Blue Jays RF Bautista demands new deal

Toronto slugger Jose Bautista says he has let the Blue Jays know what it would take to keep him, and he’s still waiting for an answer. Bautista’s contract expires at the conclusion of the 2016 season and the 35-year old slugger would represent one of the best free agent options on the market if he makes it there. “I think I’ve proved myself, and the question has been asked – what will it take – and I’ve given them an answer”, Bautista said.

Bautista, who led the majors in home runs in 2010 (54) and 2011 (43), hit 40 homers last season while driving in 114 runs. Now, it’s in the Blue Jays’ hands to decide if they want to meet that asking price. But nearly as soon as those rumors gained traction, Buster Olney and others reported that the trade was falling apart due to medical clearance issues with at least one player. Unless he gets injured this season, he’s going to get a ton of money in the offseason from someone, whether it’s from the Blue Jays or not.

We have about 10 months to worry about Bautista’s potential free agency and by that time, Toronto may have locked him up to a long-term deal, one in which they caved and signed him. “I think he wants to spend his entire career in Cincinnati out of loyalty to (owner) Bob Castellini”. “I made it known a couple times that (the transition last year) wasn’t that easy just because I’d been in Colorado so long”.

There’s a normalcy to being with the Toronto Blue Jays now that’s making Troy Tulowitzki feel more comfortable this spring than he did a year ago following his acquisition from the Colorado Rockies.

Jose Bautista must stay on the field the entire season if the Canadian franchise has any hopes of playoffs.

Now it sounds like the days of the Blue Jays receiving a discount for Bautista are over and it probably means the end of his time in Toronto is coming soon. “I’m not going to sit here and try to bargain”.

So given the deal we just say Jason Heyward get, shouldn’t Bautista expect more than 5-150M? “There’s a little bit of a leg kick in there, but some of the stuff I do up top is real similar”. Watching what I eat and really working on some big muscle things around my injury has helped.

“The stakes are so high for us personally as a team and what’s at stake for him as a free agent so it might be his best year ever”, he said.

The initial speculation was that Saunders – who injured his left knee during last year’s spring training when he stepped on a sprinkler head while shagging fly balls – was the problem. He’s not wrong: According to fangraphs’s player value estimates, he was worth $61.3 million in the first year of the contract alone!