Ross Atkins tight-lipped on Jose Bautista contract talks

Bautista is set to be a free agent following the 2016 season, and is demanding a five-year deal worth $150 million from the team or he’ll sign elsewhere on the open market, according to TSN’s Rick Westhead.

About two weeks ago, Blue Jay executives asked Bautista to give them “a number” on what it would take to bring the slugger back to Toronto, perhaps for the rest of his career. Bautista was initially signed to a five-year, $65 million contract and this season the team picked up his $14 million option.

“If this is going to happen, they should know what it takes, and I told them the number because they asked me“, Bautista said.

Pablo Sandoval created quite a stir when he reported to camp looking heavy on the heels of an abysmal first season with the Boston Red Sox in 2015, the first year of a five-year, $95 million contract in free agency.

But no matter what, the early spring signs are clear: Toronto’s time is now. Just last season, Bautista hit. “I bet he changes his mind then if he has a chance to go to a contender”.

“He’s an outlier”, Atkins said.

The main concern for Bautista’s next contract, would be if he can stay healthy as he gets older and if he will be able to produce at a $30 million/year level. That means the term of the deal must be at least four years, and could likely be more.

To his credit, Bautista says that he “didn’t want to waste [the Blue Jays] time or effort.’ Furthermore, Bautista said that the Blue Jays ‘can start planning ahead and, this way, they have plenty of time to do so.’ This is clear-cut candor, for better or for worse”.

Of course, people often change their minds in baseball and there is no guarantee that the sides won’t rekindle talks at some point. “Then all of a sudden he goes off somewhere else, but it wasn’t by his choice, I don’t think, obviously things didn’t work out”. “To me, it’s really clear we’ve had really clear, effective communication”. Anthopoulos agonized over the decision, before concluding: “If we can’t bet on him, we can’t bet on anybody”. Not that Atkins was talking numbers, or really anything of import, beyond expressing his general admiration for the guy.

“Last year was tough for me”.

“It’s a negotiation”, said Atkins. Jose feels good about doing that.

It does seem unlikely, but one thing Bautista has going for him is next year’s free agent class is pretty weak. That doesn’t appear it will be the case with one of the best power hitters in the league. “There’s really nothing I can comment on about them”. “Baseball has a great way of measuring each player’s value and it’s about how much of that are they willing to share with the player”.