Jose Bautista Denies Rumors That He's Looking For Five Years, $150 Million...He Wants More
Yesterday, we covered how the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista is not taking a hometown discount to stay in Toronto. At the time, we didn’t know exactly what the figure was that he had in mind, but later in the day, a report surfaced that Bautista was looking for $150 million over five years.
The initial reaction out of Toronto was that a figure that high meant the end of Bautista in a Blue Jays uniform. Obviously Bautista was asked about the report, to which he denied that it was accurate.
“That is fictitious,” Bautista said late in the day when asked about the original figures in the leaked demand. However he would not say whether the real number was higher of lower than $150 million, insisting, “I do not want to negotiate through you guys.”
Well, that would’ve been a relief to Blue Jays fans, who were under the impression that it was now a forgone conclusion that Toronto would have to either trade Bautista or let him walk at the end of 2016. That was until today, when Jon Heyman reported that yes, it is true that the reports of Bautista wanting five years and $150 million are untrue. They’re untrue, because he actually wants more than that.
If you’re a Blue Jays fan, that’s basically like getting kicked in the balls, getting helped up by the person who kicked you in the balls, just so that they could kick you in the balls again. Bautista’s new deal wouldn’t even start until his age-36 season, so already this is getting dicey when you’re talking about a long term deal with a player of that age. It’s not so much the money as it is the commitment. We’ve talked about how cheap the Blue Jays’ owners are several times now, but I don’t think people realize how much money they have. They’re literally multi-billionaires. They can afford it.
Now, from a baseball standpoint, nine times out of ten, you happily walk away from a 36-year-old player who is looking for a long term deal that could be north of $150 million. That’s just an obvious call. But the situation with Bautista is a little bit different, and he might be that one out of ten exception to the rule. Here’s why. Baseball hasn’t mattered in Toronto in over twenty years, and Bautista is one of the biggest reasons why it matters again. That Blue Jays lineup features the likes of the reigning American League MVP Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki, but make no mistake about it — Bautista is the face of the Blue Jays. That should mean something here.
Bautista has the most home runs in baseball over the last six years, and his contract was arguably the biggest steal in baseball over that span, but they’re not going to pay him for what he did. They’re paying him for what they think he’s going to do. By all accounts, Bautista is in great shape for his age and hasn’t seen any dips in his production, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t see them in his age-36 through 40 or 41 seasons. Because we will. The question the Blue Jays have to ask themselves isn’t if Bautista will decline over a potential long term deal, but rather if they’re okay with it once it happens.
If I’m the Blue Jays, I wait this one out. Even if Bautista has another monster season at the plate, I find it really hard to believe that a team would exceed $150 million over five years in order to sign him. If you negotiate with him now, he has his figure in mind, which is definitely in that neighborhood, and it also sounds like he’s not going to budge. For now. I’d let this one go to free agency; let him see that no team is going to make the same mistake that the Angels made with Albert Pujols or the Yankees made with Alex Rodriguez, giving big money to a player into their 40’s. You can ask for that kind of deal all you want, but if no team offers it, then you have to take what you can get.
Although Bautista isn’t taking a hometown discount in terms of dollars, that doesn’t mean that the Blue Jays still don’t have an advantage, however slight it may be. Bautista said earlier this month that “it would be an honor” to finish his career in Toronto. So then let him go to free agency. Let him see that, likely, there won’t be a team that’s willing to pony up that kind of commitment for his services this late in his career, and see if he comes back down to reality, which is also where the Blue Jays’ price range might be, too.