Bautista quiet on bat flip, post-Toronto life
Ballplayer was reluctant to discuss uncertain future, his demands to management
DUNEDIN, FLA.— Jose Bautista doesn’t want to talk about the bat flip.
The regal right-fielder’s reticence is understandable, really. It’s old news, for one. Alternately celebrated and criticized ad nauseam on talk shows, kitschy Christmas sweaters and by cranky, old ballplayers all off-season.
“I feel like it’s been talked about a lot, maybe too much,” Bautista lamented to the Star recently.
Even still, it’s a testament to the significance and spectacle of that unforgettable moment — instantly iconic in Toronto sports’ lore — that five months later it’s still a semiregular topic of conversation in the baseball world.
Hall of Famers Goose Gossage and Mike Schmidt both went out of their way in recent weeks to condemn Bautista’s flamboyance, spurring a wider — and largely tiresome — debate about baseball’s unwritten rules and code of behaviour.
Bautista, meanwhile, has opted to stay above the fray, refusing to take the bait of the haters, who fail to appreciate the catharsis of that game-breaking blast, which not only released the bubbling tension of Game 5’s surreal seventh inning, but also shattered more than two decades of disappointment for the franchise.
“It’s garnered both good and bad attention — for the most part good,” he said of his famous flip. “I just think it was a good moment for the fans, the franchise, the team and myself. We enjoyed it. Whatever comes of it, so be it. A lot of people have enjoyed it and I’ve seen a lot of people in social media and other channels replicate it, imitate it, talk about it and have fun with it. But I’d like to focus on the positives, not the negatives.”
Bautista grabbed headlines for a different reason on the first official day of spring training this year when he, a pending free agent, declared that he had given Blue Jays’ management his contract demands — reportedly in excess of five years and $150 million — and told them they could take it or leave it. There would be no negotiation. The bold pronouncement was quintessential Bautista: proud, precise and unapologetic — a proverbial bat flip in Mark Shapiro’s direction. It’s an audacious asking price for a soon-to-be 36-year-old slugger — even one of Bautista’s elevated status — and it appears, at least at this early stage, to be too rich for Rogers’ blood, much to the chagrin of a fan base already cynically tilted toward the interloping new management.
While Bautista declined to divulge the specifics of his demands or discuss his contract negotiations in any material way, he admitted that he has considered the possibility of this being his last season in Toronto.
“You have to think of all the scenarios,” he said. “But it’s not by choice. I feel like I’m being forced to think about those things and it’s only human nature to want to know what circumstances you’re going to have to deal with in your future — not just your immediate future, but also your long-term future.”
While the notion of this being his last year as a Blue Jay has crossed his mind, he says he doesn’t “dedicate my focus or my energy to that. There’ll come a point in time when it’ll be inevitable that that’s what I have to focus on, but it’s not now.”
If this is to be Bautista’s final season with the Jays, he will depart as arguably the best position player in franchise history. Barring a major injury, he will eclipse both Carlos Delgado and Tony Fernandez in franchise Wins Above Replacement — probably within the season’s first month, in fact — putting him behind only Roy Halladay and Dave Stieb among all Jays players.
He sits second on the franchise’s all-time home-run list, 93 jacks behind Delgado, who has 2,051 more plate appearances.
If his numbers alone hadn’t already guaranteed him a spot on the Level of Excellence, last season’s post-season performance eliminated any doubt. Beyond the bat flipping, series-clinching homer in the ALDS, Bautista averaged an RBI a game and led the team with four home runs, including a pair in the ALCS Game 6 loss to Kansas City, in which he nearly single-handedly salvaged the season.
Given the uncertainty, Bautista was reluctant to reflect much on the notion of his legacy with the Jays.
“I know that I’ve had a good run here,” he said. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to an end. Just like anything that has to do with a contract or no contract, I’m trying not to think about it as much as I can and just continue to focus my efforts on the season.”
“I know that I’ve had a good run here. . . . Hopefully it doesn’t come to an end.” JOSE BAUTISTA ON LEAVING THE BLUE JAYS