at some point if I’m going to make that decision, which hasn’t happened yet,” Bautista said. “So I’m going to continue to go about my business just like any other year and any other day because I don’t really have a decision to make right now.”
Bautista, who has been a top power hitter for several years, posted big numbers again last season with 40 homers and 114 RBIs. Teammate Edwin Encarnacion, who hit 39 homers and had 111 RBIs, is also entering the final year of his deal and their long- term status will be a key talking point with spring training set to begin this month.
Bautista said he recently had a positive meeting with Atkins and Shapiro at his Florida home.
“I think it went well,” he said. “They’ve spoken about how they want to get to know us, at least referring to myself and Edwin. They’ve been the ones vocal about the fact that they’re considering extending us, which would be an honour for us if we get considered.
“They felt like they had the need to get to know us a little bit and I feel the same way. They’re new to the team, I don’t really know them personally or their style of management per se other than what I’ve seen or heard in the press from their previous jobs, which was to be conservative because you’re in a small market type of thing.
“So that’s what I’m trying to get to know and understand — what kind of adjustments, if any, they’re going to make from their managerial style to now be in with a different team with a different set of circumstances like us.”
Atkins and Shapiro both previously worked in the Cleveland Indians’ front office. Given the bigdollar free agent deals that were completed this off- season, a topflight talent like Bautista would likely command an annual salary somewhere in the neighbourhood of $ 25 million.
Bautista powered the Blue Jays to victory with a key homer — complete with epic bat flip — in the decisive fifth game of Toronto’s firstround playoff series win over the Texas Rangers. The Blue Jays went on to lose the AL Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals.