The Toronto Blue Jays are facing a huge deadline this week as Jose Bautista is threatening to not talk extension after Monday’s arbitration hearing. It’s huge because Bautista hit 54 homers last season and is a guy the Blue Jays should want to keep long term. At the same time thou, it was a career year can it happen again? The Blue Jays probably aren’t sure. So should fans worry?
Nope, they shouldn’t. According to Ken Fidlin of the Toronto Sun, Bautista has no interest in leaving the team.
“My desire is to play in Toronto long term but, after the hearing, or during the season, I have come to the conclusion that it’s probably not the best thing for me to be negotiating any type of deal,” he said. “I want to focus on the game and trying to win ballgames.”
“After the hearing, I believe we will notify the team that (a long-term deal) is not going to be a possibility, unless it’s in that window they have from the end of the season until the free agency period begins.”
This is great news for the fans as it truly sounds like Bautista doesn’t want to leave. He just doesn’t want the extension talks to turn into a distraction.
“If I’m in that type of negotiation, it’s going to shift my focus from what I need to worry about and that’s baseball. I don’t want my mind to be elsewhere when I come to the ballpark to help my team win.”
That’s great talk, something every fan wants to hear from their superstar BUT is it the normal rhetoric or does he mean it? That I’m not so sure of. Regardless of that thou, is it smart for him to cut off negotiations?
Over seven seasons, five full Bautista has hit 113 homers. The alarming thought is that almost half of them came in 2010 alone. Is this a player who finally came into his own at the age of 30? Or a one-year wonder?
That I don’t know. All I do know is that he back those numbers up or he’ll be leaving a lot of money on the table. Fidlin suggests an extension could be in the $40-50 million range, so yea that’s a LOT of money.
